76. Are My Migraines and My Heartburn Connected?

You've been taking Prilosec for years. Your doctor prescribed it for heartburn, or you bought it over-the-counter.

It helped at first. But now you're also taking Tums multiple times a week. You feel bloated after eating. You can't finish a sandwich without discomfort.

And your migraines? Still there.

Here's what nobody tells you:

Your heartburn medication is making your migraines worse.

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like Prilosec and Nexium suppress your stomach acid. Your stomach is supposed to be pH 1. Strong enough to take paint off a car. That's how you absorb minerals from food.

When your stomach acid is suppressed, a sphincter at the top of your stomach doesn't get the signal to close. It stays open and weakens over time. Meanwhile, you can't absorb the minerals every cell in your body needs.

The box says: "Do not take longer than 14 days."

I've had clients on Prilosec for 20 years.

I just worked with two clients, both with daily head pain, both on PPIs for decades, both still experiencing heartburn even on the medication. We restored their digestive function, reduced their migraines significantly, and weaned them off Prilosec without rebound.

Your heartburn and migraines are connected because both signal blockers in your body's ability to get nutrients to cells, clear waste, and restore vitality.

If you're on a PPI and struggling with migraines, let's talk.

Schedule your free consultation here: https://www.drlesliecisar.com/apply

Free Training: 5 Proven Steps to Being Migraine Free (Even if you think you've already tried everything.)

