Back to the Stone Age with Gastroesophageal Reflux and Chronic Fatigue!

Where should I begin: Ten thousand years ago, when the beginnings of modern agriculture began to alter the human diet? Eighteen or so years ago when I first began to suffer from Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)? A couple of years later when I started the tablets for GERD that I have taken ever since? Eighteen months ago when I was struck by a virus that led into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)? Six months ago when the CFS was diagnosed and I began therapy to manage the condition? Five days ago, when the latest in an occasional but on-going and devastating series of nighttime GERD attacks caused me to go back to the doctor? Or this morning, when on the Doctor’s advice, I ceased my daily GERD tablets in preparation for a blood test?

I had mixed feelings about coming off the tablets that control my GERD symptoms. I hate having to take them, but previous attempts to reduce the dose have always resulted in an immediate return of acute symptoms and a return to the tablets. Now with the all-consuming condition of CFS to contend with, I am even less inclined to take the risk. But this morning, when my wife reminded me to take my tablet, I broke the news to her that I was coming off it for a few days. She was as apprehensive as I was, she knows how hideous my reflux attacks can be and the idea of removing the pharmaceutical line of defence does seem crazy. Added to that, my own minimal research, (the first Google result) suggested that the blood test is of very limited use as a positive result, can indicate an historic as well as a current infection of Helicobacter Pylori.

In this depressing state of affairs, the third Google result was far more appealing: ‘Get rid of heartburn and GERD forever in three simple steps’. Of course, I am far to old and cynical to believe the headline, but I’m also inquisitive enough to follow the link. The page turns out to be one of a series of articles by Chris Kesser suggesting, broadly speaking, that GERD is caused, or at least exacerbated, by low levels of stomach acid. If this is true, then my tablets are actually perpetuating my GERD, while keeping the symptoms under control. But why would pharmaceutical companies produce a drug that actually prolongs the condition it treats? Could they be motivated by the desire to sell more drugs, rather than the desire to alleviate human suffering? Reluctantly I have to admit it: this does seem to be in keeping with corporate business philosophy.

In truth, the idea that corporations will ever operate for the public good, is based on, as Douglas Adams would put it, three things: ignorance, stupidity and nothing else. But getting worked up about injustices that one is powerless to address is a dead-end street, particularly for a CFS sufferer with a very limited daily energy allowance. So I put the phrase ‘The love of money is the root of all evil’ to the back of my mind, and carried on reading. As I did so, I was occasionally aware of a vague sensation of bells ringing. Some of the ideas expressed in the article seemed familiar. In a world of ‘Solve All Your Problems Now’ headlines, it is ever more important to give credence to these little hints.

The article seemed to have areas of crossover with ‘Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ by Dr Sarah Myhill, a book I began reading some weeks ago and which, despite finding very interesting and potentially useful, also contained detailed technicalities in which I got bogged down. Now, I revisited it. Both the book and the article discussed unwanted bacterial proliferation in the upper gut, the book details the importance of vitamin and mineral nutrition, while the article points to the function of stomach acid in enabling absorption of these vitamins and minerals. Most of all, both the book and the article promote the value of the Paleo or ‘Stone Age’ diet in combatting both GERD and CFS.

Now, I am an ex-programmer. And a programmer is always looking for ways to create generic functions which can be used to solve multiple problems. As well as pointing to possible links in the causes of GERD and CFS, my reading was now offering me a possible solution to both. I can resist launching an anti-corporate pharmaceuticals campaign, but I can’t resist this, I have to give the Stone Age diet a try!