HCl Treatment Requires Awareness

After taking mastic gum (with turkey rhubarb tincture) to kill H. Pylori for about 5 weeks and l-glutamine to heal my stomach lining (and hopefully my intestinal lining) for about 6 weeks, I FINALLY resumed taking HCl supplement capsules with meals. I started with one at each meal and slowly increased that dose every 4th day by adding one capsule to the largest meal. Now I'm trying 2 capsules at each meal. However, I noticed that totally vegan meals (like peanut butter and fruit on a muffin or hot cereal cooked in hazelnut milk with fruit and almond butter) seem to need one capsule. I tried 2 with those meals and noticed stomach sensitivity (slight burning pain). However I seem to need 2 capsules to digest a sandwich with meat and a piece of fruit. With an entree fish salad with or meat casserole meal I need 2-3 capsules.

Determining how much HCl I need to digest various meals seems very experimental. However, I noticed I need even less HCl than I previously did (a year or 2 ago) when I first tried taking supplemental HCl (before I took the Heidelberg capsule test). I suspect the Mastic gum and l-glutamine healed some of the parietal cells in my stomach lining so that those cells produce more of their own HCl. Last October, when I was in Maui, I remember taking 2-4 capsules with every meal. I certainly needed more than one capsule per meal. I also was quite surprised by my Heidelberg test results. I previously thought I might have achloridia, because the HCl capsules made such a difference the first time I tried them. However, I realized that I had been taking mastic gum (which heals stomach lining as well as kills H. Pylori) for 3 weeks before I took the Heidelberg test.

I've observed that my cravings and appetite have changed the longer I've taken HCl. I suspect that my cravings for sweets were entirely related to emotional eating. After I learned to examine my feelings, beliefs and thoughts to prevent my 'feel bad, eat sweets' autopilot reaction, I wanted sweets much less. However, feeling full but unsatisfied after meals still kept me reaching for a 'sweet finish' until very recently.

I didn't previously realize why taking HCl helped me not overeat. I thought I was just trying to prevent reflux, because with HCl supplements I would have acidic reflux, whereas I previously refluxed just food, with no acid. Recently I read that feeling unsatisfied after filling meals is a hypochloridia symptom. That makes perfect sense! I could eat enough to fill my stomach or even feel overly full, because my HCl production is so delayed (at least 35 minutes after I start eating), which makes my stomach empty very slowly. Furthermore without adequate HCl my body was not digesting and absorbing nutrients rapidly enough to make me feel 'satisfied'. If I restrained myself from overeating, depite feeling unsatisfied, eventually like 2-3 hours later, I DID finally feel satisfied, because my stomach DOES naturally produce some HCl, but very slowly.

Furthermore, I really pay attention to how my stomach feels when I'm eating, because I want to learn how much HCl I need to digest different kinds of meals. So I don't want to overeat more than I actually need, because then I won't know if my discomfort was caused by inadequate HCl or just too much food. Nevertheless, I know that mindful (aware) eating always helps prevent overeating. Ironically I've decided that my husband and I need to refrain from watching tv (netflix movies) during dinner for awhile. I need to pay more attention to my stomach and we need to have time to talk, more than during dinner preparation and cleanup. I noticed tonight that I ate very slowly and less than 2 cups of food seemed like more than I needed. However, I also could have needed another HCl capsule to digest my meat casserole dish.

A blog reader asked about my progress. So I want to describe how my digestion has improved. Amazingly, I feel very comfortable sitting at the table after I finish eating. I don't need to rush to the bathroom after the meal. Previously I felt so bloated and gassy or had diarrhea or just want to sit on the toilet to endure intestinal cramps after dinners. Part of those symptoms were caused by the FOS in the probiotics my previous (clueless) doctor prescribed to be taken with meals. I usually took those with dinner, so I wouldn't feel bloated and crampy all day. I could just go to bed and be gassy and bloated during sleep (obviously not very romantic). However, I previously felt a little gassy and bloated after each meal.

I recall that I often woke up with excruciating (intestinal cramping) pain early in the morning. Getting up and moving around or going to the bathroom helped me get back to sleep. However, killing the dientamoeba fragilis parasite with Iodoquinol(?) eliminated those early morning cramps. Also I stopped having lower left quadrant pain when I had bowel movements. Nevertheless, I still have that nagging intermittent lower right quadrant cramping pain, after meals for awhile, sometimes when I first get up. That pain disappears after walking or doing yoga or aerobic exercise. I'm worried that pain means I still have those d-frag critters in my intestines, because those are difficult to eliminate.

I hoped that 20 days of Iodoquinol killed those parasites. However, after rereading my posts about my symptoms before and after other treatments (Alinia and Humatin) I wonder if that pain means I still have d-frag. SIGH Nevertheless, I told my doctor that I would keep taking high dose probiotics (which really improved my digestion and regularity) and keep increasing my HCl supplements while I watched the lower right quadrant pain. If it continues, I will order another stool test, but I DREAD antiparasitic drug treatments. The side effects are HORRIBLE to say the least.