The vast majority of people who’ve contacted me about their bladder issues have a chronic case of low stomach acid.
That’s right, LOW stomach acid. High acid is far, far less common than low acid: if you get heartburn, you have low acid. If you always bloat after meals, you have low acid. If you’re chronically constipated, suffer from kidney stones, cavities, weak nails, thyroid problems, undigested food in your stool, pee red after eating beets, your urine pH is chronically acidic on an alkaline diet, and/or nothing you take seems to do you or your bladder any good….*drumroll*
Congratulations, you have low stomach acid! Your prizes include crappy life quality, recurring infections anywhere/everywhere in your body, chronic pain, an inability to lose weight, and a general lack of zest for life.
“The hell!” you say. “My doctor put me on antacids/PPIs for my heartburn!” you say.
Brace yourself, darling.
The LES (lower esophageal sphincter: the muscle at the entrance to your stomach) has to relax to allow food coming from the mouth to enter the stomach. Once food enters the stomach the LES has to contract and close to keep the food inside for proper digestion to occur. If this sphincter doesn’t close all the way, some of the food and gastric juice will spill upstream into the esophagus. This causes pain and is the root cause of all heartburn. Lucky for us the body has an ingenious method for preventing this problem of food leaving the stomach upwards instead of downwards like it should. LINK HERE
The body’s genius trick for preventing heartburn is as follows: when the acidic gastric juice that is produced in the stomach splashes up onto the LES it causes this “oven door” to contract and close tight. We know this from research that has shown that when the stomach contents reach a pH of 3 the LES is fully closed. The large amounts of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which is a normal and healthy part of digestion, actually prevents GERD/heartburn/reflux by tightening the LES and preventing acidic stomach juice from splashing onto the esophagus.
Yes, that really does mean that antacids are the exact opposite of what your body needs when you have heartburn.
When you aren’t generating enough stomach acid, that muscle isn’t triggered to close, and et voilà, mon petit chèrie, you’re breathing fire and scurrying for the antacid.
What you should be running for is some pure lemon juice: the stuff in the bottle will do just fine. Toss a shot (1.5 oz) back like it’s Friday night at the local bar and you’re about to make regrettable life choices. Presto, all’s fine on the Western front in a matter of minutes.
And your bloat disappears. You’re welcome.
When you take an antacid instead, the reflux doesn’t stop, it just becomes ‘silent’ and damages your esophagus lining.
“What does all this have to do with UTIs?” you may be wondering right about now.
In many cases, everything.
When there isn’t enough acid to break down your food properly, it ferments instead.
In your gut. That’s what the bloating and indigestion are all about.
Guess what fermentation feeds?
Pass “Go” and collect $200 if you blurted out, “What are “Candida albicans and a wide array of UTI-causing bacteria, Alex?”.
They’re being feasted 24/7 at a 25 ft long All You Little Effers Can Eat Buffet, AKA “your small intestine”. Your gut is a UTI-pathogen factory. Not to mention all that acidic fermentation is leaking toxins into your bloodstream, causing myriad fun life experiences including autoimmune issues, adrenal dysfunction, chronic pain and inflammation, depression, anxiety, and what’s that other one?
Oh yeah, short term memory loss.
More from the awesome link you should have clicked on, above.
Conditions Associated with Too Little Stomach Acid
- burping (after meals)
- hiccups (after meals)
- acid reflux (after meals)
- foul breath (All. The. Time.)
- GERD
- foul smelling stools
- low B12/B9
- anemia
- osteoporosis
- leaky gut syndrome
- gallbladder disease
- adrenal fatigue
- methylation imbalances
- gut infections
- chronic fatigue
- fibromyalgia
- multiple chemical sensitivity disorder
- This one isn’t on their list, but should have been: recurring, antibiotic-resistant UTIs
There’s some confusion about how acid in the stomach works when you’re trying to alkalize your urine to treat a gram negative UTI: I just explained this in an e-mail and realized it should go here, too.
When you have low stomach acid and a gram negative UTI you need your stomach acidic and your urine alkaline, which is what HCL and especially lemon juice do.
If your stomach is too alkaline your urine (and gut) will be too acidic.
The way this works is: acid in your stomach breaks down your food and triggers the pancreas to create alkalizing enzymes and pump them into your small intestine. Your body then absorbs alkaline minerals (like calcium and potassium) from your digested food and those raise your urine pH.
When you don’t have enough acid in your stomach the food does not break down like it should, the pancreas is not triggered to produce alkalizing enzymes, and food ferments in your gut, creating acidic chemicals. When your kidneys filter those out they acidify your urine. Also, because your body MUST keep your blood pH between 7.35-7.45 at all times (or you’ll die), it pulls calcium from your system (bones, teeth) and into the blood to keep you from becoming dead.
Your kidneys filter out the calcium and it builds up in there until you take something that flushes it out. With a bad case, you have calcium in the urine all the time, but people don’t notice unless they have a reason to collect a sample.
This is why tooth loss, kidney stones, and osteoporosis are so common in the elderly. They’ve had calcium pulled out of their systems for decades.
This is a simple way to test yourself. Ignore the spelling error in Step 3, and tell the pretty lady pretending to burp that normal acid levels should produce a burp within 2 minutes. Between 2 and 3 minutes, it’s a bit low. After 3 minutes, you’re in trouble.
If you haven’t burped by 5 minutes or don’t burp at all, run, do not walk, to Amazon for HCL capsules.