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Episode Transcript

hi there
welcome to the Healing Migraines Naturally podcast
I'm your host Doctor Leslie Caesar
and I am a licensed naturopathic doctor
former chronic migraine sufferer
and I work with women all over the United States
who have chronic migraines
and want to stop getting migraines
restore their health
and wean off of their prescription medication
and do it all without having to take fistfuls
of supplements so welcome to the podcast
today's topic is
are my migraines and my heartburn connected
I wanted to talk about this this week
because I actually have
two clients that I'm working with currently
that used to have a significant amount of heartburn
are taking proton pump inhibitor medication or PPIs
like Prilosec or Nexium
and they are feeling so much better
that they are weaning off of those medications
so I thought that this would be a nice
topic to talk about this week
because heartburn is one of the most common symptoms
that Americans experience
and in fact this type of medication
the proton pump inhibitor medication or like I say
the the Prilosec the Nexium medications
these are a massive
massive market for the pharmaceutical industry
so this is a four billion dollar market
so a lot of people are taking these medications
so worldwide just over a third of all proton pump
inhibitor medications are taken by North Americans
okay now North Americans those are gonna be Canadians
Americans and Mexicans The United States
or Americans probably make up the vast
majority of the consumers of this product
but the total population of North America
is about seven and a/2 percent
of the world's population
and we North Americans
are taking over a third of the proton pump inhibitors
okay so
there's a lot of people taking
these proton pump inhibitors Prilosec
Nexium etcetera
because a lot of people are experiencing heartburn
reflux so a lot of people are a little confused as to
you know what am I
is this heartburn that I have
is it reflux what's going on here
so in general heartburn refers to a burning sensation
that seems to be coming from the stomach
and seems to be sort of in the chest
so our esophagus runs you know
from from the throat down to our stomach
and our stomach is located right under our sternum
or right under our rib cage
right in the kind of the center of our upper abdomen
and from our mouth to our stomach is our esophagus
and so a heartburn symptom is a burning sensation
could be in the stomach could be in the esophagus
which would feel like it was coming from the chest
a lot of people with severe heartburn
they think they might actually be having a heart attack
because the pain is kind of in that area
the other thing that can go along with heartburn
is a refluxing of food itself
or people might feel that the acid coming up
or they might actually have food coming up as well
that's combined with acid
so sometimes people will have it so severe
that when they lay down
particularly like to go to sleep at night
they can feel that acid sort of rolling up
up their esophagus and into their throat
and so a lot of people will have
sort of like a scratchy throat or a cough
particularly at night
and that's due to the acid irritating the esophagus
and even the throat if it gets up that high
so unfortunately
this is a very common symptom that people experience
and so what are people doing right
to try to ease their suffering
they're taking these PPI medication
or proton pump inhibitor medication
like Prilosec or Nexium so this is like I say
it's a very common symptom
particularly that Americans experience
and it's so common
that most people think that it's actually normal okay
so if you've been listening to the podcast
for a long time you might remember
one of my favorite episodes of the entire podcast
so my audio
my audio podcast conversation partner is Mary
who is the wonderful moderator
of my free Facebook group
Healing Migraines Naturally with Leslie Caesar
and d feel free to join us over there
if you're not there with us already
but Mary is my conversation partner
on those audio podcasts
and so when we were just sort of first starting out
one of our first podcasts
and you have to understand when Mary and I
do these podcasts this is not scripted
this is not rehearsed she and I
you know jump on the line together and we might
you know just for like couple minutes
5 minutes kind of just review like some
what are some of the trending topics
in the Facebook group
what are some of the hot issues and then we say okay
yeah we'll talk about this and then we just kind of
we just kind of go for it okay
so I was talking about proper digestive function
on this particular podcast
and I just made this kind of
what I thought was an offhand remark that
you know we should eat our food
and then we're gonna have a ball movement at some
you know some later point in time
and we really shouldn't feel anything in between
like we shouldn't be experiencing
all of these things going on in our digestive tract
like heartburn
and belching and gas and bloating and gurgling and
you know
like all this crazy stuff we should just be like
oh yeah I feel hungry
I'm gonna eat my meal we should eat
and then we should have a bowel movement
and really not be that aware of anything in between
so I was just kind of making an offhand comment
to this regard and Mary was like
what are you serious
she was like blown away by this statement and we
she and I still chuckle about it today because I
you know sometimes forget that
you know most people
they are experiencing symptoms
and they don't realize that they're experiencing
symptoms they think it's normal
they think it's you know
normal to have a piece of pizza
and get heartburn afterwards
or they think oh well
I'm getting older
isn't this what happens when you get older
you know it's
so many times people don't realize
that they're actually experiencing symptoms
and so in that moment it was like this
you know just like this spontaneous
you know
