<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

When I first was diagnosed 6 years ago, I suffered horrible heartburn, 
indigestion, gas bloating, malnutrition, almost daily food allergy 
reactions, etc.  My regular MD prescribed Zantac which gave temporary relief 
for the heart burn, but unfortunately made everything else worse.  I was a 
digestive disaster suffering very poor health as a result of it.  The 
solution to the problem came as a big shock, an actual paradigm shift to me, 
an RN who had been trained to believe that heartburn was caused by "excess 
stomach acid" and should be treated with an acid reducing/suppressing drug 
(Zantac, Prilosec, Nexium, TUMS, etc.).

I read about the importance of supplementing stomach acid in a very well 
written book, WHY STOMACH ACID IS GOOD FOR YOU by Jonathan Wright MD.  It 
details a whole program for  overcoming heartburn & improving disgestion, 
absorption, etc.  At about the same time I read the book, a competent 
physician in Seattle prescribed Thorne Bio-Gest.

I very rarely have heartburn or symptoms of indigestion any more.  I can now 
enjoy foods that used to cause hives & other unpleasant reactions for me.  A 
large & important part of the solution is Thorne Bio-Gest.  I've taken 4 
capsules at every meal for about 5 years now.  If I miss too many doses I 
pay for it.  Bio-Gest contains ox bile as well as stomach acid (HCl), pepsin 
& pancreatin.  It's an excellent product containing replacement of ALL the 
natural digestive components.  It contains none of those "plant derived" 
enzymes which really means "mold derived."  (I avoid those enzyme products 
because I have mold allergies.)  It's a bit pricey, but totally worth what I 
pay for it.  I consider it to be the most important supplement I take on a 
daily basis.  If I can only afford one supplement, it's Bio-Gest.

If you want to try it, you might have to do some searching to find Bio-Gest 
in your area.  It's a high quality pharmaceutical grade supplement & isn't 
available at health food stores.  It can only be purchased through certain 
pharmacies.  Some pharmacies require a doctor's prescription for it.  You'll 
be most likely to find it at a compounding pharmacy or holistic MD's 
dispensary.  There are other brands of HCl/pepsin replacements found in 
health food stores, but they aren't as complete as Bio-Gest.  I haven't 
found any to be as effective, so I continue with Bio-Gest.  I do know others 
however, that get satisfactory results from less expensive health food store 
brands of HCl/pepsin supplements.

I'll give you a warning, though, use caution.  Bio-Gest is very, VERY strong 
& takes a while to adapt to.  The very first week I took it, I got such 
relief from taking one capsule, I kinda went nuts & started taking it at 
every meal.  After several days, I thought I'd have to call the fire 
department to put out the flames!  My doctor ordered me off it for five days 
& told me to very, VERY slowly re-introduce it.  It took me several months 
of increasing my dose by one capsule a week until I settled on the dose that 
completely eliminates my symptoms of indigestion.

The deal is, CD damages more than just our small intestines.  We often don't 
make enough of our own stomach acid & digestive enzymes to keep us healthy.  
According to Dr. Wright & other physicians I've spoken to, damaged digestive 
systems rarely fully recover normal capacity once damaged.  This deficiency 
of natural digestive components results in chronic heartburn, bloating, food 
allergies, malabsorption & many other symptoms & consequences of 
indigestion.  This causes heartburn because our bellies get used to running 
on "low" & "forget" how to contain our stomach contents where they belong.  
It takes some gentle prompting to retrain our stomachs to hold on tightly to 
it's contents unstead of letting them reflux into our esophagus.  Contrary 
to popular belief it's actually a highly acidic environment in the stomach 
the triggers the lower esophageal sphincter (the LES valve) to clamp shut.  
Without an appropriate amount of acid in the stomach, the LES valve gets 
lazy & we suffer with heartburn.  The lazy LES has to be retrained by slowly 
increasing stomach acid w/ meals.  Dr. Wright's book explains many other 
things that can contribute to LES dysfunction.  His book outlines an 
excellent program for overcoming chronic indigestion.

Valerie in Tacoma

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