I'm not sure when
Prilosec became a daily drug for me, but I do know that by April 2012, I had
signed up for 2 separate auto-delivery subscriptions to make sure that I never
ran out.
Despite various signs that my health was going down the drain--heart palpitations, high blood pressure spikes, etc., I continued to take it--I didn't want to give up my nightly Reeses or caffeine. However, I received a wake up call when I tried to sign up for life insurance to protect my 3 year old son, only to be declined due to "severe anemia." After a little digging, I learned that the PPI was most likely interfering with my body's absorption of Iron, among other things. Now I know why I feel tired all the time!
The side effects of
taking OTC GERD drugs every day have been pretty alarming, and the effects I
experience when I don't take them are almost unbearable. But I have hope that I can get through this without too much suffering---I've made the choice
to follow the advice of thousands of others who have cured their symptoms
through low carb eating.
I'm currently taking Prilosec 20mg/day. I think I'm going to drop to 10mg/day for the first week, 5mg/day the second week. Some people go cold turkey but I'm afraid. Going to pray on it and decide tomorrow morning.... Based on what I've read, I'm going to start off very low carb and keep adding fats and various types of food until I learn what I can get away with.
Here's a rough draft of my strategy:
Here's a rough draft of my strategy:
General:
Chewing my food instead of swallowing big chunks all the time. VERY SMALL meals, and stopping at the first sign of being full.
Nutrition:
1st week: Very low carb (VLC), low fat eating. No vitamins, caffeine, or other medication.
2nd week: VLC, slow introduction of fats again (but removing them again if GERD is aggravated)
3rd week: Low carb, fats (if tolerated), and plain yogurt/cottage cheese. See if I can reintroduce vitamins and iron supplement.
4th week and beyond: Low carb, fats, yogurt, nuts, more carbs --gradually working my way up to 60-100g carbs/day