what what are I'm not supposed to have heartburn
that's a symptom I thought that was normal right
so we kind of went into this whole thing
so yeah you know
this is a symptom okay
so we our
our our stomach makes acid to break down our food
to assist in the digestive process okay
there are other things that are required
to break our food down
but proper acid in the stomach is critical okay
and so the the acid that our stomach makes is a pH of
one that will take paint off of your car okay
that's how acidic it is supposed to be
inside of our stomach
so that we can properly break our food down
and properly prepare the food in the stomach
so that when it goes to the small intestine
it's properly prepared because the small intestine
is going to do other things with the food okay
our digestive process is a multi step
process that starts in your mouth right
so it's like we have to have a pH of 1 in the stomach
to properly prepare our food okay
so you eating a piece of pizza okay
that's not a pH of one I mean it's a little acidic
I'm you know for sure right
but that's nowhere near a pH of one okay
so let's think about this a little bit okay
because people eat pizza they have a tomato sauce
they have something that maybe
is a little bit spicier than what they're used to
they have onions right
they they these are some of the common foods right
people will say oh
that food is too acidic for me right
it's giving me heartburn so acidic not
not relative to what be
what should be going on in your stomach right
your stomach is like taking the pain off of your car OK
you could put a piece of pizza on the hood of your car
it's not gonna really take the pain off your car OK
it's not the food that's generating the heartburn okay
but nevertheless
people are experiencing this heartburn right
and heartburn is very uncomfortable you know
you can have mild heartburn
that you can kind of tough out
but if people are going to take
something like a Prilosec
or an Nexium they're having severe heartburn
and that can it can be very unpleasant
and especially because when we lay down flat right
and our esophagus is in line with our stomach
and we don't have sort of gravity
pulling down on our stomach acid
and kind of keeping it in our stomach
when we lay down right
that acid can roll back into the esophagus
and then that's gonna be very unpleasant
and interfere with people's ability to sleep right
and so when people get to this point
this is where
they might be getting a prescription from their doctor
or they're going into Walgreens
CVS and they're just buying it over the counter right
and so they're taking these PPI medications and what so
so what is this medication actually doing okay
so it's a proton pump inhibitor okay
so what's happening inside of our stomach
to make the stomach acid is a proton pump okay
so that's how our stomach is making the acid
it's pumping the protons and that's making the acid
okay so the proton pump inhibitor is shutting that down
so it's not gonna completely
eliminate your stomach's ability to make stomach acid
but it's going to diminish
your stomach's ability to make stomach acid
so instead of a pH of 1
it's going to be maybe a 3 or 4 okay
so it's still gonna be acidic there
it's not gonna be a pH of seven which is a neutral pH
but it's not gonna be a pH of one
because that proton pump I mean
there's uncountable
numbers of proton pumps in your stomach right
so they're maybe if instead of running at 100%
they're gonna run at 50% and so
the amount of stomach acid is gonna be diminished
within the stomach
you're gonna get a little bit of an anatomy lesson
and a physiology lesson okay
so again this is not like naturopathic woo woo stuff
you can read about this in any medical
anatomy or physiology textbook okay
so your medical doctor knows this okay
over here is my bookcase
with all of my books from Naturopathic Medical School
and we have to take all of the same medical sciences
that the medical doctors take
so I had to take anatomy
I had to dissect a cadaver neuroanatomy physiology
biochemistry pathology microbiology
embryology all of those
what are called the basic sciences in medicine
all of those I had to take too
and there's only one textbook for those okay
so I have all those textbooks that your medical doctor
has and so this is what I'm gonna walk you through
so there's a what is called a sphincter
between your stomach and your esophagus okay
so the body has sphincters throughout the body
a sphincter is a ring of muscle
and sphincters are used to close things off okay
so
when our body wants to close one part off from another
it's going to use a muscle ring called a sphincter okay
and so there's a sphincter
but at the very top of your stomach
right where the esophagus comes in
and dumps into your stomach
there's a sphincter called the cardiac sphincter
and so when you haven't eaten
when you don't have food in your stomach
and your body is like okay
we can eat at any time
that sphincter is going to relax
and then when you eat something right
and you you swallow the food
and it goes down into your esophagus
your esophagus squeezes the food down
that sphincter opens up
and the food goes into your stomach okay
now your stomach starts making stomach acid
because you've eaten something
and it wants to break the food down properly
so it starts making stomach acid
now when the pH of the stomach gets low enough
that's the signal for that sphincter to close okay
because if you've got a pH of one in your stomach
that can take paint off of your car
you don't want that to go back up into your esophagus
your stomach is lined with mucus
so it can handle a pH of 1
your esophagus isn't OK
so if a pH of 1 acid hits your esophagus
it's really gonna hurt
it's really gonna damage your esophagus
it's not gonna damage your stomach
because your stomach is designed for that right
so we have this finger
that when the stomach acid increases
and the pH drops that signals the sphincter to close
and it should close tightly
because as I'm sure you know right
