Apple Cider Vinegar Treatment for Acid Reflux

I did not actually hear about this remedy on this site but have tried the ACV out of pure desperation to cure heartburn and I am a firm believer! I had heartburn for weeks, chewed up an entire large bottle of antacids to no avail. I took 1 tbsp of vinegar and before the awful taste was out of my mouth my heartburn was GONE! It did not return for many months and I repeated the ACV dose. It's been a year and a half and I've had 4 doses of the ACV and it does such a great job removing the heartburn pain!

I had a cold/bronchitis for a few weeks, and then developed a severe case of acid reflux on top of that. I had a violent, persistent and productive cough, lost my voice, and was exhausted because I couldn't sleep because of the coughing. I started taking Prilosec OTC but it didn't help. Out of desperation, I tried taking some Apple Cider Vinegar after finding this site. I had immediate improvement the night I took it and was finally able to get some rest. I continued taking it once in morning and once at night, and now I'm not coughing at all and the reflux is gone. I'll be honest, it didn't feel very pleasant going down, but a few minutes after I took the first dose, I noticed improvement. Thanks to everyone who said it worked and mentioned how much and how often they took it.

I have suffered from reflux for years and heard about apple cider vinegar so thought I'd give it a try. My wife bought some home and I was actually suffering severe pain from reflux when she arrived. 2 teaspoons later and I am sitting here completely cured. Thankyou sooooo much!

I had an extreme attack of reflux, to me anyway. I mean it burned from the middle of my chest, all the way up my throat halfway! And the pressure was uncomfortable. I downed 5 exta strength Tums...that didn't work. I took one of my wife's protonix...didn't work. So I searched under natural cure for acid reflux. your site came up after a few sales sites. So I tried ACV, and as I'm writing this, the pain and weirdness is going away slowly...a little. It's definitely not as bad.

hi everybody, apple cider really solve my acid stomach acid problem immedately. Million tks, earth clinic.

over a year ago i was diagnosed with severe larynx acid reflux.it was causing sores on my vocal box,chronic coughing, post nasal drip,& etc. i was prescribed prilosec, it helped some but then it stopped working. then i was prescribed nexium which also helped some for awhile then stopped. so then i was prescribed nexium in the morning and zantac150 at night but of course this also stopped working i started taking organic apple cider vinegar 2 tablespoons at night and i am completely off of all the prescriptions i was put on. and it works better than any of the other ever did.plus my sinuses have cleared up,no more coughing,no voice loss, and as an extra plus no more hot flashes at night.

ACV cured my acid reflux as soon as I took my first dose with grape juice. I've been taking PRILOSEC for a year and it wasn't working anymore. I found this site and am so relieved to have a good nights sleep.Thanks so much Earth Clinic for the info.

Here's my story if anybody cares to read it. Labor Day 2005 my wife and I were watching TV and all of a sudden I was having chest pains really bad. i told my wife she was going to have to take me to the hospital. She had to get her clothes on and by the time she changed her clothes and said lets go I told her I didn't think I could make it so she called 911 and they were here in about 3 minutes. They treated me like I was having a heart attack. Baby aspirin, nitro etc.and I thought I was too. They took me to the hospital in the ambulance after treating me at home for about 45 minutes and I was there for 3 days and had all kinds of tests run. The next day after all those tests they told me to go home because they couldn't find anything wrong with my heart.The total bill was over $15,000.00. My primary Dr. told me he thought it was acid reflux and gave me a prescription for prevacid that cost $134.00 and I refused to get it filled. I came home and got on the internet and googled acid reflux and found this site and started using apple cider everytime I felt a 100 lb grandchild sitting on my chest (or that's what it felt like). In just a couple of minutes after taking a teaspoon of apple cider vingar straight the pain was gone. And it has worked everytime since. THANKS FOR THIS WEB PAGE AND ALL THE INFO FOUND HERE. Perry from Phoenix

Dear friends: I was suffering of acid reflux for months, the doctors game me prevacid,the reflux got worse and gave me a horrible diarrhea.I took acv and after two days it was gone, now i add two tbs of liquid chlorophyl to the drink. I feel just peachy. thank you.

Cwk, ACV nor Betaine HCI never worked for me. I had to buy OTC products for relief and it was horrible heartburn! For another reason, I had allergy testing done for metals as I had a titanium implant that was hurting and drs could see no reason for it to hurt. Also had other metals in my mouth as well. Found out I was extremely allergic to nickel, cobalt, vanadium and chromium. I had the implant replaced with ceramic last week in Dallas and that evening I was dreading eating my soup for dinner. Because I knew I would have to chew an antacid and that would be difficult after surgery. But I ate the soup and nothing! No heartburn since, and other weird symptoms are gone too. So, if you have had any medical or dental implants, that could be a possibility? Silver fillings? It's not a fun, nor cheap things to undertake, but getting rid of all that metal and now detoxing has made a big difference. I also had 8 root canals, 2 of which was infected, but could not be seen by an xray. Only upon extraction was it found. Thermogram also confirmed an infection with drainage into my lymph nodes showing a hot spot. Hope this helps you, I know your pain. Good luck!

