No more PPIs or Gaviscon A natural life saver Aloe Vera.

No more PPI’s or Gaviscon. A natural life saver. Aloe Vera.

 

The trouble with drugs is they have side effects.

Okay, maybe you need drug #1.

Can’t live without it so what do you do? Hopefully the side effects are not too bad or else you could be in line for…yep! Drug #2 and that slippery slope.

As a live-in carer for over twenty years, I don’t have medical training but my goodness I have learned a lot.

Let me repeat. I am not a doctor and some people are allergic to anything, even aloe vera, so proceed with caution.

I am also well aware of the media who love to promote the latest ‘miracle cure’ or more likely…spread fear about everything from eggs are bad for heart conditions (not anymore) to how we MUST finish the whole course of antibiotics (not anymore). I call this the ‘Science is fact until…Friday’ scenario. That is how quickly ‘medical’ opinion changes.

Also, in my opinion, most research is useless. Cheerful I know but consider this.

Scenario 1. You eat a bacon sandwich for breakfast and drink a cup of black coffee and have a perfectly uneventful day apart from bumping into an old friend and having a lovely chat.

Scenario 2. You eat a bacon sandwich for breakfast and drink a cup of black coffee. Driving your car to work you get a puncture. You are late for an important meeting. Then you get a message from someone who you considered a friend reneging on a promise.

Scenario 2 could possibly result in heartburn and reaching for the Gaviscon.

A scientist doing research on the effects of diet may conclude that bacon and coffee cause heartburn.

They simply don’t ask the right questions. See my point?

So, back to the question in hand.

How can you stop taking PPI’s e.g Omeprazole without reaching for Gaviscon regularly?

And why would you?

Seven years ago I had an emergency gall bladder operation, in France. I had been regularly misdiagnosed by my G.P in the UK for over three years and even after a scan at the local hospital told there was nothing wrong with me…as I walked around clutching the upper right side of my abdomen.

By the time I literally dragged myself to a doctor in France (I was losing a kilo per day at this point and couldn’t even keep water down) the doctor said. You. Hospital NOW!

They put me on a drip. It was a Thursday and they apologised for not being able to operate until the following Monday. Brits will roar with laughter at this. I have known friends wait weeks, if not months for a gall bladder operation although though mine was very serious by this point. Any longer, the surgeon said, and it would have damaged my liver.

Upon removal, the surgeon commented that the once gall bladder, was pile of sludge and how had it come to this? I told him. He could only shake his head.

And so, after trying to resist, I started taking Omeprazole. 10 mg to prevent the acid reflux that I was experiencing every evening, especially once I lay down. I really didn’t want to spend the rest of my life, possibly another forty years sleeping, propped up!

So, despite watching 80 and 90 year old clients start the slippery slope of 1, then 2 then 3 different medications per day I started taking Omeprazole each morning. Occasionally I would miss one in the hope that my body wouldn’t notice. I never got beyond 36 hours without giving in. I was an addict. L

Then some years ago, a pharmacist in the UK suggested I really should try harder to come off PPI’s as they can mask a lot of cancers. She said even bowel cancer can go undetected if you take PPI’s. Worrying but I couldn’t see another answer at the time.

Then I went recently to my G.P in Cardiff and she said…I really want you to stop taking Omeprazole.

So of course I said, why? She replied because PPI’s have been linked to causing osteoporosis! Terrific, I thought as I already have reduced bone density. I am lactose intolerant but not diagnosed until my early twenties. However, my calcium, vitamin D levels are all fine now. Goats and sheep’s milk cheese I find digestible, so no problem having a balanced diet.

Then my G.P went on to ask the routine ‘cancer questions’.

Did I have any problems swallowing, any pains in my stomach and any weight loss recently?

I knew why she was asking as there has been an increase in pancreatic and oesophageal cancer over recent years.

More good news…not.

I said no to all the questions. Don’t ask.

The doctor said it would take two to three weeks to wean myself off the Omeprazole and to take Gaviscon when needed. So I had suddenly gone from a free prescription drug that after 7 years of ingesting could either be, crumbling my bones or giving me, stomach (as per article) cancer or pancreas or throat cancer. Take your pick. Oh and not forgetting bowel cancer that the pharmacist warned me about years ago…to Gaviscon which I have to pay for.

So that was cheerful.

I was determined to help myself and therefore duly reduced my Omeprazole to every 36 instead of 24 hours and taking Gaviscon in between. Sometimes two per day.

And now comes the good bit.

Fanfare…

I go into the Pharmacie de Provence in Cagnes-sur-mer, France and ask to buy some Gaviscon.

Why? Says the pharmacist.

So, I give her my life story.

But why are you treating symptoms when you can have a CURE?

I looked at her and wondered if there is such a thing as a fairy godmother?

Really? I asked.

Yes, she says. You need Aloe Vera twice per day and you will have no more problems.

Now, as a proponent of this wonderful plant and its magical healing properties for cuts, abrasions and sore gums, not to mention being helpful with dryness brought on from menopause onwards, I realised I had used Aloe Vera when I had had some problems with IBS but somehow never thought to take it regularly.

What can I tell you?

The truth.

Two weeks ago today I bought a bottle of Aloe Vera. It has to be the fresh kind, complete with pulp.

I took 25 ml first thing in the morning and again last thing at night.

I have NOT taken ONE Omeprazole since. And just one Gaviscon when I pigged out on some cheese.

Yep. TWO WEEKS and no symptoms and NO drugs.

After SEVEN years and one kind pharmacist may well have saved my life.

I went back to see her today, to thank her.

I left it two weeks in case it was just a fluke.

Apparently not.

When I asked the pharmacist why le docteur didn’t suggest this…she looked at me and shrugged. They prefer drugs…of course they do but that’s another story all together. At least the doctor in Wales did try to sway me away from one drug to less a harmful one, at least until Friday!

 

I also have an Aloe Vera plant which I water with cold tea ( Earl Grey optional 😉 )

It is a little bit fiddly to cut open and extract the wonderful healing gel that lurks inside its leaves but well worth the effort. So either, buy a plant and make your own ‘cure’ or but the bottled FRESH version. It needs to be kept in the fridge. I found one bottle lasted 10 days. And at a cost of 18€ means that for 1.80€ (the price of one coffee) you can be healed and hopefully never take another PPI.

I will report back in another twenty years to see if I can substantiate this claim.

N.B I have had to switch to decaffeinated coffee for the moment but no other changes.

And the point of the ‘useless research’ story is this. I have had a stressful two weeks on many levels and yet…the Aloe Vera still worked so it wasn’t because everything in my life has been bowl of cherries.

Please tell me your story.

We need to share this.

Aloe gelAloe vera life saver