once we eat that meal
the stomach starts churning right
so
it starts churning and mashing and squeezing the food
and getting the acid all mixed up in there
so if we didn't have a sphincter there
if we couldn't close off the top of the stomach
from the esophagus as the stomach is squeezing
and churning and mixing our food
it would naturally be pushed back up into our esophagus
and so that would be very unpleasant right
so we have a sphincter that closes off
and keeps the food in the stomach
so if that sphincter is closed properly
you will never have heartburn
okay I
I I want to let that sink in
you would never experience heartburn
if that sphincter closes all the way right
now let me do a little caveat
you could have a problem in the stomach
so you could have an ulcer in your stomach
you could have a defect
within that lining of the stomach
that protects things
and then your stomach is going to start burning okay
but actual reflux of acid into your esophagus
that's burning and hurting so bad
that's rolling up that when you lie down
you can feel that that acid roll up your esophagus
that's coming up into your throat
and causing you to cough at night
and giving you a scratchy throat
none of that is going to happen
if that sphincter is closing properly okay
so when we have all of that heartburn
and reflux occurring
that's telling us the sphincter isn't closed right
now your medical doctor knows this
because
he or she had to sit through those same classes
that I had to sit through
and they have the exact same textbooks
and they had to take board exams to cover all of this
just like I had to take board
exams to cover all of this
to get my naturopathic medical license right
so it's not like they don't know this okay
the problem is in conventional medicine
they don't think about
in the way that I think about things
they just think about oh
you're having this symptom
how do we turn the symptom off
so even though they are learning
all of these basic sciences
they're not applying it
to you when you go in for your appointment
in fact my biochemistry professor
he had previously
taught at a conventional medical school
and he was a really
really passionate biochemist he had a PhD
his PhD was actually in genetics
so he taught us both biochemistry and genetics
and he used to teach at a medical school
and he would like once a week
he would tell us oh
I love teaching you guys I love being here with you
nature pads because you actually apply biochemistry
it was very satisfying
satisfying for him to teach us this
because in our perspective
we're looking at okay
if you're experiencing this symptom
what is not functioning optimally
like how how how would it be possible for somebody to
be experiencing this symptom right
so again I'm just looking at the known anatomy
the known physiology the known biochemistry
and it becomes very obvious
that if somebody is laying down at night
to go to sleep and they're experiencing this burning
rolling up their esophagus
the sphincter is not closed okay
so unfortunately
because culturally we don't think like this right
culturally it's like oh I've got something unpleasant
how do I shut this unpleasant unpleasantness off right
that's how we approach things
that's how the conventional medicine approaches things
the the dominant medical model approaches things
so these proton pump inhibitors
they used to be prescription only
now you can get them over the counter right
so why not just go to Walgreens and CVS and buy some
over the counter and take it
that's going to
prevent your stomach from making that full pH of one
stomach acid maybe it's a 3 or a 4
now what what is that really doing here
so what happens is the sphincter is going to close
even less than it was before
because a pH of 3 or 4 is not low enough
to signal that sphincter to close
that sphincter is gonna stay open more frequently
and more frequently
you're actually going to have more and more
refluxing acid up into your esophagus
when you shut down your stomach acid production
but you won't feel it that's the thing
because if it's just like a pH of 3 or four
well it doesn't hurt the esophagus that much right
it's it's not like a pH of 1 on the tissue
it's it's not as acidic
and so it's not hurting your esophagus as much
and so you don't feel it as much
and so to you it's like the problem is solved right
so on a day to day basis now I feel better right
however
what if I eat something that's a little bit more acidic
what if I do have something with tomato sauce on it
what if I have a vinegar at dressing on something
right now
if I'm eating something that actually
does put a little bit more acid into my stomach
and that sphincter is not closing
it's closing even less effectively than it was before
well now the pH is going to be a little bit lower
and then when it refluxes back into my esophagus
now I'm going to feel it again right
so now what now the food is becoming a problem
right now
I've got to avoid
all of these foods that I used to enjoy eating right
and then over time as this problem starts to pile up
usually
people will start to experience even more heartburn
the sphincter right
it's not getting that signal to close
it's a muscle muscles need to exercise
so if we're not sending that signal to close right
like every time we eat
and that stomach acid starts ramping up
we should be
signaling this sphincter to close and it's like okay
exercise exercise
exercise the muscle is getting worked
if we're not sending that signal
what happens to the muscle
it starts to atrophy right
it's like well okay
I guess I really don't have to do too much
it starts to get weaker right
so then let's say that it is getting a signal
let's say right we eat a whole bunch of tomatoes
or we have some orange juice
or we have some vinaigrette oh
I'm supposed to close uh oh
there's enough acid in here to actually you know
signal for me to close
but I haven't I haven't been working out
I can't do it right
it's like I'm not gonna be able to close this anyway
