HCl Pills

[topher2018]

Do most of us take HCl pills since our pareital cells that produce acid have been destroyed? I assume everyone with PA has difficulty just popping out to a restaurant to eat correct?

[fbirder]

I prefer to use lime juice. About 40 ml in a glass of orange or tonic water seems to do the job. I do have a bottle of betaine.HCl for when I go out to eat as it’s a lot less fussy.

[Sita505USA in reply to fbirder]

Please expand on this. I know nothing about this. I have had intestinal surgeries and taken PPIs in the past. Do not have a diagnosis yet. Have fatigue and neurological symptoms. I know absorption is an issue. Do these

things have to do with low stomach acid? Thanks, Sita

[fbirder in reply to Sita505USA]

Pernicious Anaemia is misnamed. It’s basic cause is an autoimmune attack on Gastric Parietal Cells. The result is Autoimmune Metaplastic Gastric Atrophy.

There are two main effects. The GPCs make Intrinsic Factor - a protein that is needed to get B12 from the gut to the blood. They also make stomach acid. Some people with AMGA find that they get nasty gut effects (gas, bloating, diarrhoea) that can be reduced by taking additional acid with large meals.

Do a search for some of my posts for more info than you probably want.

[Sita505USA in reply to fbirder]

Many thanks!!

[Bebster in reply to fbirder]

As a matter of interest do you take your lime juice before, during or after the meal?

[fbirder in reply to Bebster]

I try to simulate what happens naturally. So I’ll wait until I’m about halfway through the meal then I’ll drink the lime juice with the rest of it, leaving a good dollop to wash down the last mouthful.

[Bebster in reply to fbirder]

Interesting, thanks!

[cdragin]

I'm curious about this. I never even heard of it until about a week ago. I have zero digestive difficulties (although I belch like a colonel for some reason) so it never occurred to me that I need to take anything.

[topher2018 in reply to cdragin]

Well my understanding is that if you have PA it means you have killed off all the pareital cells that are in a normal stomach. Since pareital cells make acid as well as intrinsic factor, without them you won’t be producing acid normally required for digestion. So it seems likely that people with PA would have digestive issues. I do. So I was wondering what others are doing. I ordered HCl pills with pepsin today. I will try them and report back.

[Portia1974 in reply to cdragin]

The belching itself can, I understand, be a sign of the low stomach acid being described here.

[JanD236]

Yes I take HCL & pepsin and I feel much better for taking them. If I forget I quickly become bloated and constipated and it can take me a couple of days to feel better again.

I’m certain I don’t have sufficient stomach acid. I’ve been positive for both gastric parietal cell and intrinsic factor antibodies over the last few years. In addition, I had a severe allergic reaction to eating a peach a few months before I was diagnosed with PA. The allergy specialist explained that my true allergy is to birch tree pollen and peach protein is bio identical to that. He thought I had insufficient stomach acid to digest the peach proteins which caused my immune system to go haywire when they arrived undigested in my gut.

Exhaustion and stomach/gut problems were my major symptoms of PA.

I was also helped by taking a few courses of a probiotic called Symprove for a couple of years.

At the moment I’m just trying out a papaya extract tablet from Holland & Barrett which contains the digestive enzymes protease and amalayse. It was reported on the TV programme ‘Food explained’ that they may help people with stomach issues.

[topher2018]

Here is an article title that seems to indicate that at least one person had PA but was able to produce acid.

annals.org/aim/article-abst...

[fbirder in reply to topher2018]

I’ve not read he whole thing, but I’m not too sure on how reliable a diagnosis of PA would have been 85 years ago.