GERD - Acid Reflux self-treat,emt technique

[Guest guest]

A bit of background before I describe the technique.

My wife suffers (and I do mean suffers) from GERD – Acid Reflux

disease. She had the " scrape the espophagus " routine done the first

time ten years ago, a second session 18 months later and a third one

three years after that. After the third go-round, she told her

doctor " Enough already – just fix it. " This led to laproscopic

surgery to repair a hietal hernia about five years ago. In total, it

has been a solid dozen years worth of Tums, Pepcid AC and Nexium.

We are not talking simple heartburn here.

The only reason she stopped taking the Nexium (which provided the

most " traditional " relief for her) was that our insurance company

(with their infinite store of medical knowledge) decided she had

taken it long enough and stopped covering it. Go figure.

At the time I was taking that Visceral Manipulation class about a

month ago, her GERD was really flaring on her. By flaring I mean

that her nightly routine at minimum required at least two Tums to

settle the acid before she could get to sleep. On bad nights, it

also meant throwing up. Bad nights outnumbered the good by at least

three to one.

I had been done with the class for about a week when she said " You

do that thing you learned on me NOW. It's either that or I get an

appointment to try to get a refill on the Nexium. " I did two simple

techniques I learned and showed her how to do one of them on

herself. That was a bit over three weeks ago.

In the last three weeks, her symptoms have been reduced (in her

words) by at least 90 percent. I am going to have her add some

comments here herself as to exactly what she has experienced

symptomatically in terms of taking anything at all, throwing up, etc.

(Darlene) Before the treatment, the regular nightly routine was to

take a Pepcid AC before getting in bed. After laying down about 5

minutes, the acid would start backing up. I would sit up and take 2

Tums and wait 5 minutes before laying down again. Most nights that

would be enough. At least 2 times a week it would mean rushing to

the bathroom to throw up. The last night I threw up so hard it put

my back out.

After the treatment, which only took about 5 minutes, I went to bed

and waited for the inevitable. After about 30 minutes, a small

amount of acid backed up. I did the self- treatment while still

laying in my sleeping position, and it stopped. Just like that… it

stopped. Over the next week, the attacks were smaller and smaller,

and I was able to make them stop almost immediately, much faster and

more reliable than the Tums. There have been at least 3-4 times

over the past 3 weeks that there was no acid at all. I think those

nights were the times when I had been demonstrating the technique to

someone during the daytime.

The difference has been that I can go to bed and go right to sleep.

If I feel a bit of acid, I just " push the button " and it stops. I

don't even have to change positions. In the last three weeks since

getting the first treatment, I have taken nothing at all – literally

nothing at all, not even ONE Tums.

(Back to Mike). Was this worth the $500 it cost me to take the

class? We think so. If things continue the way they have started,

I/we will get that " investment " back within the next year or so just

from not having to buy Tums, Pepcid or Nexium. (That's from my

former money-grubbing mind-set days.) I have a hunch that Darlene's

view would be more like the credit card commercial – Priceless.

The technique itself is deceptively simple, requiring no more than

either a thumb or one finger-tip.

We will start with a description of the location. In medical terms,

it is called the gastroespohogeal junction. Specifically, this is

where the esophogagus (yeah, I know, it is a typo but it is so

appropriate I don't feel like changing it) passes through the

diaphragm. There is a hole in the diaphragm called the esophogeal

foramen. That hole can get stretched out of shape allowing a piece

of the upper stomach wall to slip through and get pinched creating a

hietal hernia. It also affects the positioning of the esophogeal

sphincter or valve. This valve is a one-way valve that allows

downward movement of whatever through the esophagus while preventing

back-flow from the stomach. When the valve does not properly seal,

acid can flow from the stomach up into the esophagus, generally when

in a reclining position. Over time in cases of GERD, this acid will

literally eat a hole in the esophagus.

The actual location is two centimeters to the left of the xyphoid

process. The xyphoid is that small, lumpy bone at the base of the

sternum. If you can't feel it, don't panic, not everyone has one –

it's another one of those medical mysteries why some people have it

and others don't. Either way, simply place your left thumb so the

medial edge/corner of the tip is at the base of the sternum. In

this position, your thumb pad will be right on top of the junction.

Now, with your thumb in that position, bend forward slightly (maybe

5-10 degrees) at that point and press in with your thumb using

medium-firm pressure. Step two is to then simultaneously extend

your back (again maybe 5-10 degrees past the center line) with a

slight rotation of your shoulders toward the right while applying a

stretch with your thumb on a line down toward your left hip. There

are three pieces to this – extension, rotation and stretch, all done

at the same time. Hold that position for 30-60 seconds or until you

get relief. While you are doing all of this you might as well add

some visualization and " intention " to it to energetically increase

the effectiveness.

Does this provide a cure? Don't know yet – too early to tell – but

the preliminary results from only three weeks are sure encouraging.

At this time, I am looking at it like I did my own headache problem

a couple of years ago. It took about three months for me to go

symptom free using acupressure. I suspect we may see the same kind

of thing here for my wife – a steady diminishing of symptoms and

hopefully GERD gone totally bye-bye in time. But even if it

doesn't " cure " the problem, it seems to be bringing it under control

and without using meds. As far as that goes, Tums and Pepcid don't

cure the problem either.