okay you can see how this is going to start to snowball
and if you've been listening to the podcast
I talk about this phenomenon a lot
with a variety of medications right
because if we are suppressing
what the body is trying to do
in this case
we're we're suppressing the stomach acid production
we're not getting to the root
and the body is going to continue to get into a
worse and worse state of health OK
so now what turned into you know
I'm gonna start taking this Prilosec now
now I need to take Tums on top of this right
so over the years as people consume
these proton pump inhibitor medications
very frequently they have to now
add on a Tums daily or every other day
right because this sphincter is just hanging out right
it's pretty weak it's not
now I gotta do Tums
all of these acid blocking medications
these are the top selling medications in America
you know they're right up there
these are massive
massive money makers for the pharmaceutical industry
this is how frequently
people are experiencing these types of symptoms
okay
so now let's talk about the long term effects of this
okay
so we have to have stomach acid to absorb our minerals
this is what no one is telling you okay
so we have to have a low pH in the stomach
in order to optimally absorb
the minerals that are in our food
okay and not just like the magnesium and the iron
I'm talking about all of the 70 to 80 trace minerals
that are in our food
there are big minerals that the body needs a lot of
like sodium and potassium and magnesium and Calcium
and then we have trace minerals
that the body needs a little bit of
like selenium and manganese and zinc and copper
but all of these minerals
we have to have a low stomach pH
in order to properly absorb them
so when you look at the Prilosec box
if you're taking this medication
I'm not saying this to ramp up your anxiety okay
so I'm trying to be very careful with this
and I always try to be very careful on the podcast
because I know that
most of the people listening to the podcast
are taking medication
I know you don't wanna take the medication
I know that you're only taking the medication
because you feel stuck between a rock and a hard place
between suffering and trying
a whole bunch of things that didn't work for you right
so I totally get this so please
I am not trying to give you anxiety
I'm not trying to ramp up the panic
but if you're taking this medication
I want you to get the box out
and I want you to look on the back of the box
and I want you to look at the little notice that says
do not take this medicine longer than 14 days
people are being prescribed these medications
by their doctor their doctor
should not write the prescription
for more than 14 days
this is the prescribing guidelines
now that you can buy it over the counter
they put it on the fine print on the box
why is this because they know right
you can open up a pharmaceutical textbook
and read about this okay
this is again
this is not like secret woo woo
naturopathic stuff this is just known information
they know that
you have to have stomach acid to absorb your minerals
and so if you take this for a long period of time
it's going to severely inhibit
the absorption of minerals from your food
now No.1
every cell in the body
needs minerals to function properly
but think about your bones okay
your bones have to have minerals
osteoporosis is a very serious problem
but it takes decades to develop
and so in the short term as you take this medication
you're going to become mineral deficient guaranteed
you are
putting yourself in a position to develop osteopenia
and osteoporosis over the next few decades
because your body doesn't want to be mineral deficient
that's the last thing that your body wants
and so if we're not
getting enough minerals coming into our bloodstream
from the food that we're eating
because our digestion is poor right
and we just can't absorb those minerals
if those minerals are not coming into our body
well guess what
our bones are a massive mineral storage organ
so our body is always trying to do the best it can
in the environment that we put it in
so if we're not getting those minerals into our body
from our food
because we don't have adequate stomach acid
to properly absorb them then our body says
well today I need the sodium and the potassium
and I need the Calcium well
where am I gonna get this
I need some more magnesium
I need some manganese well
let me get it from my bone
I need it today right
and so I've got like this major organ
my skeleton that's full of minerals
so let me get it from there
because I wanna stay alive today
I wanna function my best today
I'm gonna do my best today
and hopefully you know
someday soon I'll be able to absorb my minerals
and I'll be able to put the minerals back in my bones
but right now I need it
so I'm gonna take it out of my bones
and when when this occurs
for decades we wonder how did I get osteoporosis
how did this happen I went in to the doctor every year
and got blood work done
and my doctor said everything looked great
every year he checked my Calcium
it was always normal how do I have osteoporosis now
because your body is gonna do whatever it needs to do
to keep the Calcium level up in your blood
it's gonna take it from your bones if it needs to right
we're gonna stay alive today
and hope that we turn the problem around for the future
that's the way that the body operates
so that's why the prescribing guidelines
that your doctor should be following
that's why the fine print on the back of the box says
don't take this longer than 14 days
14 days
do you know how many clients I've had over the years
that have been taking Prilosec for 20 years
and no one told them and they said well
my doctor prescribed this right
I mean what
my doctor knows I'm taking this
how come he never told me
I don't know what to tell you right
it's it's documented it's on the drug label
it's on the box right
your doctor knows this right
but your doctor doesn't know
how to improve your digestive function
and get you out of this problem in the first place