This link explains how to supplement with HCL to discover the dosage you need for optimal digestion.
Lots of you people aren’t clicking on the link, so I’ll explain how to take HCL. It’s very simple: Start by taking 1 capsule of Doctor’s Best with an average meal. If you don’t feel a sensation of warm discomfort in your stomach (not your throat, just your stomach), or you still have heartburn, increase by one HCL capsule per meal until the heartburn stops. (take a lemon shot whenever you have heartburn to make it stop)
Keep taking that heartburn prevention dosage with every meal: add a capsule if you’re having a larger meal than usual, or drop a capsule if you’re having a snack. If you increased until your stomach felt warm/tingly/uncomfortable afterward, drop one capsule and that is your dose per average-size meal.
DO NOT TAKE HCL OR LEMON JUICE IF YOU’RE TAKING NSAIDs, like Ibuprofen. You will give yourself an ulcer. NSAIDs thin the stomach lining: you can’t take them and acid supplements.
If you’ve done a full charcoal cleanse or three and you haven’t had a significant drop in water weight and a startling upward surge in energy, mental clarity, and mood, it’s because you don’t have enough acid to break down nutrients into a form your body can absorb (so you’re vitamin/mineral deficient and therefore struggling adrenally), and the continuing fermentation in the gut is still pumping a daily dose of poison into your system. Charcoal cleansing helps somewhat, but to stop the vicious cycle you need to also supplement with acid at every meal (unless you have gastritis, in which case you must heal the stomach lining first, then take acid), and go ahead and buy a masticating juicer.
Don’t freak out: you don’t have to get a smug hipster model that’ll cost you an arm and a leg and your firstborn. I bought one of these this spring for $85 and it works great for me. If you already have a centrifugal juicer, use what you have.
Start every day with a tall glass of:
- 1 head organic celery, chopped
- 1 organic lemon, chopped and seeded
- 1 inch cube fresh organic ginger root, chopped (no need to peel)
This combination, drunk as often as desired but no less than once per day, has a wide range of benefits, and one of them is the stimulation of stomach acid production. It’s common to experience diarrhea within a few days of beginning on it: this is an ideal time for a charcoal cleanse, 1.5-2 tsp charcoal per dose, as often as needed until stools normalize.
Here’s a great link on the symptoms of low stomach acid and the benefits of celery juice.
Low stomach acid can be a complicated issue if it’s caused you to develop gastritis, ulcers, or diverticulitis, and you may not be able to supplement with acid, at first. For some people, the road to healing the gut is a long and winding one, but most people can simply start taking HCL capsules and/or lemon juice shots with meals and get an almost instant improvement in their overall quality of life, and benefit vastly more from their natural supplements.
If you have gastritis/ulcers, you want to look into the benefits of juiced red cabbage, bone broth, L-glutamine, slippery elm bark, DGL, and aloe vera juice.
Another, lesser known complication of low stomach acid is poor vagus nerve function. This nerve governs many digestive functions and will suffer when you’ve had low acid for some time, because you become unable to absorb B12, and nerves (among other things) need B12 to function properly. (Click here to read about the vagus nerve and how to help it)
You take antibiotics, antibiotics cause a Candida albicans overgrowth, Candida eats your B12 and drives acid production down, you become unable to absorb B12, vagus nerve function decreases, further depressing your acid production, and welcome to Hotel California. You can check out, but you can never leave…until you boost your stomach acid.
I’m going to type this slowly and clearly: If you have low stomach acid nothing you eat and nothing you take is going to give you the benefits it should. Nothing else will work right if your stomach doesn’t. It all begins there. Fixing it is imperative to health and well-being.
So, the plan of attack:
- Take acid every time you eat, either HCL capsules with a mouthful of lemon water, or a shot of straight lemon juice, 1.5 oz. Extreme cases can combine the two, if desired.
- Juice the celery/lemon/ginger combo described above and drink 16 oz per day, preferably all at once, first thing in the morning, 30 minutes before breakfast. If you can’t manage that, make it your nightcap. If you really want to go all out, you can also drink 8 oz between or shortly before meals. (Bonus: your skin will glow.)
- Activated charcoal cleansing: You’re going to need this shortly after beginning the acid supplementation and juicing: those two will get your bowels running like a panicked gazelle on the veld.
(Yes, I do know those are sprinkboks and not gazelles, but all the gazelles on GIPHY get eaten by cheetahs at the end.
It’s just not a good look.)
As far as how much charcoal to take, that depends on the size and speed of the stampede. 2 tsp (or 5 grams) charcoal in 12 oz water is a good place to start. After you’ve seen the charcoal again, you can repeat that dose. Once a day until stools have been normal for 3 days running is a good rule of thumb, but some of you may need two doses a day, initially, to stem the Brown Tide.
A few more thoughts: Your urine may look cloudy at some point after beginning the juice combination, but don’t freak out. Celery juice flushes calcium out of your kidneys, and this looks like white powder in urine. Dribble some white vinegar into the bowl and watch the cloudiness scatter/vanish.
Also, you may pass kidney stones, which is another reason you want to be taking pure lemon juice shots with every meal: it breaks up/dissolves stones. When I first started drinking celery juice out of pure curiosity, I peed kidney gravel and Candida flakes 6x in a row, 4 days later.
