Bon, I haven't had anything to add to this thread since I have no experience with GERD, but just wanted to say that I hope you are successful in getting the right medical diagnosis and then are successful in doing all the right things to correct the issue as well as you can in the most natural manner possible. My older brother suffered from ulcerative colitis for years without ever getting the right diagnosis until he was in either the later high school years or the early college years. (Granted, we didn't have the internet back then, so it was really hard to dig and research and find answers on your own way back then in the Dark Ages.) It is amazing how well most digestive issues can be managed nowadays with diet, some sophisticated medicines, etc. I am confident y'all will have success overcoming this health issue. Re: Pickles. Cucumbers are just that way. Tiny one day, gigantic Godzillas the next. I have to pick twice daily to catch them all while they are at the appropriate size for pickling, even though I normally do not make pickles daily. Well, I pickled cucumbers yesterday and I pickled peppers today, but I do not routinely pickle something every single day. Amy, I do find it interesting that the saltiness of brined and fermented foods often is not mentioned. I wonder why that is? I don't know if it is just because the people who eat those kinds of foods are so used to the salt that they don't think to mention it to others or if there is some other reason. We don't use a lot of salt in cooking, so when I ferment something, I do notice the higher salt levels when I eat it. Dawn

Thank you for the lesson on soap and water, cynic. I assure you I do bathe regularly with both and still like to use deodorant. The purpose of my post was to give an alternative to the many people who think that anti-perspirants are unhealthy. I get that most people aren't interested but there are some who are. Clogging up one of the body's major detoxification points in order to smell powder fresh all day is certainly a popular choice but there are alternatives out there. This combination is working beautifully for me. I have absolutely no smell at all since I put it on this morning, with no rash or irritation. And while I agree that sometimes people can't smell themselves, I definitely can because that's how I knew that other ones I previously tried over the last few weeks didn't work, lol. Between that, and brutally honest friends, I am assured that what I've found works for me. In the end, it's up to everyone to make their own decisions. I try not to use anything on my body that I couldn't eat if I wanted to because that's what I feel is the healthiest way to live. And yes, I am a worrywort. Have you seen the recent cancer statistics? Something like 1 in 3 will be diagnosed in their lifetime, and it's rising all the time. I'm doing everything I can to avoid it. The body has an amazing ability to detoxify and heal if only we let it and not clog it up with chemicals and preservatives and parabens and toxins and all the other crap in conventional beauty products.

Well, I took him in today- they were able to phone OHIP and get his OHIP number, so that wasn't a problem. He's 84 years old, and smoked for over 70 years until he quit last week. They gave him a thorough check up. His chest x-ray and blood work all came back fine, miraculously. But the doctor said he needs a swallowing assessment urgently. I'm not sure about what a swallowing assessment is, and I can't seem to google a satisfactory site that explains it. At any rate, with a little luck, he will have it next week.

Barb, I don't post often but this has been my experience with my GI problems. I'm in my mid 60s just to let you know. About 5 years ago I developed a chronic cough. I do have vasomotor rhinitis so I figured it was just drainage, but the cough would not go away so I saw my PCP. She suggested it might be (silent)reflux and put me on a PPI. The cough went away in about a week but the script was for 30 days so I kept taking it. After another week I developed an angry rash on my face and neck. The only thing different in my regimen was the PPI so I stopped taking it. The rash cleared up in a couple of days but scared me enough that I will never take PPIs again. I was very lucky this happened to me as I started to research these meds and found that they can cause lots of problems due to interfering with a person's digestive process. Your stomach needs acid to digest and utilize the nutrients you take in, especially B vitamins. PPIs shut your little 'acid pumps' down, so your stomach tries to produce more pumps. This is why you can get severe rebound acid if you stop taking PPIs after a long time. Sorry this is so long, but foward a few years. My cough returns and I'm actually feeling irritation in my throat. I see a GI doc and get an endoscopy. I have LES, I have a small hiatal hernia, and there are cell changes that are "pre-Barrets". I had a swallow barium x-ray and a motility test(a sensor down the throat to measure swallow pressure). I was told I has achalasia, where my esophagus muscles don't move things properly. But I wasn't having any problems eating or drinking so DH nagged me to get a second opinion in a different health care system. So I did. I had an endoscopy, barium swallow x-ray, motility test and in the same day. The results were that my hernia was very small, I had no achalasia and no cell changes in my esophagus. So, PLEASE get a second opinion! Research what those PPIs do to you. While I still get some reflux, it's usually from eating or drinking too late at night. One thing I got from the first GI doc is the use of Gaviscon. If I'm having some indigestion in the evening I use that at bedtime as it produces a layer of antacid at the top of your stomach and protects your esophagus from any acid that might come up. I don't need it all the time, but it does work. Otherwise, the baking soda water helps. Also, I don't want to anger anyone with a specific diet recommendation, but I have found that for me, limiting carbohydrates helps with my digestion. Please read about GERD and Low Carb. It is a hard road finding a way of eating that helps and that you like. Again, sorry this was so long. I hope it helps a little.