that's the problem okay
so I give you all of this little anatomy lesson
and physiology lesson and biochemistry lesson
I hope you enjoyed geeking out with me
I love this kind of stuff
but let's go back to these two clients that I have okay
so I I thought to talk about this
because I have these two clients
and they're somewhat similar
so they're about 10 years in age apart
one is in her 50s and one is in her sixties
and both of them have daily head pain
so I work with many clients that have daily head pain
to some level right
could be a 1 some days could be a 10 some days right
but they're gonna have head pain every day
both of these clients are taking Prilosec okay
and they've been taking it for decades so right away
as soon as they reached out to me
as soon as we did their console call
because when you book a free console call with me
I do have you complete a short health questionnaire
where I ask you what medication you're taking
and what other health concerns that you have
so I knew when I jumped
on the console call with both of these women
and they had listed
Prilosec as a medication that they were taking daily
I knew uh oh
how long have they been taking this right
how long have they been
suppressing their stomach acid production
and potentially
not been absorbing the minerals out of their food okay
so unfortunately
come to find out that it's been decades
for both of them
both of them were taking additional like Tums
you know these like acute alkalizing agents
because even though they're taking
the full dose of Prilosec every day
they're still experiencing heartburn you know
at least 3
4 times a week and they're taking additional Tums
so when we're taking a Tums
we're taking an alkalizing agent it's
it's like Calcium carbonate in Tums
which is a alkaline substance
and so whatever acid
our poor little stomach was trying to make
despite that Prilosec trying to prevent it
because that sphincter isn't closing
they're getting that heartburn sensation right
so uh oh let me take a Tums well
now I'm just completely
squelching any remaining acid that's in the stomach
it feels better but that's just because when it
when something is refluxing back into your esophagus
it's not acidic anymore to burn your esophagus
but it's the reflux is still happening
you're just not aware of it
because that sphincter is not closed okay
because it's too alkaline
so this generated a major blocker
so if you've been listening to the podcast
I talk about the three things that we have to do
to restore our health
so that our body stops making the migraines right
this is what we actually want
when I started getting chronic migraines
when I was staggering home every other day from work
barely you know
making it through the front door
like collapsing on the couch and my husband going oh
oh what's right
what happened right
and just forget about the rest of the evening right
what I wanted was not a medication
I didn't want an abortive medication
I wanted my body to not make these things
in the first place
that means we're restoring our health
when we are in a state of health
our body is not generating symptoms
like migraines or heartburn
or whatever it may be we just feel good right
we're living to our full potential
so there are three things that we have to do
to restore our health
and I call these things the three principles
so the first principle is
we have to get the nutrients that our cells need
to the cells
the second principle is
we have to clear metabolic waste
material and toxins from the body
from the cells and then from the body
and then the third principle is
we have to restore our resiliency and vitality
so that we can weather the migraine triggers that
that tip us into a migraine right
we wanna have enough resilience and vitality
so that we can be out in the sun
and a storm can come through
and we can be in a loud concert
and we can do all of these things
and not get tipped into a migraine right
so we're not gonna be able to get the nutrients
the minerals that our cells need to our cells
if we don't have adequate stomach acid
it's not gonna happen so
even before I really knew any details
about the case of these two women
because they told me that they were taking Prilosec
uh oh we might have a blocker here right
so this is the way that I look at things okay
you're not feeling good
your body's generating these migraines
and I'm sure a lot of other symptoms
so we're not in a state of health
your body wants to be in a state of health
more than anything okay
so I know
we need to have these three pieces in place
for your body to restore itself back to health
so that you can feel good again
but if your body isn't doing that
it's because there's a blocker or a missing piece
or something
not functioning properly within these three principles
so if you need to take a PPI
if you have to take a Tums
you are unfortunately you've put a blocker
within that first principle for yourself
because that PPI that Prilosec
that Nexium
is going to prevent your digestive tract's ability to
1 absorb your minerals properly into your bloodstream
if they don't get into your blood
they're not going to get to your cells okay
and so we've got a mineral absorption problem
but we also have a larger problem with the digestion
because it's not just about the minerals
we need that stomach acid to properly prepare the food
for the small intestine okay
so you know digestion starts in the mouth
you've probably heard that right
so our saliva starts there's enzymes in the saliva
the saliva starts to break the food down in the mouth
we swallow it the esophagus pushes it into the stomach
the stomach is making stomach acid
and churning it and getting it all mixed up
and start starting to break it down
that way when it goes into the small intestine
the pancreas squirts digestive enzymes
onto the food that are alkalizing okay
so we don't as soon as that acidic
you know the food all mixed up with that acid
as soon as that goes into the small intestine
