So, I jumped on the kombucha train months ago and thought I was the coolest person on the planet. I had never heard of this probiotic tea and was all prepped to make an Instagram post about it, recommending it to my peers, until the drink blew up and I realized I was simply following the masses. For the first week, I really loved this tea and felt some slight relief from gastrointestinal issues, but then, the drink started having the opposite effect. All of a sudden, this kombucha was giving me the WORST heartburn and indigestion I have ever experienced. Uncomfortable to the point of not being able to make sudden movements and having to just sit up in bed until it subsided. I took a kombucha break for a couple of weeks and when I came back to it, I got the same horrible heartburn results! I have always been heavily invested in gut health and have been taking a probiotic pill for years, so this was highly unusual for me. For weeks, I’ve been trying to come up with a rational explanation, but one thing I’ve learned is that gut health is a tricky subject and often doesn’t have clearly defined rules or fixes. In fact, I have a wholehearted belief that the medical profession is treating this condition the wrong way (for financial gain) and I want to write a little about my experiences and share what I’ve been through in the past. There seem to be so many misconceptions about GERD and I’d love to get an open dialogue going on thoughts, especially from singers.
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I have always had a weak vocal instrument. I tend to lose my voice very easily and suffer from swelling in the chords more often than not. In college, I had gone to the doctor for the issue and gotten scoped, and I was shocked when he told me that my entire throat was coated in stomach acid. He said my chords were literally bright pink. Okay…so what does that mean?! Lord knows, I didn’t have the most healthy diet back then, and even now, I struggle with consuming way too much sugar and caffeine. Marry that with starches, fats, and alcohol, and you’ve created a gut environment that basically hates you.
He prescribed me with an asthma inhaler to help heal my chords and a medication similar to Prilosec for controlling my stomach acid.
A little background – there are two types of medications to treat GERD, proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) and H2 blockers. Both of these types of medications work in the acid-producing cells in the lining of the stomach. H2 blockers work by blocking the histamine receptors in cells to decrease the amount of acid produced and proton pump inhibitors work by shutting down the proton pumps in these cells and preventing the acid from being secreted into the stomach. What that basically means is that they work at different stages in the production of stomach acid. H2 blockers block one of the first stimuli for acid production, while PPIs block the final step in the secretion of acid into the stomach. Because of this, PPIs have a delayed onset of action while H2 blockers begin working within an hour.
PPIs are going to be your Nexium, Prevacid, and Prilosec. H2s are your Zantac and Pepcid. I have tried them all with little to no results.
I then sat down with my friend, Josh, who is a holistic doctor and he gave me the most wonderful explanation of acid reflux I have ever heard. I’m going to highlight it here because I feel that strongly about it:
When acid comes back up and enters the esophagus, it is a result of the sphincter (a ring of muscle) between the stomach and esophagus not working properly. This muscle is designed to contract and close this passageway when the stomach has produced a certain amount of acid. If a person does not have enough acid, the sphincter will remain open, and stomach acid will come back up.**
Taking these PPIs and H2 blockers only inhibits your body’s natural ability to produce stomach acid, thereby prompting it to try and make more in direct response. That is why you’re instructed to only take these medications for 2 weeks. THEY ARE BAD FOR YOU. Without adequate amounts of stomach acid, your body does not have the ability to break down the foods you are eating, slowing down the digestive process. Stomach acid also kills any of the potential pathogenic bugs or bad bacteria in our food, making it essential for digestion.
So, the conclusion you come to is that you are experiencing reflux not because of too much stomach acid, but too little. That is why elderly people experience the condition worse than young people, because their bodies naturally produce less. It’s the actual acidity of your stomach or pH balance that matters a great deal more than the amount of stomach acid you produce.
Wow. This made so much sense to me! As a result, he recommended I get some Betaine HCL pills, which are basically a supplement for low stomach acid. They are especially helpful for those of us who require more stomach acid to break down a high protein diet (points at this carnivore and dairy lover!). Now, these pills are not for everyone and tend to scare a lot of people away. If you are not low on stomach acid, taking these will cause some temporary discomfort. You’re instructed to take one, and if you feel no effects, try taking two, and then three, etc. until you can feel a change in stomach comfort levels. I tried the course of treatment and it made a world of difference for me! I was actually starting to feel like my stomach was acting the way it was supposed to: I was starting to feel it digesting food! I was burping, experiencing pressure releases, and feeling my stomach rumbling after meals. Having no digestive activity at all after eating is not normal and it took a while to repair the damage that PPIs had done to my body. I had finally figured out what healthy digestion was supposed to feel like.
Now, like I said, gut health is a tricky subject and this didn’t mean that I was cured of all reflux issues. You then have to deal with the problem of pH levels in the stomach and how that plays into GERD. Having a pH imbalance greatly influences all areas of health and to keep a complicated subject simple – interrupts cellular activity and organ functions. Because of this, I have found that the THIRD “medication” for reflux has been the most effective for me, and those are your antacids, such as Pepto, Tums, and Alka Selzer. These remedies all work a bit different, but are designed to neutralize stomach pH levels instead of stopping acid production. Again, I’ve tried them all. I first started taking Tums often and regularly and it worked for a while until the calcium began damaging my chords and I had to stop and treat that issue. I then switched to Alka Selzer, which again, worked for a while until my stomach became too alkaline, which made my reflux come back. Any given week, my pH levels would be too acidic or too alkaline. I started using natural remedies to achieve neutral levels, such as cantaloupe, lemon oil, and raw apple cider vinegar for more alkalinity. Alternatively, I use carbonated water whenever I need to tip my scales towards a slightly more acidic pH, which is more often than you think.
Of course, you can always just test your saliva pH levels with kits from pharmacies, but most of the time, I use natural body signals to I determine the pH levels of my stomach contents. Whenever I ingest a natural food that is either slightly acidic or alkaline, if I feel no effects, then my body levels are already slightly tipped in that direction and that food is not required. You really know when your pH levels are reacting positively when you burp incessantly or feel activity after ingesting a slightly acidic or alkaline food or beverage. Also, I’m one of the lucky 50% of GERD sufferers who do not experience heartburn symptoms along with reflux. Instead, I feel almost all of my symptoms in my throat. I wake up with sour tastes in my mouth and a throat coated with acid, which causes my voice to be horse. Not great news for a singer. Whenever I’m able to neutralize my stomach acid, however, my throat will get extremely dry because there is no longer any stomach acid coating it or splashing up on my chords. The remedy – purely neutral drinking water. I never get enough and there is no better cure for reflux and damaged chords.
Okay, wow, we covered a lot and now need to bring it back to kombucha. While kombucha claims to have probiotic benefits, most commercially available kombucha is now pasteurized, which kills all of the bacteria (including the good stuff). What you’re left with is a fermented tea that has sugar, yeast, and alcohol, and is highly acidic for your body. It’s like red wine in that the minor health benefits are eventually outweighed by its acidic properties, which probably explains why my reflux went into overdrive when I drank it.
There is actually a lot more detail I could cover on the subject, but I’d really love to hear from other reflux sufferers, because everyone’s body is different and reacts differently to medications and remedies. Anyone else have any tips or stories?
**NOTE – it has not clearly been established what causes the lower esophageal sphincter to not close properly. Many medical professionals have accepted the idea that it remains open due to pressure being placed on it from factors like obesity and large meals. However, I have experienced some of my worse reflux on an empty stomach and have never suffered from obesity, so I have to question this theory and keep an open mind when introduced to alternative explanations.