While traveling to the coast to run a 5K and a half marathon. The sixth and last time was shortly before the initial 5K, which I ran with no discomfort (Nearly puking at the finish line doesn’t count: I pushed too hard at the end in order to blow past a pack of men. :D).
I ran the half the next day with no issues…other than one black toenail, later. The juice made a great electrolyte recovery drink.
Also, it was a good thing I’d brought charcoal with me, because otherwise the family would have tied me to the roof of the van for the return drive. Once that juice blend really gets going cleaning out your gut the gases those dying pathogens produce are stupendous: you won’t be fit for human company unless you take charcoal. Even the dog will give you the side eye.
Alright, I’ve talked about pee, poop, farts…what’s left?
Depression, flabbiness, and hair loss! Aren’t you lucky. If you have low acid, which you likely do if you have bladder issues, you have some level of adrenal malfunction, as well. The steps above will get you moving rapidly in the right direction, but if you feel like a sad, bloated, balding freak of nature on a daily basis you should, in addition to the 3 main steps listed above, give your adrenals a special present every day at 10 am and 2 pm. The best version for the bladder is the coconut water one (orange juice = the devil), and the best whole food C for the bladder is acerola cherry. It will not feed gram negative bacteria. Camu camu whole food vitamin C does feed them. Don’t get that one.
Now go to war.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bi-dmilgaE&w=560&h=315]
Hi I want to THANK YOU from the bottom of my GUT for your site. Although I am not suffering from a UTI, I have had long standing gut issues and been working non-stop with successes and failures and ultimately still scratching my head. LOW STOMACH ACID. HELLO! I think this was my issue all along. I knew I had this but sort of pushed it to the back of the list of things to address. After reading and implementing your attack list everything turned around quite IMMEDIATELY. I have a list of bacterias that were out of control from a GI test I took, and getting a little bit of an idea how to address them individually from your site here. Also have developed an interesting inability to hold my bladder in the last year or so, and never really connected it. Figured it was related somehow, but maybe more directly than I suspected. Will see how it goes. Anyway, THANK YOU. Feeling so much better already.
Thank you! This is incredibly helpful.
My Dr. has prescribed a vaginal estrogen creme since I am menopausal and have recurring UTIs. Should I try it or do only these steps?
Hi and thank you! How long would I need to do the stomach acid treatments? I’m working on charcoal cleanse past few days and doing all other strategies too.
Thanks !
Hi! First of all, thank you for this amazing website.
I wanted to ask, as you mention in the article as follows: “When you have low stomach acid and a gram negative UTI you need your stomach acidic and your urine alkaline”
I have a gram positive UTI, will I need my stomach to be alkaline then? –> should I be eating alkaline food only?
I do not have any idea of my stomach acid unfortunately..
Thanks in advance!
Thank you so much for all of this useful information! I could use some help figuring some things out though. I suspect I have a candida overgrowth, but I have no symptoms of a UTI. The main thing I experience is some burning and itchiness just before my period and also sometimes during the first couple of days of my period. I’ve also been noticing a light red rash on my skin that comes and goes. Sometimes it’s around my shoulder area, sometimes it’s around my stomach area, and sometimes it’s further south. It never itches or hurts though.
Anyway, I read through the “Killing Candida” article, the “Bootcamp” post, and “The Mother of all problems”, but I’m still a little confused. I started the “Killing Candida” protocol but the cinnamon tea and OLE had no affect on my stools. So I tested my stomach acid with the baking soda test and burped within the first 2 minutes. It was very faint, but it was a burp nonetheless so I’m assuming I don’t have low stomach acid.
That then led me to the protocol for what to do when your stools aren’t loosening and that’s where I’m a little lost. The first step seems to be to take Ascorbic Acid Vitamin C, but I don’t know if I’m gram positive or gram negative.Will the UTI test show me that? From what I gathered, if I have a gram negative bacterial infection then I wouldn’t want to take the Ascorbic Acid, which leaves me wondering where to start. Can you help clarify some of this?
Hi, would this product work similarly or the same as the amazon HCL capsules? https://www.kirkmangroup.com/index.php/biofilm-defenser-688.html
I currently use this for what I think is an embedded UTI. would this act like the HCL enzymes?
Hi, I am taking Hiprex which I believe makes the urine acidic. I would like to try the above but wonder if I need to give my body some time to come off the Hiprex first as you mention not wanting to add acid and alkaline together?
Is there anything I can substitute for the celery juice? I have problems with oxalate and celery is high oxalate.
Someone suggested aloe vera juice with lemon to help with inflammation. Would the aloe vera juice reduce my stomach acid too much?
Hi,
So I discovered my bladder symptoms improve with baking soda but not so sure about d mannose. Seems to make me bloated (not today though after 2 days of charcoal doses). I don’t really notice d mannose helping. I realise I have low stomach acid. I am used to not drinking water with meals and taking something acidic with meals. Been doing it for years and I no longer get indigestion pain like I used to all the time. I’ve tried juicing celery twice in the past but both times I develop a faint itchy rash on my forearms, never had anything like this before with any other food. So it seems I react to the celery juice (I do eat some celery in cooking or salads occasionally without any obvious issues). Do you know why the celery juice could be causing my rash? I m worried to try the juice again, especially since I am now pregnant.
Any known UT/bladder irritation from HCL? I say this because I’ve been taking it with meals for about 6 months since beating my last UTI, and I feel like it irritates my UT. Honestly.. a lot of things seem to irritate it, but I was wondering if this is one of the culprits since the warning labels say not to take it if you have kidney problems.