the pancreas squirts all these enzymes on it
to neutralize all that acid
because your small intestine doesn't want an acidic
lump of food okay
it wants an alkaline properly prepared food
and then
the digestive enzymes come in and start further
breaking the food down
and different points within the small intestine
different things are absorbed okay
so this like like
we just can't dump the food in the small intestine
without it being properly prepared in the stomach
the other critical piece here frankly too
all that stomach acid
it kills the bugs that are in the food okay
our food is not sterile okay
so there's inevitably going to be viruses and bacteria
and you know
mold fungi right
it's gonna be in our food our food is not sterile
so don't you really wanna have like
a really strong acid in there to like
kill anything haha
kill the bugs that are in the food
the little bacteria
or there's like a little virus or a little
little mold spore in there or something
you wanna have enough acid to kill kill any of that
right we we don't want that we're just thinking about
I'd like to have a piece of pizza right
I don't wanna have this burning
when I'm having a piece of pizza
that's what we're thinking like
you know make that go away so I can eat tomato sauce
but all of these downstream effects okay
and I'm just talking about Prilosec okay
this is just one aspect of our digestion
and how we may have inadvertently
you know without realizing it
put this blocker or barrier into our digestion
so over the course of our work
together with both of these women
I have helped them restore their digestive function
okay so we want to get off of these PPIs
we want to have proper stomach acid production
we we wanna get that pH in the stomach
back to zero because they're feeling better okay
they're already feeling better
both of them already have much fewer migraines
and the severity of their day to day pain is much less
but I know
they're never going to get to their overall goals
if we can't get the nutrients into their body
we've got to have good digestive function
so over the course of our work together
I have very carefully
helped them restore their digestive function
and I say very carefully
because if you go at this gangbusters
if you go at this too heavy handed
and you have chronic migraines and daily head pain
you're going to have a real bad flare
trust me ask me how I know okay
so very carefully we've been working
on improving their digestive function
and they feel better one of them told me
I can't believe
I used to walk around all the time
just feeling so heavy so bloated nauseous
I just never felt good I would eat a little bit and ugh
right it just would never sit right
she said
I don't remember the last time I've had my lunch
had a sandwich in fact
she went out to lunch with her family
and they ate at like a Jimmy John's
I saw in her diet diary that she had
like a Jimmy John's type sub
and I thought wow
you know that's
that's a lot of food you know
and so I was
pretty excited to see that she was able to eat like a
like a Jimmy John's sub
and so when I talked to her that week
I asked her about it she said yeah
I I can't believe I was able to eat like a
like a Jimmy John's right
like I would I
I don't know when the last time I was able to eat like
a full sub sandwich right
and no uptick and heartburn stomach felt fine
wasn't bloated wasn't nauseous right
she said
I can't believe how good my stomach feels right
and she means like her whole like abdomen
her whole digestive tract
so these are indicators
that her digestion is functioning better
and I made the determination for both of these clients
that now they're ready right
they're ready
we're gonna start to wean off of the PPIs
if you do not wean off of PPIs
you're going to have well
I can't say that
you know for certain you're gonna have this
but most people are going to have horrible rebound
heartburn okay
and so we don't want that
so we have to very carefully wean down on the Prilosec
and so for both of these clients
we started this process this week
so that's why I thought I would talk about this topic
on the podcast today
so are your migraines
in some way connected to your heartburn
what do you think okay
so in a word uh yeah
they're connected in
the way that everything is connected within the body
right our body is a spectacular and miraculous
very very complex system
and so things are connected to each other
but what happens to people is at the beginning
right when the heartburn starts
what has happened for most people
what has happened is that their stomach
starts having difficulty making the stomach acid okay
so your stomach
needs to have nutrients
in order to make your stomach acid
it doesn't make your stomach acid out of Starbucks
Frappuccinos and unicorn dust
your stomach needs specific nutrients
to make the stomach acid okay
your stomach has to have enough cellular energy
or cellular vitality to make the stomach acid
and when it's trying to make stomach acid
if the cell is all littered with all this trash
all this metabolic waste material and toxins
it's not gonna function optimally right
like if the room is all full of trash
if it's like a scene from hoarders inside of ourselves
like things are not gonna go well in there okay
so what happens at the beginning for people
is these things start to decline
slowly over time and slowly over time
the stomach's ability
to make stomach acid starts to diminish
and so when it can no longer make enough stomach acid
to get that pH down to 1
and that sphincter isn't getting the signal to close
and it's staying open that's when the heartburn starts
okay so again
these three principles
they are required for the proper functioning
of every cell in the body
and so if one cell doesn't have
what it needs to function optimally
we don't just drop dead right
okay well
I got another 30 trillion cells
hopefully they can pick up the slack
but as things start to decline
then the cells start to struggle more and more
and then those cells that make up an organ
