Alkaline Water Healing Properties for GERD

Unlike conventional drinking water, pH 8.8 alkaline water instantly denatures pepsin, rendering it permanently inactive. In addition, it has good acid-buffering capacity. Thus, the consumption of alkaline water may have therapeutic benefits for patients with reflux disease.
Other Warnings
Do not consume alkaline water with any medicines, supplements, or other additives. The alkaline water is reactive, and can form potentially dangerous by-products when mixed with a drug or other chemical compounds.
You should store ionised water in sealed glass bottles rather than plastic bottles, because it is reactive and can react with some plastics. It also reacts with the air and loses its ionisation if it is left exposed (of course, the alkaline minerals remain).


Others say that alkaline water helps:
http://www.alkalinediseasecure.com/acid-reflux/

From what I've read, it seems that alkaline water may help but only where you in fact have High Stomach Acid GERD.  Where you have Low Stomach Acid GERD, it appears that alkaline water may make the problem worse.

So, if you've determined that you have High Stomach Acid GERD, which you can do by doing the HCL test, then you may want to try alkaline water.  When you do, make sure you pay attention to how you feel and how your body reacts to the alkaline water.

What are H2 Blockers and GERD

Many of us run to the pharmacy as soon as we feel any kind of heartburn. When we get to the pharmacy, we're bombarded by different remedies.  One type of remedy we can take are called H2 Blockers.

I thought maybe you'd like some more information on these drugs:

Examples of H2 Blockers

Generic Name	Brand Name
cimetidine	Tagamet
famotidine	Pepcid
nizatidine	Axid
ranitidine	Zantac

H2 blockers (also sometimes referred to as acid reducers or H2 receptor antagonists) are available in nonprescription and prescription forms. Prescription forms are stronger than the nonprescription forms.
H2 blockers are usually taken by mouth, although some can also be given as an injection. Two doses (morning and evening) are generally recommended to control both daytime and nighttime symptoms. Doctors sometimes recommend a single dose, taken at bedtime, for people who have difficulty remembering to take their medicines.

How It Works

H2 blockers reduce the production of stomach acid. This makes the stomach juices less acidic so that any stomach juice that gets into the esophagus is less irritating. This relieves symptoms and allows the esophagus to heal.

Why It Is Used

H2 blockers are used to treat the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). They may be prescribed for your symptoms without any diagnostic testing if your symptoms point to GERD.

• H2 blockers may be used together with antacids.
• Nonprescription H2 blockers may be used for up to 2 weeks for short-term symptom relief. But if you have been using nonprescription medicines to treat your symptoms for longer than 2 weeks, talk to your doctor. If you have GERD, the stomach acid could be causing damage to your esophagus. Your doctor can help you find the right treatment.
• H2 blockers may be used on a long-term basis to relieve persistent GERD symptoms.

How Well It Works

All of the H2 blockers in this class are about equally effective.
H2 blockers heal the damage done to the esophagus by GERD (esophagitis) in about 5 out of 10 people.

H2 blockers also work to help symptoms of GERD. But the number of people who take H2 blockers and who have no GERD symptoms is usually less than 5 out of 10 people. That means that of the people taking H2 blockers, more than 5 out of 10 still have some GERD symptoms.

Side Effects

H2 blockers have been in use since the late 1960s. H2 blockers are well studied and are considered very safe.
Minimal side effects occur with use of H2 blockers. Side effects may include:

• Headache.
• Dizziness.
• Diarrhea.
• Constipation.
• Nausea.
• Vomiting.

See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)

Real GERD Cause

High Stomach Acid GERD

HSA

This is what is treated with the proton pump inhibitors.  This also explains why PPIs may not work with everyone, because


Low Stomach Acid GERD

LSA

HCL supplements



I recommend asking your doctor to test your stomach acid levels before accepting any type of medical treatment.

My GERD Cause: Water Addiction

Believe it or not, I think my virtual addiction to water may have contributed to me having GERD.

Let me go back, so about 6 years ago I gave up soda and fruit juices.  Like most of you, I read and heard on the radio and TV about how soda is so bad for you, along with every type of drink that has tons of sugar.  So, me, being a pseudo health conscious person, gave up soda.  Yeap, just like that.  Cold turkey.

I went from a about a liter of soda a day to about a gallon of water a day.  I think I got addicted to the drinking motion.  The best thing is that water is quite accessible, and free!

I think my problem started with my obsession with drinking at least a glass of water at night.  I'd just chug down a whole glass then get to bed.  It's only now, with all my GERD research, that I realize that putting water in your stomach is the same as putting food in your stomach.  Water, like the rest of your food, has to be digested.  Also, like I've written in other posts, water dilutes stomach acids.  This means that I was filling up my stomach with liquid that needed to be digested, while at the same time diluting the stomach acid that was meant to digest it.

By filling my belly with water I was forcing my stomach to digest at night (when digestion slows), while my body was lying down (no gravity to help), and diluting the stomach acid that was meant to do the digestion.