I do know I don’t have an infection now- tested the pee this morning. I do think I have a form of interstitial cystitis though 🙁
Also…is this something I will have to take forever? Or is there an endgame at some point?
I noticed that you don’t mention using apple cider vinegar for low stomach acid but rather lemon juice concentrate. I always feel so good after a meal when I have a small cup of water with 1 or 2 tbsp of ACV added. Can I go ahead and use that rather than the lemon juice before meals or is there a reason you don’t recommend it? Thanks for all the great help Rebekah!
I suggest a pure shot of lemon juice mid-meal because:
1. Lemon juice is closest to the pH of stomach acid
2. Due to the high potassium content (higher than ACV), it alkalizes the urine once it’s metabolized, which is very helpful for most types of UTI
3. It stimulates digestive enzyme and bile production, increasing gastric motility (💩💩💩), and
4. Some people react badly to ACV because they can’t handle anything fermented, due to things like Candida overgrowth and SIBO. They need to start with lemon juice shots and charcoal cleansing before they can take anything fermented, or fermentable.
So, for people with low stomach acid who’re battling a gram negative UTI while sorting out a damaged gut microbiome (most of whom are constipated), lemon shots are the optimum way to deal with all of those issues simultaneously in an impressively rapid manner.
That said, if you prefer ACV shots with meals and you feel like it’s doing a great job for you, there’s nothing wrong with that. 👍
Hi Rebekah, I’ve been trying the lemon shots with food because I did not pass the baking-soda burp test.
I was on a PPI for at least a decade, went off of it last April, and lost about 35 pounds in a matter of months. My understanding is that after you stop a PPI, you get “acid rebound” ~~ meaning that your stomach’s proton pumps go wild and want to product extra stomach acid because they didn’t get to produce much acid at all while being inhibited by the PPI. So I’m puzzled about why my stomach acid would be low…
Anyway, after each time I take a lemon juice shot with food, my heart starts pounding for hours afterward and my heart rate shoots up over 100 and can go as high as 120, which is very disconcerting because it feels too much like an A-Fib attack! Also, afterward, when I test my urine, the Mission pH square remains orange or yellow (somewhere between 5 and 6,) yet drinking lemon water, baking soda water, or alkaline 9+ bottled water will eventually bring the pH higher.
And finally, after a lemon shot, my test strips start showing the presence of blood in my urine. Coincidence? Or can lemon shots cause blood to appear? Can you help me find answers to these issues?
Thank you!
Allergy?
The problem with “vitamins and Co.” is, that all citric acid and ascorbic acid I can get in supermarked or drugstores is based on either (GMO?) made citric acid from aspergilius niger or yeast.
Same for Vitamin C and probably many other molecules we want to buy. It is as if the industry searched for the two organisms the MOST people possible are allergic to…
And after 3 years of medical debakel, you can not tell me all industry of supplements purifies all bulk ware like citric acid or vitamin C to an extent where no allergic reactions are possible.
You can only test this by allergicians, the “canaries in the coal mine”, that are instead gas-lit.
For non-antioxidative so not “using up” CDS, I try to “fry” residual proteins from producing organisms by pouring in CDS (CIO2 (aq) 0.3%) a bit. *Depending on concentration in fluid, one can cook it out or wait for it to go into air on a pot or soup plate (anything with some surface area).
For Vitamin-C, I found the “last single fab” producing it synthetically and purifying it thoroughly. Search for Quali and C (with a “-” in between ;).
For all clear solutuons one could use a counterflow gas exchange reactor to infuse a solution while flowing in, and get ClO2 back to the flow inwards when flowing out. (Which is also the best CDS production method;).
Rebecca, what if lemon shots make your acid reflux worse? I took a shot of lemon juice when my acid reflux kicked up and had to take a nexium to get the reflux to stop.
Hello! Is amla okay to use in place of acerola? And pink Himalayan salt instead of sea salt? And if I’m fighting candida should should a avoid coconut water (sugar) or is it okay?
Amla may be a substitute for acerola; it’s also relatively high in calcium so it shouldn’t feed E. coli.
The only surefire way to know is to try it out. 😬
Yes, pink salt is fine, and *unsweetened* coconut water is fine. 👍
Hi Bekah!
I just found your page! I was told I have a uti at the doctors today. They prescribed me antibiotics (macrobid) which I’m always hesitant to use but after reading about alternative treatments I’m wondering if I should do the antibiotics first and follow with treatments after? They don’t know which bacteria caused my uti yet but I will know in 3-4 days.
I was diagnosed with GERD and gastritis 10 years ago and the symptoms come and go, I’m positive I have low stomach acid. I’m a little confused about what to do first as far as treating my uti, GERD, and gastritis as it seems they’re all interconnected. Once I know what bacteria is causing my uti I’m sure it will be easier to know which supplements to take that you recommend, but what would you recommend in the meantime? Begin the antibiotics as recommended by my doctor? Any supplements I can take in addition to my antibiotics? Any supplements recommended for uti’s regardless of which bacteria strain (until I find out which one I have)?
I would appreciate any advice you can offer me! Thank you!
Start here, my dear!
The way your bladder responds will tell you which type of bacteria you have, and where to go next to deal with it.
Just follow the tree.
https://pantrypharmacy.com/2018/12/22/it-hurts-when-i-pee-decision-tree/
Will this test work even if I don’t initially have burning when I pee? I don’t seem to have any obvious uti symptoms aside from cloudy pee, but I went to the doc’s because my left kidney area was hurting and found out I have a uti.
