Life is too short to eat a bland diet. There are a select few things that I absolutely adore, and great food is one of them. A few years back before I began to monitor my general eating habits, I suffered from gastric reflux. My doctor at the time prescribed Tagamet (so this was before it was available over the counter) and a bland diet. I ate chicken broth, rice, potatoes, dry white toast, and plenty of other white empty carbohydrates that were supposed to keep acid reflux away. It didn’t work. I swallowed the Tagamet after every meal in order to be able to tolerate food of any kind. That was before I understood my body and how it metabolizes foods. I soon learned that taking the medication to control the acid in my stomach all the time killed all of the acid, even the amount that was necessary to break down food properly. I suffered many troubles before I finally figured out that a good dose of apple cider vinegar would neutralize the excess hydrochloric acid that gave me the horrible heartburn I felt after eating certain foods. It works for me even today. If I feel the burning sensation in my chest after a rich meal or one heavy in the white carbohydrates a so-called bland diet is filled with, I swallow a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar and the fire is put out. It is cheap. Even the top of the line organic variety of apple cider vinegar costs only a couple of dollars for a whole quart. A quart lasts me a whole year. No harm is done to my body from taking it, and it works like a charm. There are some cases, however, in which apple cider vinegar is too simple a band-aid to put on the problem. One such case is that of the hiatal hernia. I promised a practice member with a new diagnosis of hiatal hernia that I would do some research and let him know what I came up with. Maybe some of you have the same problem and can benefit from what I have learned.
Hernias occur when something protrudes through a hole. Sometimes that something is troublesome and sometimes it is not. Holes in tissue occur when tissue is too thin or too weak, and sometimes people are born with weak spots in their tissues causing hernias to be present at birth. The diaphragm is a smooth dome-shaped muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. There is a hole in the diaphragm called the hiatus and the esophagus passes through this opening to the stomach. When a portion of the stomach protrudes through this hole, this is called a hiatal hernia. Normally the hiatus allows only the esophagus to pass through it, but sometimes the muscles around the esophagus become weak and a portion of the stomach will slide through the opening. This in itself is not a major problem. In fact, the vast majority of hiatal hernias are completely without symptoms and people discover that they have them only incidentally. When hiatal hernias do cause a problem is in the event of gastric reflux, or the leakage of the strong hydrochloric acid from the stomach into the esophagus. This results in inflammation of the lower part of the esophagus and what is commonly referred to as heartburn. If you have ever suffered from it, you know that it is more than just uncomfortable and is often what leads people to the doctor to locate the hernia in the first place. Doctors recognize eight different varieties of hiatal hernias, but 90% of them are sliding hiatal hernias, or the ones where the junction of the esophagus and the stomach and a portion of the stomach itself slide up into the chest cavity when abdominal pressure is increased. Researchers believe that the Western diet, which is not fiber-rich, leads to chronic constipation and an inevitable chronic increase in abdominal pressure. This makes the incidence of hiatal hernias greater in our country according to some research teams.
Hiatal hernias tend to become more common in people as they age. Generally fewer than 10% of people under the age of 40 have them while an average of 70% of people over the age of 70 do. Muscle weakness and decreased elasticity tend to follow aging which explains the increase in hernias in people as they get older.
There is no treatment that is required to treat a hiatal hernia per se. If gastric reflux is a problem as the result of a hiatal hernia, then treatment of the reflux might be necessary. Surgical intervention is called for in a minute percentage of hiatal hernia sufferers, but generally not for the sliding type. Most often people are more comfortable if they reduce the acid production in their stomachs by avoiding the foods which irritate them. Cigarette smoking weakens the valve that opens the stomach, so smoking will make reflux worse if you tend to have it. If you do have a hiatal hernia, avoid heavy lifting or anything that makes you strain because straining increases abdominal pressure and will cause the hernia to move upward into the chest more than usual.
Many people feel that they have a disease when they are diagnosed with a hiatal hernia. It is not usually a great big deal, and as I mentioned before there is no required ongoing treatment for it. Listen to your body, try everything you can to reduce acid production in your stomach, and don’t panic most of all. It might not hurt to try a little apple cider vinegar if the notion strikes you. It could make a huge difference like it did for me or it might not help at all. It shouldn’t hurt. Either way, you win. Treat your body well.