What Else Besides HCL for Low Stomach Acid?

[BeingMe]

What else besides hcl pills can I take for low stomach acid?

[herenow2]

zinc is supposed to be helpful

supplemental or foods high in zinc might help

[mbravebird]

Raw apple cider vinegar in a little water with each meal. Has to be raw.

Home-fermented veggies, like sauerkraut or kimchee or pickles, with each meal. OR you could buy Bubbies brand of any of those -- they ferment their stuff naturally.

[KimPM]

Are you sure you have low stomach acid? Did you have a pH test done in your stomach? Could it be something else wrong with digestion instead?

The reason I ask is, DH had been taking supplemental HCl for years. It did not seem to help his really slow digestion. Lately we've been doing a lot of research on how the digestive system works. We've decided to take him off the HCl and try to help his parietal cells make it naturally. He is also supplementing with lots of pancreatic enzymes as well.

(We now see that taking HCl long term is not a good idea...unless you've suffered autoimmune gastritis and your parietal cells just cannot make the acid anymore. When you take supplemental HCl, it only supplements the acid, and not the full action of the gastrin hormone. The supplemental HCl causes feedback to slow your own body's production of gastrin. And gastrin also helps control the stomach contractions as well as the lower stomach sphincter to release food from the stomach. Both of those you don't get when supplementing with HCl. Also it is possible to have too much HCl so that the processed food that dumps into the duodenum is more acidic than it should be. Then it taxes your body (and takes longer) to alkalize the extra acid. In this way, ironically, you can get slower digestion by taking supplemental HCl.)

Anyway, you can look at taurine and niacin (the flushing kind, NOT the no-flush kind) to help your body produce more stomach acid, but only if you are truly needing more at this time. There is also an herbal combination called Swedish Bitters.

However, it's not a good idea to increase HCl if you have enough stomach acid, but instead need only pancreatic enzymes. Also not necessarily a good idea if you have nerve issues so that the vagus nerve is not controlling the stomach contractions properly. It is also not necessarily a good idea if you are suffering from B12 deficiency that has affected the vagus nerve. So, it's a good idea to figure out what really could be wrong with your digestion and correct that, rather than try to supplement or otherwise increase the HCl blindly. It may be that you only need to have a short-term transition plan for getting off the HCl. Just something to get the parietal cells started again, then no longer needing even that.

[KimPM]

Oh, and the "Cl" in your HCl comes from salt (NaCl), so make sure you are getting an adequate amount in your diet.

[BeingMe]

Thank you Kim for the great response. I have had stomach issues all my life. Looking back I think it's from a poor diet and a sensitivity to dairy. I would always get a runny nose from eating it, but never connected it till later in life. Now that I rarely eat it (I do ok with goat milk yogurt I make at home), when I do, like Valentine's day when I had some pasta with cheese, I often get terrible cramping and diahrrea. I have seen a stomach specialist about 10 years ago who couldn't find anything but then told me to take prevacid..grrr. I ignored him and just went on. I saw a naturopath for 2+ years but the only thing she recommended were probiotics, digestive enzymes and l-glutamine. They have helped but only the hcl really felt like it moved things. I have done the zinc taste test and despite some supplementation, I still fail the test. I also supplement with a multi and a b-complex(which I just started doing more of)
Last summer I did the hcl challenge based on some info I got online and it took 6 pills to get a reaction. Slowly the number did come down and my stomach issues lessened a lot with the hcl. For instance, food no longer sat in my stomach (like eating tacos, or steak) for a long time. I have been off the hcl for about 3 months, and taking my digestive enzymes which help, but my main issue is when I eat heavy meals and it feels like it's sitting too long.
I looked at the bitters and it's not recommended for use during pregnancy(thinking of trying soon), so I went ahead and bought the dandelion and yellow dock tinctures to use before heavy meals and will continue the digestive enzymes for other meals.
I have spent so much time lately trying to get all my thoughts together and a plan together before getting pregnant, my mind is going in circles.
I also battle anemia (my whole life I have been--it was noted in my pediatric file from infancy), and in November started seeing a acupuncturist/herbalogist who has me on herbs. My periods were super heavy and finally after 3 months of seeing her they are slowing down. Not sure if it's just her herbs/acupuncture or it's because I added milk thistle in the mornings and sometimes at night.
At times I have considered getting my vitamin/mineral levels tested but I have read some places that it's not completely accurate. I also take tyrosine occasionally to give me energy and clear my mind (gets foggy a lot).
Ok, I have rambled quite a bit. If you have read this far thank you. And I would greatly appreciate any other advice you may have.
Thanks

[KimPM]

Okay, so do you feel like it's been the same slow digestion speed all along, or is it getting progressively worse? The reason I ask that is that we were recently made aware (thanks sbgrace!) that slow digestion can also be caused by mitochondrial disorders. It is something DH is planning on getting tested for soon.