Thanks!
Yes, the test has an effect on any type of infection; the exact result tells you what type of infection (gram negative or gram positive bacteria), and the type of infection tells you how to treat it.
Just read through the tree and follow the instructions and you’ll have results within 40 minutes and know which branch of the tree to click on next.
(Many E. coli infections start out with cloudiness. My first one was like that intermittently for 3 days before any burning or pressure started. On the third day it basically exploded into burning and blood. Fun times….)
Thank you so much!
Hi, Rebekah. I now have a hiatal hernia plus IC. I have GERD but I don’t have the burning. I have lots of mucous in the back of my throat and have been prescribed Zantac. This started in Dec. 2018 even though I had been taking HCL and had my previous heartburn with burning under control. I believe I have silent reflux. I want to stop the Zantac, but will it be okay if I have silent reflux to stop it?
Zantac causes silent reflux: it lowers stomach acid production to the point where the esophageal sphincter is never triggered to close (meaning stomach contents can enter the throat), and you don’t feel the burn like you do when the acid content is higher (but not high enough to trigger the stomach to close off).
It’s imperative to get your body’s natural acid production back up to normal levels to stop the cascade of negative side effects of dysfunctionally low acid.
Have you considered a modified juicing diet? Celery, red cabbage, carrot, apple in between meals, and various other juice blends with pea or whey protein for meals?
I’d do that for at least 7-10 days and then introduce things like roasted sweet potato, steamed/boiled vegetables, and small portions of salmon, with lemon juice squeezed over the fish and veggies.
Does that sound feasible?
Hello there. I’ve tried the lemon shot and everything else you kindly suggest with success on Klebsiella. But today I’ve been thinking and I now have what could be a stupid question.
If low stomach acid is the culprit and we have to acidify it, does the bicarbonate sodium we take (for the pain and weaken the gram negative bacteria) at the same time not neutralize all the effort? How does it work? Is it only of gram positive bacteria then?
As long as you keep baking soda water *away from meals* you’re fine.
Don’t take it within 30 minutes before eating, or 45-60 minutes afterward. And take a lemon juice shot with meals to help digest your food and alkalize your urine as well.
i just want to make sure i’m doing this all correctly. i had a UTI that i had to treat w/antibiotics b/c i was out of the country — finished them 5 days ago, but still having some irritation. i did the baking soda test and i DEFINITELY have low stomach acid which makes so much sense based on some other symptoms i have. so, i’m starting with lemon juice now. do i need to take it EVERY time i eat, even like a small snack? or just 3 doses w/meals? then in 24-36, i can do charcoal but no need for mag citrate? also, my husband is going to do the charcoal cleanse (!!) but he’s not chronically constipated (perhaps the opposite, in fact) so he does not need the mag citrate first, is that right? for some reason he’s on board w/the cleanse but anti-laxative #men THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Yes, if he has the opposite issue he can easily take a 3 gram dose of charcoal daily without any laxative, but he should test for low acid, too.
It can cause either issue, a gut too slow or too fast, depending on the individual and the severity of the case. Some people with low acid are chronically backed up, and others basically have the runs most of the time.
For the first you begin by taking acid (lemon juice shots or HCL) with meals until you get loose, *then* take a daily dose of charcoal while continuing the acid, and for the latter you can start the charcoal right away, as well as acid treatment. He could take 3-5 grams per dose, depending on how loose he is.
The best course when you’re doing it this way, as opposed to cleaning out with a laxative, is to take one dose of charcoal and wait to see that again (💩) before taking a second dose.
And yes, you take acid every time you eat. Without it, what you eat will ferment in your gut. Just take less with a snack, and more with a heavy meal.
excellent!! thanks so much. then once i’ve on charcoal, start w/OLE and garlic at meals…anything else i’m missing ? continue with lemon or HCL, ole, and garlic until the test strips are totally clear? i should note idk what caused the infection. i’m still waiting for test strips to arrive too. i do think maybe i’m peeing candida now since ending the antibiotics. re: my husband and stomach acid – i think i’ll have a hard time selling him on bringing lemon juice to work (haha) but he could bring HCl, right? and how long do you think he should take it
Peeing Candida…that’s unusual if you aren’t taking something to kill it. What exactly are you seeing?
As far as what to take, what bladder response, if any, did you have to the baking soda water test?
When you have low acid you supplement with acid until your own production levels come back up. How long that takes varies from case to case, but you know it’s happening when you need fewer and fewer HCL capsules to digest properly.
You’ve read about how to determine your best dosage, and how to taper down as your production increases?
He can easily carry HCL capsules with him: they’re very convenient.
i’m not sure if i had a bladder response to the test. i feel like maybe i didn’t have as much irritation? but right now it seems like the irritation is just in the bladder/urethra area… i’m not having a ton of UTI symptoms like urgency/frequency. when it first came on, before taking antibiotics, it was pretty intense and i had blood in my urine. as of now, maybe i am not peeing candida… i have just been seeing small particles in my urine. i have already been taking OLE, d-mannose, and a probiotic
When you have chronic irritation but no overt UTI symptoms, and no discernible reaction to the baking soda test, it’s usually a tissue infection. It’s quite common to develop a secondary tissue infection after a UTI has been treated with antibiotics: have you tried applying a charcoal paste?
yes; i did that last night and did get some relief. i do feel some sort of pressure maybe or something in the bladder though. would you recommend still doing the test strips and either UTI or candida killing protocol? or just stick with the acid for now and that’s enough?