I just had a Nissan Fundoplication surgery recently. But I still have GERD. I had to get off the Prilosec so started taking apple cider vinegar. It is working well. However my understanding is that after 3-9 months on ACV the GERD should be cured. Providing you routinely avoid foods that trigger GERD. I think you are having a rebound effect from continuing to take the ACV.

hi, can I ask how long it took to help with the heartburn & reflux please been a few days & still not feeling great. Should I give it more time???

You can have the bacteria, h-pylori. It's so painful & Apple Cider Vinegar stops working. Get a breath test. The cure is antibiotics or supplements. I have done both. I prefer the natural way. Take 2 supplements, pyloricin & I forget the name. It has mastic gum, zinc carnosine & a few others in it. Take it for a month & you feel normal again.

I did ACV and baking soda for a year. Got off prescription. Keep it up.

For the women out there, be careful with drinking it 3 times a day. I did this when I first started using Apple Cider Vinegar and it gave me a yeast infection.

You are supposed to take the Apple Cider Vinegar with 8 oz glass of water. That should work better for you.

Hi I was experiencing acid reflux for a long time. I believe it to be caused by years of taking glucosamine, omega 3, vitamin c, bayer 81 low dose, calcium and vitamin every day for years on an empty stomach. I had recently stopped the aspirin but I also drank a lot of coffee and ate late at night. Anyway last Sunday I started getting a burning pain in my stomach on the right side between my navel and my breast bone. By Monday it was still there worsening when I ate. I went to the doctor, he had me do a cat scan and sonogram. Both came back negative. He started me on opremezol and told me I neEd to have an endoscopy to see what's wrOng. I took it for two days and stopped because I did not like the way it made me feel and was reading how bad it is for you.

I tried the vinegar last night and today. I took it when I woke up. I was fine until noon after lunch. I started getting a lot of burning but I am not sure what caused it. I took some vitamin d and had a juice of greens with some ginger. My stomach was burning like crazy but all of a sudden it just stopped and now I feel better than I have in a very long time. Should I continue with the vinegar? Did it burn because it's just starting to work and now it's ok.? I am so afraid to do more harm to my body. But I am liking all I am reading on here and feel so much better right now. Is vitamin d bad when your stomach is like this? I heard vitamin d deficiency causes reflux. I also took the vinegar teaspoon straight last night and my teeth feel sensitive today. Are they damaged? Please help.

And if you take the ACV straight rinse your mouth with water right after because the AVC weakens your tooth enamel.

Dear Jacqueline,

It is discouraging that it seems to be taking more and more vinegar to get the results. I tend to think that you would get to a point of too much of a good thing. I personally would not want to be taking more than 4 T. Ideally, 2 T. per day or less.

When I was using ACV for reflux in pregnancy, I just had some ACV in my water and sipped it all day. I would tend to think it is best taken between meals, but you may need to just try different things and see how you do.

Have you tried other things? Making sure you are well hydrated, limiting things like coffee and soft drinks, eating less processed foods, smaller meals, etc. are all things that could be helpful.

Is it possible that your gall bladder is involved in any way? When I have a gall bladder flare up, I have reflux symptoms. Recently, when I had the flu, I had a terrible flare up that responded to nothing and had me about out of my skin in pain. I used a castor oil pack over my gall bladder area with a heating pad and the pain resolved in 20 minutes. I kept the castor oil pack on for several hours.

Just some thoughts. I hope you be feeling very well soon.

~Mama to Many~

Hi, I had a serious reflux and the helicobacter, ulcers, doctors put me on nexium which ruined my body, this sucks the important acid from your body. I went on a research trail, and came across a fabulous book called 'hard to stomach'. I started on L Glutamine, and took a good mineral supplement before I took these tablets I had a camera the doctor told me the scars would not heal, and even taking antibiotics might not help, then I started on a strict no fat diet and took l glutamine and minerals when I went back to get the camera the doctor said he was amazed the stomach he seen before was not the same the ulcers were gone and my reflux healed. Best of luck

I just started this today, because my Omeprazole is no longer working for me. Too soon to know if it's helping. I have one question. Should I stop taking the Omeprazole if I continue, or use both.

