Hey Slacker,

The best course of action is to see your PCP.  My gizzard (gallbladder) was loaded with a fist full of gravel (gallstones), a couple of the stones were over an inch in diameter... 

The pain started out as a mild high tummy ache that turned horrific over the course of the next two hours... Two trips to the ER in 3 days.  The first trip they gave me a GI cocktail, a mixture of Maalox, lidocaine, and Donnatal also called the "Green Goddess" and the pain vanished in less than a minute.

I felt so good, I went home, slept like a baby and went to work the next day... I was still feeling great when I returned from work so I grilled a big juicy steak, baked potato with sour cream and chives and asparagus topped with hollandaise sauce.  I went to work the following morning, but by noon, the stomach pain started again so I drove home.

By the time I got home I could barely get out of the car.  When Joyce returned home from work a couple hours later, she took one look at me, shoved me back in the car and off we went to the ER.  We explained they gave me a GI cocktail two nights earlier and it stopped the pain so they prepared another GI cocktail.  It didn't work, 30 minutes after entering the ER I was curled up in a fetal position on the ER floor begging for a  shot of morphine.

Before they would give me the morphine they wanted a radiologist to have a look-see.  The X-ray results were inconclusive so they finally put me on a morphine drip and wheeled me to the hospital's critical care ward for observation. 

Somewhere during the night, one of the ER docs decided to do an ultrasound...  I woke up as they were wheeling me into the OR the next morning.  I was still in La La Land from the morphine, but I did hear the scrub nurse say "gall stones..."

Later that evening, the surgeon explained what had transpired during the surgery.  I'd been prepped for laparoscopic gallbladder removal...  However when the surgeon got a look at my gallbladder through the laparoscope... he said "No Way! We've got to open him up, his gallbladder is bigger than my fist and far too large for the laparoscope."

The next day they shoved a fiberoptic endoscope down my throat to image my stomach lining...  The surgeon showed me the photos... there were scars from three previous ulcers, two active ulcers and the sphincter into duodenum looked like raw hamburger.

It turns out the gallbladder and pancreas share a common duct into the duodenum.  Some gravel (gall stones) from my gizzard had blocked this duct preventing pancreatic juices high in bicarbonate from entering the duodenum to neutralize the stomach acid...   The ulcers were the major source of the stomach pain.  I'm not trying to frighten you...  It's just that stomach pain is not normal.

Regarding the use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like Prilosec, Prevacid, Nexium, and the list goes on as a treatment for gastric reflux/heartburn... I'm not a fan...  With long-term use (> 8 weeks), PPIs can result in deficiencies of magnesium, calcium, iron and vitamin B12 without supplementation.  Accordingly, prolonged use of PPIs has the potential to impact the effectiveness of the anti-inflammatory regimen to prevent CH.

PPIs block the enzyme in the stomach lining that produces hydrochloric acid... We need that acid to break down the food we eat so the nutrients can be absorbed in the small intestine.

PPIs are frequently indicated for up to 8 weeks weeks for peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and erosive esophagitis, but there are several studies indicating their overuse for gastric reflux where people take PPIs year round in stead of the 2 weeks indicated for heart burn and Helicobacter pylori eradication when used with an antibiotic.

Taking PPIs caries risks... and the list of adverse reactions is long. 

Fortunately, most cases of gastric reflux/heartburn are preventable.  The problem is we tend to eat too much during the evening meal then go to bed less than two hours after eating...  The overloaded stomach filled with chime and gastric juices pushes against the esophageal sphincter... and if it leaks just a little, gastric juices enter the esophagus which has no acid resistant lining.  This results in a chemical burn we call heartburn.

Had we remained upright for at least two hours, gravity would have kept the chime and gastric juices (hydrochloric acid)  from pressing against the esophageal sphincter until the stomach completed its part of digestion process.  At that point stomach contents start flowing out of the stomach through the duodenum into the small intestine for absorption...  It's the duodenum where the contents are mixed with a generous helping of pancreatic juices high in bicarbonate to neutralize the stomach acid before it enters the small intestine. 