like your stomach
right now my stomach isn't functioning properly
if my stomach isn't functioning properly
and I'm not like
killing the bacteria and viruses and mold
that's in my food
and I'm not properly preparing it for the small
intestine and then I dump this bacteria laden food
that's not properly prepared for my small intestine
now my small intestine has to work even harder
to try to pick up the slack
but it really is not going to be able to
then I'm going to start to have bacterial overgrowth
in my small intestine it starts to snowball from there
okay but again
we don't think about things like that
we just want the heartburn to go away
and unfortunately what people do again
I know nobody wants to take medication
I know that
everybody knows that medication is just a Band Aid
so then what people do is
they go for the so called natural remedies okay
but like if you take baking soda okay
so a lot of people are like
oh well
I don't wanna take a Tums
I'll take baking soda right
that's that's natural
that's a natural remedy well again
baking soda is just it's not Calcium carbonate
but it's a you know
it's another alkalizing substance
that's just going to neutralize your stomach acid right
so the natural Band Aids right
they are really not getting to the root problem either
they're just sort of again
it's like a natural band Aid
instead of a medicine band Aid
or a medication Band aid
and it's really not getting to the root of the problem
so then people try these natural things
and then they say well I
you know I'm not getting relief and I gotta sleep
I can't be waking up in the middle of the night
with this heartburn right
and so they start taking Prilosec
that further diminishes
they're the absorption of those nutrients right
and here we go right
and 20 years later we struggle to eat food
we can't eat a Jimmy John sandwich
when we're out with our family
we eat a little bit and we
I feel heavy and bloated and we've got gas
and you know
I still have to take Tums
even though I'm taking a Prilosec
and now you know
10 years ago I started getting daily head pain
how'd that happen right
so all of these things are
are connected in this way
the good news is that you can turn these things around
so with my clients I'm using very individualized
natural therapies
so that we can get the digestive fire burning again
this is the thing we want to put food in the
in the digestive track
and then we want to increase the digestive fire
so that we can actually break the food down
and
as we start to break the food down a little bit better
we get in a little bit more nutrients into the body
and a little bit more and a little bit more
and now we start to generate an upward spiral
instead of a downward spiral
and
the more nutrients we can start to get into the body
the more waste material we're able to clear
the more vitality the body starts generating
and now we start to generate an upward spiral
and people start feeling better
even though they're taking the Prilosec
this is the thing
both of these clients are taking Prilosec
and they're still struggling with heartburn right
they're still not feeling good
and in fact it's not just heartburn
it's like I just don't feel good whenever I eat
right now they're actually feeling good
they can eat food right
and now we're on an upward spiral
and
we're talking about getting them off this medication
so I know once we get them off this medication
that upward spiral right now
the upward spiral is kind of like this
once we can get them off that Prilosec
and get their stomach acid properly functioning
getting that lining inside of the stomach rebuilt
getting the sphincter exercised again
so that it closes when it gets the signal right
we gotta get a little resistance training
a little weightlifting routine here
for this cardiac sphincter
once we do all of those things right
it their trajectory is gonna be like this okay
this is the type of care that we really need okay
I know that people are so fed up
with the standard medical model right
that people are so frustrated
going in to their doctor and just being well
now you're not handed a prescription anymore right
I'm I'm showing my Gen X roots right
I used
you used to go in and you used to get a piece of paper
not anymore right
they just send it right to your pharmacy
and you get the text from Walgreens
that your prescription is ready right
people don't want that right
we know that this is just a band aid
we know that this is not an actual solution
so if you're ready to actually have the solution
and you're ready to work with an expert
to get this turned around
I'm here for you book a consult call with me
it's a free call
these other two women book that call
and now they're on a life changing journey
to restoring their health
and so book that call
you can find the link in the description
and I will be more than happy to talk with you
I will ask you a little bit of information
about your health and if I can't help you
I will tell you that and if I can help you
I will tell you that too
so I hope this was helpful for you
I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial
on things like cardiac sphincters
and mucus linings in your stomach
etcetera etcetera
I hope it was interesting for you
and if you are on Prilosec or Nexium
these proton pump inhibitors
and you've been on them for a long time
are they impacting your migraines
absolutely they're impacting your migraines
and so let's get you off of these okay
let's get you eating pizza again
and tomato sauce on your pasta
and whatever other foods are irritating you
and let's do it and get you feeling better and get
get you out of these migraines too
alright so very good
let me know in the comments what what
so let me know in the comments if you're taking a PPI
and if you've ever tried to get off of them
and you've had that rebound OK
so again we have to do this in such a way
that you don't have that horrible rebound
you don't have to go through that
so very good thanks for joining me today
I will talk to you soon