Hello. I’m looking for some insight into what I believe may actually be low stomach acid. About 2 years ago, I started suffering from chronic heartburn and difficulty swallowing. I had an upper endoscopy done that revealed tightening of the esophagus, an ulcer, and that the lining of my stomach resembled a scraped knee, per my doctor. He recommended I start on Nexium for 6 weeks to treat everything. After 8 weeks on Nexium there was no change, so my primary care doctor switched me to Zantac, which I have been on ever since. I’ve had a lot of success with the Zantac but I don’t want to be on medication forever. I tried to stop the Zantac to see if my problems had gone away but I’m still experiencing frequent heartburn and recently the difficulty swallowing again. This happens regardless of whether I eliminate reflux “trigger” foods or not. I’ve started to question whether my issue is actually low stomach acid instead of high stomach acid after doing some research online. After all this time on medication for high stomach acid, I would think the issues would be resolved by now.
My question is - is there any way to be sure if I have high or low acid? If it sounds like low acid, what can I do to fix it? Thanks in advance for any guidance.
My question is - is there any way to be sure if I have high or low acid? If it sounds like low acid, what can I do to fix it? Thanks in advance for any guidance.
