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Thanks to everyone who replied to my question on poor digestion.  As always there was a great reaching out of generosity and information.  I can't thank you all enough.
Summary

Overall, the suggestions were digestive enzymes, pancreatic insufficiency, more water, treatment for candida, probiotics and possible additional food sensitivities.  Some had had real problems with HCl.  More detailed replies are below:

My gastroenter. Dr. had me add a probiotic supplement to my diet (eg; culturelle gg, naturemade acidophilus). that has helped immensely. I also read that leaky gut seems to get progressively worse as time goes on, even though we maintain a gluten free diet

Probiotics and more fiber in my diet helps (but I still can't eat as much fiber as my doctor wants me to--fiber still causes me problems after 9 years gf).  I took a pancreas enzyme glandular that helped alot and continue to take that when I get out of wack.  (Be careful with pancreas enzymes because they are not all reliably gf and one that I took landed me in bed for 3 months.)  For a couple years my nutritionist had me on quercitin because I was reacting to all my food.  That, probiotics, and whey powder did wonders.

I've just had the experience of trying hcl and having a painful result. I found out that hydrating the stomach makes all the difference; if it's not hydrated the stomach is easily irritated.  The person I saw
said I need to increase my salt intake, that adrenal and thyroid insufficiences cause us not to feel thirsty, so I'm dehydrated.  She said take care of that first, by testing for sodium/potassium and get that balanced before working on using something like hcl for digestion.

Digestive enzymes are great.  I use Natren. http://natren.com/megadophilus.asp

 

Megadophilus is Step 1 in the Natren Healthy Trinity® System, complementing Step 2 Bifido Factor® and Step 3 Digesta-Lac® for your total gastrointestinal health.  I used the Megadophilus and Bifido Factor. 

The next thing I would start is doing yoga stomach exercises called Nauli.  This takes a while to learn but your stomach will be so much better.  2 to 5 minutes a day in the morning first thing.  A good yoga teacher can help you with these.

 

Maybe you have developed another food intolerance like I have, such as casein (dairy) and soy.

 

#1 - my G.I. put me on pharmaceutical Pancrease MT 4.  Time-released Pancreatic digestive enzymes.  
#2 - my G.I. put me on Xifaxan (antibiotic that is not systemic, but localizes only in the colon)
#3 - my holistic doctor has me on coffee enemas (once a day - it's now been 1 week).

#1 & 2 seemed to help control some of my symptoms, but after being on the small-amount of coffee enema by day 5, I was a new woman and continue to be thriving.  I am able to eat all the veggies and food I have missed because of chronic gut problems (bloating, gas, diarrhea/constipation, etc.).

I am 63 and have been taking HCL and digestive enzymes.  They do help.

I have been taking Mega-Zyme by Enzymatic.  I thought it was a good supplement of digestive enzymes.  It is somewhat expensive.  I do take HCI and it does help the digestion of grains and I thought meats too.

Drink 1-1/2 - 2 liters of water/day.  Reduce tea, coffee to 1 cup/day.  Herbal teas and green tea are fine but do not count them as part of your water intake.  Juice - keep to 1 small glass/day.  At first your 
body will store some of the water and you may have fluid retention issues, but once the body sees there's no longer a shortage, it often resoves.  Add 8-10 grains of coarse sea salt to 1 liter of water to help body hydrate (no table salt).

I take the prescription pancreatic digestive enzyme, Viokase. Its covered by most health insurance, including Medicare D. Many over the counter digestive enzymes are both ineffective and expensive, and generic enzymes are useless as well, as per the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, you may find more information on their website...

http://www.cff.org/UploadedFiles/LivingWithCF/StayingHealthy/Diet/EnzymeReplacement/Nutrition%20-%20Pancreatic%20Enzyme%20Replacement%2002-06.pdf

http://www.cff.org/treatments/Therapies/Nutrition/Enzymes/

http://www.pharmaceutical-int.com/categories/coeliac-disease/coeliac-disease-and-pancreatic-exocrine-insufficiency.asp

I did fine for the first 7 years and then gradually found I tolerated the GF flours less and less.  Today I eat very little of GF breads, cakes, cookies, etc.  My diet is mainly chicken, fish, vegetables and fruits and I do well with that.  Occasionally I will have GF pasta, rice, things made with GF flour but I do have discomfort and GI symptoms.

  

My adult daughter seems to be following the same pattern--feels well if she avoids products with GF flours.  I used dig. enzymes for a while and thought they were helping but my doctor didn't want to continue with them after 2 years.  I did not do well with betaine --it caused severe heartburn.

 

an Herbalist identified yeast overgrowth.  Clearing out the Candida has helped him greatly. The symptoms for Candida are extensive - affects so many body systems. 

 

I am having the same problem and my GI doctor prescribed ULTRASE MT20 after doing some bloodwork which showed pancreatic insufficieny.  Basically, even with over the counter digestive enzymes, I was not producing enough enzymes to properly digest and absorb food (esp fats).  This Utrase is helping and I do digest my food better now.

 

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