Milk?

[JuliaL]

I had a reflux disease problem for years.

Took Tagamet for a while, got prescribed Nexium all the H2 inhibitors.
What the pharmacologists & physicians haven't taken or don't care to think about are classes in controls.
You have (or had) a working negative feedback loop between stomach acid and gastrin.
Gastrin causes an increase in acid secretion but it's activity is inhibited by low stomach pH.

http://www.academickids.com/encyclopedia...hp/Stomach

The hormone gastrin causes an increase in the secretion of HCl, pepsinogen and intrinsic factor from parietal cells in the stomach. It also causes increased motility in the stomach. Gastrin is released by G cells in the stomach to distenstion of the antrum, and digestive products. It is inhibited by a low pH (high acid), as well as the hormone somatostatin.

The standard treatments, buffers like calcium carbonate (Tums) or acid secretion reducers such as H2 anti-histamines or proton pump inhibitors (PPI) do increase stomach pH (decrease acidity) and symptoms but that just potentiates gastrin activity.  It's like putting an air conditioner in a room with a working furnace and trying to use it bring down the temperature.  The furnace kicks in and the two systems fight each other.  If you turn off the air conditioner, the turned up furnace overshoots and makes the room even hotter.

A  Danish study found that PPI use caused hyperacidity in healthy patients when treatment was stopped.
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2009/08/1...addictive/

Many physicians have assumed that people who suffer heartburn or reflux would naturally experience a return of their symptoms when they stopped a PPI. But an innovative new study from Denmark suggests a different explanation (Gastroenterology, July, 2009).

Researchers randomly assigned 120 healthy volunteers to receive either a PPI (Nexium) or a look-alike placebo. After eight weeks on the acid-suppressing drug, a placebo was substituted without the subjects’ knowledge. Heartburn symptoms were evaluated in both groups.

The people who had taken Nexium for two months suffered significant heartburn, indigestion and acid regurgitation after they were switched to placebo. The investigators concluded: “PPI therapy for 8 weeks induces acid-related symptoms in healthy volunteers after withdrawal.”

I can't fully recommend what worked for me.  It's not available to everyone. After years of discomfort, I removed the inciting cause.
I retired.  All symptoms disappeared within a couple months and have not returned after 5 years.
Antacids are a business worth billions. Where the agendas of physicians, big pharma, hospitals and insurance companies align against the patient, I know where I'm placing my bet.  If I were still a patient, I'd be trying to get or stay off of them.