Hi Julie...ACV is good for many things and it will certainly help with reflux symptoms. Your problems are probably caused by low stomach acidity -- not too much acidity.

But ACV is not the cure for reflux. I define a cure as when you take a substance or nutrient for a while and your symptoms go away. And then, when you stop taking that nutrient, the problem does not come back. If you take ACV then you are just treating the symptoms by just increasing stomach acidity -- but you are not treating the core reason for your reflux problem, which is lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. So that's why when you stop taking the ACV the reflux usually comes back because you still have the low stomach acid problem.

When you supplement ACV or even ordinary vinegar you are simply adding or increasing the acidity of the gastric acid. This certainly helps to increase the acidity of the stomach but doesn't actually heal your problem -- which is due to lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.

So do you want to heal your problem completely or do you prefer to take ACV for the rest of your life to accommodate your symptoms ?

If you have low stomach acid then taking Omeprozole -- a gastric acid inhibitor -- will lower your stomach acid levels even more. This is probably the worst thing you could take if you already have low stomach acid problems.

If you want to actually confirm whether you have low stomach acid(causing the reflux problem) then you should ask your doctor for the Heidelberg Test. This test measures the actual strength of your stomach acid.

To cure your stomach acid problem you should follow the protocol shown here on EC.

I have been trying apple cider vinegar for acid reflux the past 2 weeks and I have to give it 2 thumbs up! I take 2 teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar in warm water a half hour before eating. Wow, what a difference in my digestion and no more acid reflux! Oh and people are asking if I've lost weight. Guess I look better.

Hi! Do you have to use warm water with ACV for acid reflux? I have been suffering for a month now and the medicines I tried like omeprazole and pantopraloze only made my feeling worse after a temporary relief. I always feel week all day, would like to vomit, I can't wait and I have nausea. I tried 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar in warm water upon waking up this morning and it has already improved my condition. I pray that this would be the cure for me. -)

ACV works! I started taking ACV for my prostate problems (worked for that too) and then noticed the reflux had gone away too! Wow how cool is that, what an amazing little home remedy this is. I'm using about 1 and a half tablespoons in juice once or twice a day.

Tina, Lifelong acid reflux can be cured by eating probiotic rich foods like home-made kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut and lacto-fermented veggies. Kefir especially is incredible since it goes into the gut and re-colonizes by adding more good bacteria to your body. Much needed!

See here http://culturedfoodlife.com/ to make cheaply at home, or buy BUBBIES brand sauerkraut and dill pickles since they are loaded with probiotics.

Take ACV too.

You should feel brand spanking new in no time.

Tina

Bill from San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines- Is there anyway we could talk? Would want to chat and gain more information from you about this condition I have and which has taken over my life. I stay and live in Manila. It would be much appreciated to hear from you. Have been suffering from really really bad laryngeal-pharyngeal reflux or silent reflux.

Hi Sealbeachluvr... The reason ACV has worked to help with your Reflux problem is because ACV is acid. To help you understand this, a short simple description on how digestion works will help.

* When food enters the stomach, the hydrochloric acid secreted by the stomach normally works to kill all the bacteria and the protein-digesting stomach enzymes(pepsin) partially digest the food with the muscles around the stomach helping to mash and breakup the food. The purpose of this stage is to fully prepare the food for the next stage -- main stage duodenal digestion in the upper intestines.

* When the stomach acid is at the correct strength -- and only when it is at the right acid strength -- a hormone is released into the blood called secretin which in turn triggers the secretion of the pancreatic enzymes in a solution of bicarbonate(alkaline) into the duodenum for main stage digestion.

* If the stomach acid or food chyme mixture in the stomach is not at the correct acid strength (low acid) then the pancreatic enzymes and juices will not be triggered and released for main stage digestion(alkaline) in the duodenum and the acid food mixture (chyme) will just sit there in the duodenum stagnating, rotting and fast breeding bad pathogens with associated spread of pathogens into the upper intestines leading to further problems later. This also causes reflux.

* Another twist to this problem is if your body also lacks bicarbonates. As already described, your pancreas needs stores of bicarbonates to neutralize the acid food coming into the duodenum from the stomach. So if you are lacking bicarbonate stores, the acid food passing into the duodenum will not be neutralized and, again, acid intestine and reflux will be the result.

Therefore two things become apparent:

* You must ensure that your stomach acid levels are at their correct strength and amounts for proper and complete digestion to occur.

* You must have adequate stores of bicarbonates in the pancreatic juices to fully neutralize the acid chyme or food when it passes from the stomach into the duodenum for main stage digestion.

