This popular heartburn treatment is actually making your symptoms WORSE

Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drugs are tremendously popular for one reason: they bring millions of people heartburn relief.

Unfortunately, that relief comes at a high price for many patients. PPI drugs such as Prilosec®, Prevacid®, and Nexium® come with a list of side effects, including nausea, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, and headaches.

And those are only the most obvious adverse effects…

Today I’m going to talk about some of the more serious effects of these drugs that neither your doctor, nor pharmacist, have probably mentioned.

I’d venture to bet that they also failed to mention the safe and inexpensive non-drug heartburn solution that works quickly and costs just pennies a day. (More on that in a moment.)

First, let’s take a deep dive into some of the most worrisome problems linked to PPIs you need to know about…

Side effects range from aggravating to life-threatening

First off, you can be sure trouble’s afoot when the FDA issues a warning that a class of blockbuster drugs depletes a nutrient essential for your overall health.

That’s exactly what happened with PPI drugs a few years ago. The agency warned that long-term PPI use can deplete magnesium — a crucial mineral for blood sugar control and heart health.

And this magnesium depletion likely plays a role in the increased stroke risk that was recently linked to long-term PPI use. And another study has tied the long-term use of these drugs with a two-fold increase in stomach cancer risk.

But the side effect that’s probably least known by PPI users (and the most aggravating) is the
“rebound effect.”

Last year, French researchers analyzed 10 PPI studies and concluded that continued use of these drugs for more than four weeks “is likely to trigger a rebound of acid hypersecretion about 15 days after discontinuation, lasting from a few days to several weeks.”

In other words, your heartburn drug gives you heartburn! How’s that for wicked irony?!

To make matters worse, when heartburn roars back, sufferers do the most natural thing in the world: They reach for that very same PPI pill to seek relief yet again, and further extend their dangerous long-term use.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of users don’t realize this recurring heartburn is actually a side effect of the drug!

But there’s one more layer of irony here: All these risks could easily be avoided with a safe and inexpensive alternative to PPIs: simple baking soda.

That’s right — an old fashioned “bicarb” (sodium bicarbonate) can effectively wipe out your heartburn and settle your stomach. Plus, as I’ll discuss in a moment, it also happens to be an excellent all-purpose anti-inflammatory treatment.

For fast relief, keep it simple

In Dr. Marc Micozzi’s Protocol for Eliminating Deadly Inflammation, he emphasizes that baking soda is an ideal “home remedy” alternative to PPI drugs for treating heartburn or acid reflux.

Here’s the recipe he calls his “Go-To Baking Soda Remedy”:

Ingredients:

½ to1 teaspoon of baking soda
8 oz. glass of water

Instructions:

Mix baking soda into water, stirring until it’s fully dissolved. (If desired, add a twist of lemon to enhance the taste.)
Drink the entire solution at once.
Repeat this up to 6 times a day, with doses spaced at least 2 hours apart.

If you’d prefer bubbles, Dr. Micozzi adds that if you use still, filtered water, this recipe will produce seltzer. And you can use water of any temperature, but know that the baking soda will take a little longer to dissolve if you use cold water.

Calming down chronic inflammation

In his protocol, Dr. Micozzi highlights the fact that baking soda is “quite helpful to quickly soothe what ails you.” He adds that this natural anti-inflammatory brings multiple benefits to the many systems in your body — beyond providing soothing relief for heartburn and acid reflux.

For instance, Dr. Micozzi cites a Medical College of Georgia study that demonstrates baking soda’s effect on mesothelial cells — the specialized connective tissue cells that line your body cavities and internal organs.

Mesothelial cells have tiny, hair-like microvilli that monitor your body’s internal environment to detect potential invaders. When they spot an intruder, they signal for your immune system to begin a protective inflammatory response.

However, this early warning system malfunctions in people with autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or multiple sclerosis. In these cases, mesothelial cells may sound the alarm to a perceived threat that isn’t really a danger…

And when the immune system responds with an attack on invaders that aren’t there, inflammation runs rampant. As a result, your condition could grow worse — or even lead to very serious secondary conditions like heart disease. This is part of the reason why RA patients are at twice the risk of heart disease.

In the Medical College of Georgia study, researchers gave participants a daily solution of water mixed with sodium bicarbonate. “After two weeks,” Dr. Micozzi says, “mesothelial cells in the spleen, kidneys, and blood stopped promoting inflammation — and instead started reducing it!

“In fact, just one dose of baking soda solution produced anti-inflammatory effects that lasted for at least four hours.”

As we’ve seen so many times, systemic inflammation is a driving force behind virtually all chronic diseases.

So a little baking soda in your daily regimen may prove helpful in not only relieving heartburn and acid reflux, but a wide range of serious chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Micozzi’s Protocol for Eliminating Deadly Inflammation features many more simple and effective strategies to tame chronic inflammation before it causes serious damage. Click here to explore more details about this one-of-a-kind healing tool, or to get started right away.

SOURCES

“FDA Drug Safety Communication: Low magnesium levels can be associated with long-term use of Proton Pump Inhibitor drugs (PPIs)” FDA, 3/2/11. (fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-drug-safety-communication-low-magnesium-levels-can-be-associated-long-term-use-proton-pump)

“Long-term use of drugs to curb acid reflux linked to doubling in stomach cancer risk” Science Daily, 10/31/17. (sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171031202203.htm)

“Gastric acid rebound after a proton pump inhibitor: Narrative review of literature.” Therapie 2018; 73(3): 237-246. DOI:10.1016/j.therap.2017.08.005