The lesson here is eat smaller evening meals at least 3 hours prior to bed time... If the symptoms of heartburn arise an hour or two after eating, drink a baking soda tonic...  a half teaspoon of good old Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate) mixed in a  half glass of water. 

Sodium bicarbonate,  helps regulate pH (Hydrogen ion concentration), keeping a substance neither too acidic nor too alkaline. When a baking soda solution comes in contact with an acid like the hydrochloric acid in gastric juices with a pH around 2.0, its natural effect is to neutralize that pH up to 7.4.  Baking soda has the same net effect as a PPI in reducing hydrogen ion concentrations.  However, it works much faster than a PPI so will stop the burning sensation almost immediately.  The directions are on the box.

Have you ever wondered why TV adds for prescription pharmaceuticals and biologics/monoclonal antibodies like Humira spend half their air time listing all the adverse reactions, contraindications, drug interactions and warnings?  Simple, Big Pharma and their K street Lobbyists lost that battle with Congress...  Now watch adds for over the counter preparations... there are no long lists of adverse reactions, contraindications, interactions and warnings...  Why?  Big Pharma and their K street Lobbyists won that battle with Congress.

In 2014 I did an analysis of the relative risk of death from taking prescription and OTC CH interventions as well as OTCs for general aches and pains...  I used the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) as the barometer.  The results were an eye-opener... 

From Q1 2004 to Q3 2013, (10 years), the FDA received adverse event reports on the following prescription medications and OTC nutrients used to treat CH and over the counter supplements used to treat general aches, pains and tummy problems:


Hope this helps.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Hey Slacker,

Good move giving the baking soda tonic a try...  Thanks for the labdoor.com link.  Nifty site.  I'd like to see their rating criteria...

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Hey Eric,

Welcome to the anti-inflammatory regimen and good question on vitamin A.  The short answer is you're ok taking 10,000 IU/day vitamin A (retinol)... 

We only need a little vitamin A (retinol) so the regimen calls for 3000 IU/day (900 µg/day).  Given your vitamin A tablets are 10,000 IU, taking one of these tablets every three days will be fine.

Generally, signs of vitamin A toxicity are associated with long-term consumption of vitamin A in excess of 10 times the RDA (8,000-10,000 μg RAE/day or 25,000-33,000 IU/day) so you're safe taking 10,000 IU/day vitamin A.

The only possible problem (and it's a small one) comes with competition for available vitamin D receptor (VDR) sites on target genes in nerve cell nuclei within the hypothalamus and trigeminal ganglia.  In simple terms, there are only so many seats at the table so taking more vitamin A than needed could block some of these sites and as a result, lessen the vitamin D3 preventative effect.

Regarding the rest of the anti-inflammatory regimen treatment protocol, If you haven't experienced a favorable response, start the two-week vitamin D3 loading schedule.  Doing so will elevate your serum 25(OH)D safely and rapidly to the target concentration of 80 ng/mL.

Regarding Clariton (Loratadine) for your allergies.  It's a second-generation antihistamine (the non-drowsy type) so it doesn't pass through the blood brain barrier as effectively as a first-generation antihistamine like Benadryl (Diphenhydramine HCL) to block H1 histamine receptors on nerve cells within the hypothalamus and trigeminal ganglia. If you're slow to respond to the anti-inflammatory regimen, give Children's liquid Benadryl (Diphenhydramine HCL) a try.  12.5 mg in the morning and a second dose before bed should do the trick.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch

Hey Slacker,

Good question...  and what appears to be a healthy regimen...

However, without more information from related studies and with a population of one, making a case for causality...  i.e., Co-Enzyme Q10 (CoQ10) prevents CH is a non-starter and more likely a coincidence.

That said... there have been a few studies using CoQ10 to prevent migraine headache so I wouldn't dismiss its use in preventing CH out of hand...

What several well constructed studies have found is there's a clear relationship between heart attacks and a CoQ10 deficiency...  even more so if taking statins...

That was good enough for me on the healthy heart front...  Accordingly, I've been taking CoQ10 since 2008.  That was two years before starting vitamin D3 in 2010... My CH didn't stop until I started taking 10,000 IU/day vitamin D3.

Take care,

V/R, Batch