Does betaine hcl help?

[Zeffy90]

I really want to improve my digestion. Lately I have tried betaine hcl with no success. When taking a pill after lunch, I get very anxious and have a slight pain in my stomach. Why do you think this happens? What were your results with betaine hcl?

[fbirder]

I found it very difficult to find a dose that worked. Often it would do nothing, so I would try taking two. That often gave me slight heartburn such as you describe.

That's why I switched to having a drink containing about 25 mL of lime juice during every large meal.

[Damn-it in reply to fbirder]

I’ve found Beltane HCL hit and miss. I definitely use it when I’m going to have a big meal out, but I tend to use vinegar as a dressing on my salad, which I’ve found helpful.

[Damn-it in reply to Damn-it]

To add to this: I find I need more digestive assistance in the morning. In seems to be a little better with each subsequent meal, and less digestive assistance needed consequently as the progresses snd I eat more meals. I think my stomach just sighs when I put the fist mouthful of food into my empty stomach: here she goes - steel yourself.

[Hidden]

I can't digest food properly without it. There is not much scientific evidence around for it (that I can find) and yet it used be licenced by the FDA (in the States - I am in the UK) but that was withdrawn.

It is said that the burning sensation is because your stomach has reached the appropriate level of acidity. You can find a dosing protocol on line - that is what I did.

To test your level of stomach acidity you can also do the bicarb of soda test - google it. It took me 14 minutes to burb so I really don't have much, if any, stomach acid.

Stomach acid, mixed with food, called chyme, encourages the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes to further aid digestion. Lack of acid means the pancreas does not produce enough enzymes, disrupting digestion and absorption (of minerals, vitamins etc) even further. This leads to pancreatic insufficiency (I have this as do a few others on here). It is suspected this is due to low or no stomach acid but no one knows for sure (my gastroenterologist does not know). You can have a test for this at your GP surgery - a fecal elastase test. I recommend that you do this to rule out any issues. the tests results are highly conclusive.

I hope this helps.