I would definitely begin treatment for low stomach acid, and see what test strips show.
Press on your bladder gently but firmly to see if you feel any tenderness, then hop up and down.
Typically, a bladder infection will cause tenderness and discomfort with both activities, due to bacteria inflaming the bladder wall.
Temporary relief with charcoal application, but continued discomfort *despite* repeated application indicates a staph infection of the vaginal/urethral tissues.
That can be resolved with ascorbic acid Vitamin C, but you want to test first and make sure no gram negative bacteria are present in the bladder, or the ascorbic acid will feed them.
ok – i’ve only done the paste once so i will keep going with that. i do think there is some tenderness when pressing, but it’s not crazy painful. i guess i will see what the strips show first before proceeding with a cleanse or protocol. thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to reply to all of these questions. i’ve been super desperate to resolve…poor husband we were on our honeymoon when all of this started 🙁
If it’s gram negative, which it usually is, you can’t go wrong with the Hippocrates Special.
It’ll clean out your gut, flush out your kidneys, and kill any residual UTI bacteria.
It also helps restore natural stomach acid production.
FINALLY got the test strips (actually got them yesterday but think i did it wrong) first urine of the day was slightly high leuks and pH. no nitrates. gram positive?? so no lemon juice, correct? celery juice w/ginger, HCl for stomach acid, and still OLE and OO ?
Do you have any symptoms of a UTI? If so, you can do the baking soda test in the Decision Tree post to determine exactly what’s going on.
You can easily have a rather high amount of leukocytes in your urine without an infection: white blood cells respond to inflammation as well as infections. (Rather like how you have to blow your nose sometimes even when you’re not sick)
So if you have no symptoms and just some leuks in your tests, you likely just need a good charcoal cleanse and a course of juicing and OLE.
minor vaginal/urethra irritation but nothing crazy. i did the baking soda test about twice last weekend and no belch. so, i am still doing the low stomach acid recommendations (lemon juice is ok or a no-no?) lastly what precautions if any would you recommend for sex
If you had no change in the irritation when you did the baking soda test, you’re likely dealing with a low grade tissue infection, and you’ll want to check out the “Troubleshooting: It Burns and Nothing Works” post.
Lemon juice or HCL with meals are both just fine, and I would go through all the steps in that Troubleshooting post before laying out the Welcome mat.
Charcoal paste, a short course of coconut oil bullets overnight, maybe a Femdophilus up there…you want the lady cave in good shape first so you aren’t re-infected.
Thank you so much for the valuable and easily digested information you present to us suffering readers.
Let me know if I can help in any way!
I started the celery juice routine this morning and my urine pH was 9 an hour later. Is that good or bad? My bladder was definitely a little uncomfortable but not in extreme pain. Thanks for your help!
A spike up to 9 is fine: it’ll drop back down quickly.
Rebekah, thank You so much for new posts)
Hi Rebekah, I know stomach acid is a problem I have. Besides the burp test with I failed majorly, my naturopath did a stool test and found that I don’t have enough pancreatic enzyme. She gave me digestzyme which has 200 mg of betaine hcl and 180 mg of things like pepsin, amalyse, etc. I also restarted lemon shots and celery juice based on this post, but am finding that like when I tried to do this in August, I am having some bad heartburn. Not sure what caused it or if it is just a fluke. Is heartburn something I need to power through? Also, should I drop this digestzyme and just go for regular betaine hcl? I think this is the last missing piece is kicking this once and for all. I have beat ecoli like a champ and only have e. faecilis. I only have urethral burning now (charcoal doesn’t touch it) so hoping this all dies in the new year. Happy holidays to you and your family
You take more!
When you have really low acid, adding *some* acid decreases the pH to the point where you feel heartburn, but not enough to fully close the LES muscle.
Increase your acid dosage per meal, and if you feel heartburn take another shot of lemon juice (1.5 oz) right away: it’ll stop the burn in minutes.
You could get Doctor’s Best HCL and take that with what you already have to increase the acid.
You’re taking high doses of ascorbic acid Vitamin C to kill the entero?
I just ordered the now brands one. How much should I take ? And for how long? (6000-8000 mg for a few weeks)? My husband also has an infection of enterro and prevotella in his prostate we are treating with mine which I am hoping will stop this all. I am assuming this protocol will work for him too?
For entero you want to take 2-3 gram doses of ascorbic acid 4x a day, and keep activated charcoal on hand because that’ll often give you the runs.
1/2-3/4 tsp stirred into 4-6 oz water between meals, until you’ve tested clear at the 5 minute mark for 3 days straight, then taper down to 2 doses a day for a week.
The ascorbic acid will kill his Enterococcus as long as he’s also taking the same natural meds you are, and I’m not sure about the Prevotella: which species is it?
Prevotella Bivia is what showed up. He had a bunch of other low level bacteria I have never heard of but these two were the ones that crossed over with mine and which were the high numbers
Interesting…Prevotella is a gram negative anaerobe that does not appear to be acid-adaptive: ascorbic acid Vitamin C may kill that as well as Enterococcus.
I would take a course of it alongside minced garlic, OLE, and grated horseradish with meals.