DH's issue have some similarity to yours in that we think his issue was likely started or made massively worse by both gluten and cow dairy. Since he's been off those for years, it's helped, but he's still got some kind of long-term progressive thing going on. It's possible that all the years of eating his food offenders so messed up his intestinal absorption that even getting off them didn't help what he'd lost in absorption for years. We are considering this too.

He is also working on very careful food combining. Take a look at all the info out there on food combining and see if any of that rings a bell for you. It seems that some people really have to pay attention to the foods they eat together, and it truly makes a big difference. (Others, like myself, don't seem to need to worry about food combining and we don't seem to be any the worse for wear...but then again, I digest pretty fast. We've got pretty much both ends of the spectrum in our house.) It would be easy for you to do a short trial with various food combinations and see if any of that helps. He's found that with certain food combinations he doesn't have to be as rigid as many of the food-combining laws state. But in other cases he does have to be super careful.

Oh, and hot spices also seem to help him. (They really do me in, though!)

[KimPM]

This is an interesting link.
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA40059...roparesis.html

Apparently ginger accelerates gastric emptying.

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by KimPM

Oh, and the "Cl" in your HCl comes from salt (NaCl), so make sure you are getting an adequate amount in your diet.

Yes and the best form is unrefined sea salt, especially Celtic or Himalayan... because with regular processed salt the sodium is very high and the chloride is low. Unrefined sea salt doesn't cause high blood pressure for this reason too.

[JaneS]

OP, which digestive enzymes are you using?

[BeingMe]

Originally Posted by KimPM

Okay, so do you feel like it's been the same slow digestion speed all along, or is it getting progressively worse? The reason I ask that is that we were recently made aware (thanks sbgrace!) that slow digestion can also be caused by mitochondrial disorders. It is something DH is planning on getting tested for soon.

DH's issue have some similarity to yours in that we think his issue was likely started or made massively worse by both gluten and cow dairy. Since he's been off those for years, it's helped, but he's still got some kind of long-term progressive thing going on. It's possible that all the years of eating his food offenders so messed up his intestinal absorption that even getting off them didn't help what he'd lost in absorption for years. We are considering this too.

He is also working on very careful food combining. Take a look at all the info out there on food combining and see if any of that rings a bell for you. It seems that some people really have to pay attention to the foods they eat together, and it truly makes a big difference. (Others, like myself, don't seem to need to worry about food combining and we don't seem to be any the worse for wear...but then again, I digest pretty fast. We've got pretty much both ends of the spectrum in our house.) It would be easy for you to do a short trial with various food combinations and see if any of that helps. He's found that with certain food combinations he doesn't have to be as rigid as many of the food-combining laws state. But in other cases he does have to be super careful.

Oh, and hot spices also seem to help him. (They really do me in, though!)

Thanks for the response. My digestion has gotten better. Although with it having been off for so many years I think it will take a long time to correct, and I will look into mitochondrial disorders.
I have been food combining for about a year now (although once in a while I slip up) and it has really helped. The biggest of course is the carbs and protein.

[BeingMe]

Originally Posted by JaneS

OP, which digestive enzymes are you using?

I was taking celtic sea salt in water in the mornings for about 6 months but have stopped it. I do use sea salt on my food and I'm definitely a salt nut...I love salt.

I was using Digest Gold but recently switched to the plain Digest, both by Enzymedica.
I also purchased some dandelion and yellow dock tinctures to use for 6 weeks to see if they will help my digestion as well as my anemia.
My other concern is my zinc levels, I take a supplement on and off(in addition to my prenatal) and I still can't taste the zinc in the taste test. I am going to start taking a pill everyday till I taste it and see how long it takes.

[BeingMe]

Originally Posted by KimPM

This is an interesting link.
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA40059...roparesis.html

Apparently ginger accelerates gastric emptying.

That was very interesting and perhaps explains the pain I sometimes get right below where my ribs seperate. I have ginger tea, and I love drinking it...will have to increase it.
Thanks

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by BeingMe

I was taking celtic sea salt in water in the mornings for about 6 months but have stopped it. I do use sea salt on my food and I'm definitely a salt nut...I love salt.

I was using Digest Gold but recently switched to the plain Digest, both by Enzymedica.

I think Digest Gold is twice as strong as Digest? I would suspect gluten or casein intolerance. And lactose intolerance. All of those enzymes are produced on the tip of the intestinal villi, usually the first to go in the case of gut damage.

Try taking enzymes 20 mins before eating so the capsule has time to open in stomach and enzymes have the full 30 minutes to work on the food in the upper stomach before emptying to lower, and then to intestines. You might try GFCF or Enzymedica's Gluten Ease enzyme in addition to the Digest or Digest Gold.