Have you ever felt a burning sensation in your chest? Did you ever wonder “Am I having a heart attack?” Maybe you went to an emergency room, had three or four diagnostic tests run only to be told, “It’s just indigestion”. Certainly, that is a better prognosis than a heart attack, but gives little comfort when the next episode of indigestion or heartburn occurs.
So maybe you seek relief from Tums or Rolaids, ever increasing their use until you can’t stand the severity and frequency of the “indigestion” any longer. The symptoms become so frequent that you visit your M.D., who suggests some tests be run in order to rule out an ulcer! Next, two or three more tests are run confirming, yes, you definitely have indigestion.” Mayne the doctor gives your pain a name like dyspepsia, hiatal hernia, or gastritis. Now begins the phase of treatment that will reduce your pain and create profits for the drug companies. When you take a prescription drug or an over-the-counter medication for this “indigestion”, you may be getting some relief. Unfortunately, you are more that likely causing greater harm to the actual cause of the problem.
When you eat food, the stomach produces a very strong acid to aid in the proper breakdown of that food for digestion. At the same time, a mucus is formed to protect the stomach and esophagus lining from this very strong acid.
The purpose of antacids and prescriptions antacids is to reduce or eliminate the production of these necessary stomach acids. While this relieves the symptoms for the time being, the food leaves the stomach, improperly digested. This undigested food now enters the small and large intestines and can cause “purification”, body toxicity, elevated cholesterol, and interference with nutrients the body requires. Another complication of reducing stomach acid to relieve symptoms is how this involves the gallbladder’s function. With the decrease in stomach acid, the liver’s role in producing bile to be stored in the gallbladder for fat digestion is dramatically affected. With the decrease in acidity the need for the body to produce an alkaline environment is affected. The result is a thickening of the bile fluid while later develops into gallstones. This could take place over a period of 10-12 years, eventually leading to the possibility of gallbladder surgery. Of course, this can all be avoided with proper functional diagnosis followed with the possible use of enzymes, proper diet and re-establishing a healthy gastric mucosa lining.
How The Farming Industry Uses Drugs
The most concerning aspect of stomach acidity comes from out national cattle farms. A cow’s stomach is anatomically designed to digest grass and hay which the cow regurgitates in its natural environment. In an effort to fatten out cattle quicker, institutionalized farms in the 1940s began feeding cattle corn and grain. In addition, in the late 1940s it was discovered the use of nitrogen-based fertilizer could dramatically increase the crop per acre of corn. Consequently, cows are eating corn laced with fertilizers that are ingested into their bodies. The side-affect of a corn based diet as well as fertilizers resulted in cattle becoming ill. The regular use of antibiotics help solves this problem, however, secondary affects of the antibiotics produced cows that were smaller in size. The solution to this problem was to supplement the cattle’s diet with steroids and hormones. All of these procedures end up in the cow’s digestive tract which eventually end up in our supermarkets. Of significant concern, is that when cattle eat corn, the acidity of the stomach is reduced compared to when they eat grass and hay. Consequently, bacteria that are normally killed by the high acid content become more resistant to lower acid levels, one of these bacteria is the very lethal bacteria E coli. Sometimes this E coli can pass through the cattle’s digestive system and into the beef that we buy at the super market. Fortunately, the human body’s gastric systems contain very strong acids that which can kill E coli, however, with the more resistant strains of E coli this becomes of greater concern, particularly for those who take antacids. The old axiom that “it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” was never truer than when applied here!
The long term possible consequences of prescription antacid drugs
-Addiction
-cardiovascular issues to include a-fib and high blood pressure
-worsening lower gastrointestinal issues, IBS and SIBO just to name a few.
At Total Body Wellness Life Enhancement Center, a functional medicine approach dives into identifying the root causes that lead to the symptoms of heart burn and indigestion.