The next few posts in the Kill List series will be on Enterococcus, staph, and strep: I’ll try to get the Entero one written up on the 26th.
Hi Rebekah! I’m so glad to see you active here and doing well! I’m going to implement the steps discussed above to help improve my stomach acid and put the knockout on my slight lingering UTI symptoms. My bladder and infection is finally healing (yay)! However, I recently found out that my lingering pelvic pain, which started with the infections last year, is likely pudendal neuralgia brought on by the inflammation and pelvic floor tightening from the infections. Have you seen anything about this or worked with anyone with it? What I’m reading online makes it seem pretty hopeless, though I’m trying not to lose hope! PT is ongoing. Any suggestions? Feel free to email me! Thanks again and thanks for all the time you dedicate to helping and giving hope to so many people! Your information gave me the courage to say no to the latest recommendation for an antibiotic and I’m doing so much better using a natural protocol!! I hope you don’t mind, I used my middle name—publishing so much health info with my name just stresses me out!
Use any screen name you’re comfortable with!
Don’t sweat possible neuralgia until you’ve sorted out the stomach acid: low acid causes all kinds of inflammation/aches/pains that clear up like magic once you fix it.
(See the bit about low acid causing nerve malfunction in the post. That could be your issue.)
Thanks, Rebekah! I’m hopeful that’s a contributing factor and by fixing it I’ll see improvement. I’ll keep you updated!
Hi Rebekah! Thanks a lot for the new posts!
I have been dealing with very bad reflux for the last 9 days, my throat hurts and I am afraid to take the lemon shot. I made the huge mistake of following the doctor’s advice and took all sorts of antiacids and PPIs, they only made things worse so I quit them 3 days ago. I was feelig better, better as in ”my throat doesn’t feel like it’s on fire the whole day” and more like ”my throat is on fire 12 hours a day”.
My reflux seems worse at night after several hous of fasting, and I can feel the burn despite doing my best to sleep sitting down. Doctors offer no answers, all they do is throw all sort of antiacids at me in hopes I will shut up and go. Thing is antiacids and PPI’s seem to make things even worse for me. They just don’t care and treat me like I am a weird bug.
What would you recommend in my case?
You haven’t tried the lemon shot yet?
Hi Rebekah! I just saw your reply today (I failed to get a notification). It’s been almost 8 weeks and I am still dealing with reflux 🙁 I am getting it right after eating. I have been dealing with LPR and heartburn, first two weeks were hell. I sleep upright, but I still hot heartburn last night. They did a manometry and ph test (whole 24h) and it was negative.
I know I can beat, with your help I could bet a very nasty e-coli infection that wouldn’t go away.
But now this. No idea what to do, I did the bootcamp cleanse weeks ago. Nothing. My reflux is better, I mean, I am no longer waking up with acid in my mouth while sleeping upright, but I am still getting it quite often… my throat and airways are almost all the time irritated. Doctors think I am nuts. I’m also dealing with other horrific symptoms, but the reflux is the one that really interferes with my life most.
Oh and by the way, I have no gallbladder.
I tried the lemonshot today again, felt bit better a few hours later, but I ate something and right after that piece of bread went down my esopaghus I felt the burning pain again in my chest. Must I take lemon shots with meals? Can you take lemon shots without meals? Should I add a dash of baking soda? What would you do if you were in the same situation?
You can take a lemon shot anytime you have heartburn, in addition to taking them with meals! You should feel better within minutes.
Do NOT add baking soda: it neutralizes the acid!
Have you bought HCL capsules yet? You can take them with meals with a swallow of lemon water and chase them with a pure lemon shot, to make sure you’re getting enough acid.
Hi Rebekah!
I bought HCI a long time ago, but didn’t really needed them early last year. Taking a lemon shot in middle of my meals was all I needed. Last year in december I started to notice the lemon shots were no longer enough. I started getting reflux, so one night I took a lemon shot, but it stung! I was stupid enough to take a sucrolfate pill, don’t remember which one was first. This is how the nightmare started. I believe I suffer from bile reflux as well.
Now it seems I am suffering from gastroparesis, I ate 16 hours ago and I an feel my last dinner is still there :/ I took 5 HCI pills, plus a digestive enzymes pill (Super enzymes by NOWfoods – it has a bit HCI). I got a warm feeling in my stomach and esophagus aftwerwards and this morning I woke up with acid pooling in my throat 🙁 I am guessing my dose is 4 HCI pills.I always take my HCI with a lemon shot. Anything else I should be doing? I take my HCI in the middle of my meals, along with the lemon shots. I take the enzymes right before I start eating.
I seem to be OKish when I have very light meals, but protein totally kills me :/
I was getting better some weeks ago, but I was dumb enough to try a 84h water fast… all was ok during the fast, the indigestion probelms started on the second day. Now I seem unable to digest protein. I get reflux within 1-2 hours of my meals, I get acid burps and If I am not careful I end up regurgitating some acid 🙁 I can literally feel my stomach contents pressing against my LES and the acid splashing when I burp. Some
By the end of March the lemon shot started to sting a little (that’s the reason I tried thewater fast, to heal whatever that was and it acually worked), so I started taking the sucrolfate 1 hour before meals (in case there was an ulcer) and then proceded to take my HCI, enzymes and lemon shot as usual. I got some reflux during that time too, not everyday tho.
