Digestion of meats

I've seen it mentioned on this site that eating meat causes some people here problems. I'd like to share my own experience if I may. :)

Since I passed 40, I had to start watching what I ate. Greasy foods would cause indigestion, and last year, I started getting gastric reflux sometimes when I would try to eat some meats, especially fried chicken. It was quite distressing, but it did not burn. It was just neutral pH fluid coming up my throat from my stomach, making swallowing the food difficult.

I discovered in some reading I was doing that some people have abnormally low stomach acid secretion. This impairs their ability to digest proteins and fats, and causes indigestion, heartburn, and a host of other problems throughout the intestinal tract. The shortages of fatty acids and proteins impair all sorts of systems throughout the whole body and cause a cascade of failures of various sorts. Treatment is to take a supplement called betaine HCl, which is a powdered form of acid that lowers the pH of the stomach fluid so that digestion of fats and protiens can take place.

Since I had many of the symptoms of low stomach acid production, I decided to start taking the betaine HCl last February. I've been taking it with every meal since then, and have not had one incident of indigestion, excessive belching or the other symptoms I was experiencing- (except for the one time I ate some cheese cake and forgot the supplement. Boy, was I in pain! Severe abdominal cramping!) My fingernails have been fragile and bendable my whole life until now. Now they are strong and normal.

My father has had a "touchy" stomach his whole life. Sometimes he used to just stop eating for a day or two, when his stomach bothered him too much. I sent him a copy of the book I'd read, and he and my mother started taking the betaine HCl, and can eat normally again. He's probably where I got the condition from. My mother is simply taking it because of the normal decline in stomach acid production that happens as you age.

Something my oldest daughter said got me to wondering if she might have the same problem. A few years ago, she had complained of gastric reflux to the doctor, and he put her on Prilosec without even asking if the reflux burned or anything. I asked her. She was astonished. "You mean that stuff is supposed to burn???" I sighed. She'd spent half a year on acid blockers in her teens, when she should have been on acid supplements. She's of somewhat fragile health this year, but started taking the acid supplements and now takes more than I do. Her general health is getting better, and I expect when she's been taking it for over a year, then most of her substandardly constructed cells will have been replaced, and she'll be more normal in her resistance to injury and illness.

My other two children don't seem to have inherited this early low stomach acid condition, so they are lucky. My husband takes a pill when we eat something fatty, but otherwise doesn't need it yet.

I told my doctor about all this during my summer "well woman" exam- and she just shrugged it off. She was completely uninterested. I was astonished. I thought she'd be interested that possibly some of her patients could benefit from this treatment. I should have realized. Most doctors are more interested in conforming to what is "normal" treatment for illnesses, and thus avoiding malpractice suits than experimenting with something different.

Anyway, I just wondered if anyone else might see themselves in the list of symptoms for low stomach acid:

Bloating, belching, and flatulence immediately after meals
Indigestion, diarrhea, or constipation
Soreness, burning or dryness of the mouth
Heartburn
Multiple food allergies
Feeling nauseous after taking supplements
Rectal itching
Weak, peeling and cracked fingernails
Redness or dilated blood vessels in the cheeks and nose
Adult acne
Hair loss in women
Iron deficiency
Undigested food in the stools
Chronic yeast infections
Low tolerance for dentures

The most dramatic, but unanticipated, change was with my blood sugar levels. I used to have a problem with my blood sugar dropping too fast, too low and all the problems that arise from hypoglycemia. Within 3 days of taking the supplement, I stopped having blood sugar issues (which have plagued me for the last 10 years) and I can go much longer without food at a time now.

Also, I've had a chronic low level yeast infection for at least 20 years, and it completely disappeared within days of starting taking this stuff.

In addition, I can eat ANYTHING now. The only time I get that heavy, bloated feeling in my gut is when I misjudge how much HCl to take for the protein/fat content that I'm eating, take too little, and my insides protest.

I'm not suggesting that everyone who has trouble digesting meat will be helped by this supplement- but enough of what I read here about people's digestion problems sounds to me like what I had, that I thought this information might be helpful.

A warning, though. Most OTC pain killers thin the lining of the stomach, and if you are a regular consumer of such drugs, upping your stomach acid might hurt you. Please don't try taking this stomach acid supplement until you have been off such drugs for at least a week.

I think it's a shame that doctors routinely prescribe acid blockers for the stomach without even testing the stomach acid level of the people involved. Hypochloridia and Achloridia (low stomach acid and no stomach acid) are known ailments, and as you can see- the list of symptoms is much the same as high stomach acid. I blame the drug industry pushing their purple pills. Everyone is brainwashed into thinking indigestion = too much stomach acid. It's not always so, especially in older people whose levels are starting to decline anyway.

I hope I haven't bored everyone- but this really changed my overall health a LOT- and I hope someone here might benefit from my experience.