It is also fairly obvious to me that the reason ACV helps against acid reflux is because it is acid -- so this helps to increase your stomach acidity which is what you need to do.

You have already said that your doctor gave you some pills for your reflux. Generally doctors give PPIs (proton pump inhibitors) which actually work to massively inhibit stomach acid because doctors always seem to incorrectly assume that reflux is caused by too much stomach acid, when in fact the direct opposite is true in 90% of reflux problems -- which is usually caused by too little acid in the stomach -- as I have already described above.

To help remedy your problem:

* Take betaine hydrochloride tablets at mealtimes. The way to find the correct dose of betaine(and thereby find the correct stomach acid strength) is to increase the dose slowly by one tablet at mealtimes until there is an acid feeling. Then cut back by one or two tablets. Later you will again get an acid feeling so cut back again. Do this until you no longer have to take the betaine hydrochloride tablets -- your stomach acid is now normal.

* Take pancreatin enzymes to ensure proper digestion in the duodenum.

* Take 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt with water once or twice a day outside mealtimes. The chloride from the Sea Salt helps to generate hydrochloric acid (HCl) which may be lacking in your stomach. Sea Salt also provides your body with other useful minerals.

* Take 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate(Arm & Hammer brand is fine) with water a half an hour after you finish each of your daily meals when all the food has moved out of the stomach into the duodenum. This greatly aids alkaline main stage digestion in the duodenum and also helps to replenish bicarbonate stores in the pancreas. This will also act to reduce the reflux and will also help to reduce the burning acid pain.

* To increase your appetite take B Complex vitamins everyday.

Absolutely! I tried the ACV (the mother kind) and it made my problem much worse. I have to take nexium because of a stomach surgery I had a few years ago. I have plenty of acid believe me... Lol. Acid reflux is absolutely no fun, especially if it happens in the middle of the night and goes up your nostrils or into your brochials. That happened to me two nights ago even with the Nexium that I take.

I am now onto a few things that I am trying for another condition. One of the things I am using is Tumeric and first tried it last night. Last night was the first night without any reflux symptoms at all! I am hoping I stumbled onto something that also works for my stomach.

my friend, bicarbonate soda and molasses syrup, which brings the acid down in your body.

And cures cancer and alot more. But you have to look at your diet mate also, or colloidal silver, which will build your immune system up. And also kill off many major diseases too.

Good luck god bless

What are you talking about when you mention ppi? I do not know what this acronym is.

I plan to give the ACV a try today. Acid reflux has just started and I really hate the idea of getting onto prescription drugs to solve this.

Love this site.

I have just started taking acv. My mother has been using it for over a year and it has seemed to control her acid reflux. I am not sure how, but this seems to do the trick. I cannot STAND the taste of it, so I started off with half a bottle of water, a teaspoon of avc, a teaspoon of honey, and a powdered flavor I can mix in the water. I love it. ACV also cures different types of infections, helps menopause systems, etc etc! It's the magic trick! It won't do you any harm, I encourage you to try this.

Sherry,

ACV 2 tablespoons in 8oz of lukewarm water 2-3 times daily (empty stomach or between meals) helped me with acid reflux.

Aloe vera juice has also been very useful, when at times I felt the ACV was too harsh and felt like it was burning my stomach.

Reduce/eliminate sugar, meats, flour and fried foods from your diet for a few weeks as you do this and your system will re-balance itself out.

I do AVC for 4-5 days and am cured for months on end. The acid reflux will pop its head out again if I am not careful with diet and I have learned to in the long run eat what my body needs hence elminating this issue altogether.

Good luck, T

Countrygrl, lemon juice will also stop acid reflux if you don't like ACV. Lemon juice has many nutritional benefits as well.

Those reflux meds you are on are very dangerous for you (research it). I would stop those cold turkey if I were you.

Hi, I have extremely bad acid reflux. I have been taking 2 Nexium 40 mg twice a day. It is not helping me at all. I have chest pain, soar throat and burping all the time. I have this symptoms after I eat breakfast until I go to bed. Since 5 days ago because of this site I take ACV twice a day with honey and two digestive enzyme plus one Nexium in the morning after breakfast. I am skinny and I don't eat very much because of my acid reflux. My question is how long the Acv takes to heal acid reflux? How long I have to drink it before I see any sign? I am still suffering very badly.

Let me clarify the following for you: "ACID TO TREAT AN ACID CONDITION". To begin with, imagine a valve that separates your stomach acid from your esophagus. Now suppose I were to tell you that mother nature designed your body in a such a way THAT THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF THIS VALVE IS CONTROLLED BY THE PH LEVEL OF YOUR STOMACH. That is, when you are hungry and about to eat, your stomach secretes a lot of HCL acid in order to digest your food. This valve actually stays shut if the PH level of your stomach is very acidic thus preventing acid from damaging the upper portion of your body. If you do not secrete enough stomach acid (some people are born with this condition) then the acidity level in your stomach is not sufficient to keep this valve properly shut. The results is GERD.

SOLUTION: Take the stomach acid test to determine if you secrete enough HCL acid. If it is always to low then that is the cause of your GERD and you should consider taking HCL Betaine supplements. Believe me I use to have GERD although not as severe as you and when I consumed HCL betaine capsules, I immediately felt that suddenly there is no large amount of mucous being constantly secreted inside my throat. Also I notice that my tongue always stays red instead of always being coated with this white mucous stuff. That is how I know that ACID can treat an ACID condition. Hope that helps you! Mike

Noahthree,

I am also a singer. I use my talents often, especially at school, churches and benefit concerts. I was also diagnosed with GERD. Mine was diagnosed as to from too much eating, caffeine cunsuption, etc. They also discovered that the lower esophageal sphincter to my stomach is erroded, so it won't close. That is what is causing my GERD. In the exam, the DRs giving me the exam, said that they had NEVER seen GERD react as fast as mine - the moment it hit my stomach, up went the acid. I did Prilosec, Zantac, etc. I was still having GERD while on those meds. I then did research on ACV. It's harsh but I don't have any issues with GERD when I take it. So much cheaper and it's better for you.

Also, I ruptured my vocal chords when I wasn't diagnosed with pneumonia for 12 weeks and from all the coughing caused the rupture. I thought that I would have problems with ACV and my voice but that hasn't happened. I just feel better taking ACV. This stuff is amazing. I know that this sounds ridiculous and made up but it isn't. I really hope that this helps with your questions and concerns...

I just did a test with apple cider vinegar (ACV). One tall glass with 2T of ACV. When I drank the first have my PH read 6.75. Then I down the last half and put the PH strip under my tounge where my saliva comes out so I am testing the saliva and not the liquid that remained on my tongue. The result was 7.25.

When I first was experimenting with an Alkaline diet with PH drops, I had acid reflux. My PH pointed to alkaline, but I couldn't hold my food down. I was in England at the time and I thought it was the over priced British cuisine (ie hot dog stand) turns out you guys are right, it is due to too much alkalinity not acidity.

A lot of professionals say a lot of weird things or just don't know. Sometimes I have to google the answers for my doctor so they would stop arguing with me. Proof is in the PH strip not always in our common logic.

Mike from Montreal, Try half a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar (the one sold at health food stores) in a glass of water half hour before you eat. I read this in the book Take Control of your health and Escape the Sickness Industry by Elaine Hollingsworth, her website is www.Doctorsaredangerous.com My husband had the same problem and the first time he took it the cure was immediate.

Yes, it works!!! I discovered a "tweak" I am adding at the end of my little blurb. My reflux problem was fairly severe and had plagued me for about 15 years. The ACV keeps it in check and I consider myself lucky to have found this site. I started taking it about 6 months ago after reading the information on this site. I followed Ted's protocol of 5 days on; 2 days off. It took about 2 weeks to really make a difference and when I stopped taking it again, foolish thinking I was cured, it started gradually coming back. I took it regularly for several months and then tended to forget to take the regular dose. What I found works well for me is to simply take it when I remember to without serious regard to the protcol. Sometimes it is 3 times in a day, sometimes once or twice in a day - sometimes it is every day, other times there are a few days between my doses. I went on a 2 week road trip in this summer and was not able to take any for those 2 weeks. Apparently as long as I take it reasonably regularly, it works despite my not following the protocol religiously.

I would highly recommend starting Ted's protocol, then adjusting it to your body's needs. I suspect there will be variations in how it works for each individual according to age, gender, weight, metabolism and so on. Mixing the ACV 1 glass at a time is a bit of a pain, so I got myself a 1 litre jug and marked off the 75 ml (or 1/3 cup) then put 1 tsp ACV in a filled with 750 ml (3 cups) water. This way I don't have to mix so often. I found I prefer it slightly acidic as opposed to tasting the baking soda.

Now for my "tweak": I found if I pour the water in with the ACV, then add the baking soda last and slap a tight-fitting cap on before the baking soda starts to foam up. What happens is you have now created a carbonized beverage that almost (emphasis on almost) tastes good. Hope this helps you as much as it did me. My sincere Thanks to Ted. Steener from QB, Canada

I have the same problem as you and I was wondering if you drank just the Apple Cider Vinegar alone? I want to try it but I'm on prilosec can you take them together?