Thing is… I had never had this much problem with reflux. All went downhill after taking different types of antibiotics over a year ago… for a UTI that didn’t want to go away. Ever since my health has deteriorated more and more. I last did an AC cleanse 4 months ago, but now I am not so sure about doing it again because I am worried the AC will have the same effect as the antibiotics with my gut bacteria. Please advice?
I am not as sick as I was early this year, but this is starting to depress me badly 🙁 I am starting to feel like a freak from nature that will never be able to live a normal life :((((
I want to start juicing celery, but organic celery where I live is impossible to get. I was thinking, what if I use non organic celery? Is there a way to wash it very well or something like that?
By the way, I am using a different name on here because I don’t want anyone I know to end up seeing this (too personal). Thanks for understanding.
Celery works so well for stomach acid because of the specific nutrients in it; you can get those through diet as well when juicing celery isn’t an option.
You’d get an awful lot of pesticides in your system by juicing non-organic celery, though washing it thoroughly in baking soda water first would help.
Are you getting enough salt in your diet? B vitamins? (Without meat you’ll need to supplement with a B Vitamin complex)
Iodine and zinc are important, too.
When you don’t get enough B12 over a period of time, nerve function is impaired, and when that’s impaired your smooth muscle function will be, too.
I would really concentrate on B vitamins, the adrenal cocktail, and I’d take a sole solution 1-2x a day….and go to a chiropractor, if you aren’t already, to optimize nerve function.
You shouldn’t feel anything at all in your esophagus when you’ve taken enough or too much HCL, because the LES seals off the stomach…do you take another lemon shot when the reflux hits?
Charcoal only attracts positively charged cells to itself, and it seems that most beneficial bacteria have a negative charge, just like human cells.
But given your acid situation, charcoal may not move through your system fast enough to do you good, since it needs to stay on the move through a relatively empty gut with plenty of water to be most effective.
I’d do the other things first and then a Quick and Dirty-style cleanse once your gut is moving along better.
To answer your question regarding to salt intake…probably not enough, I mean, I have been doing intermittent fasting and trying to take enough sodium during that time, but I always end up running short. My fasts are short tho, no longer than 36 hrs. During that time my stomach is at peace. Maybe the fasts are messing me up? I was doing so much better until 3 weeks ago… right after my first 84h fast. I pray to God it’s just that!
I got my blood work back last week and oddly enough my B12 level was sky high, vitamin D is very low. The dr. said something was wrong with my parathyroid hormone levels. I don’t even wanna google that 🙁 All he said is that I needed to take a vitamin D supplement. Didn’t say much else. What do you think? My folic acid is a bit low too.
Are we supposed to take the HCI pills in the middle/end of the meal or in the beginning? I’ve been taking it like Dr. Jockers says, but it doesn’t always work well, total fail with bigger meals with protein. Are we supposed to take HCI only with protein? Should the enzymes be taken at the same time as the HCI? Which makes me wonder…is there a max safe limit to how many HCI caps one can consume per meal?
Most of the time lemon shots and lemon water help me with the heartburn and acid reflux during day time. To be honest the heartburn is not what bothers me most, what bothers me most is LPR!! It’s awful and makes me feel miserable. Odd thing is I never have heartburn and LPR symptoms at the same, not even acid burps! It’s one thing or the other. I can stand heartburn here and there and even the acid burps, but not LPR. How can someone feel their larynx/throat is on fire but have no heartburn?! Does all your advice regarding normal reflux also applies to LPR?
I don’t want to sound super clueless, but why do you suggest AC?Do you think it’s candida? I worked so hard trying to kill it last year.
Thanks a lot for the helpful suggestions, Rebekah. Solving this puzzle is hard, but your suggestions make me feel hopeful. Wish me luck, will try it all you suggested and then see how it goes. *Fingers Crossed*
God bless!
Whenever natural acid levels are too low, Candida can overgrow, so it’s best to incorporate a charcoal cleanse when your gut is moving well in order to help with that.
It’s best to take HCL mid-meal, mimicking your stomachs natural surge in production shortly after food begins arriving.
You’re taking Doctor’s Best brand HCL?
The max limit depends on the individual; I’ve known people who needed 8-9 per meal when they first started out.
The main thing is to *not take NSAIDs* because they thin the stomach lining, and pay close attention to your body. If you get a burning sensation in your stomach after HCL you can eat a little more or drink a couple ounces of water or milk.
Enzymes are generally best a bit before the meal because they’re supposed to move into the duodenum ahead of your food, mimicking natural enzyme release by the pancreas when it’s stimulated by gastric acid production.
LPR has the same root cause as regular reflux: have you tried a lemon shot for it?
You can take a lemon shot anytime, even without food. It typically stops all symptoms in a couple of minutes.
I know someone who’s dealt with parathyroid issues: I’ll e-mail you so you can chat with her.
Rubi, are you still dealing with LPR and heartburn? How are you doing? I believe I have the same things.
Cindy, the LPR from hell has calmed down… at least now I get it if I eat protein and things hard to digest, back in december-feb it didn’t matter what I ate or drank, still got it. Didn’t matter how little I ate, still got it. Even water gave me LPR, but my stomach was totally paralyzed, it makes sense. Taking Molkosan has helped with the extreme bloating and abdominal pain I had (ended up in the ER many times). If you can, try it. It made all the difference for me. I took 2 TBSP in 200ml lukewarm water TWICE a day when I was very sick.
My theory is that the lactic acid in Molkosan has the same effect good gut bacteria has with inflammed colons, and that is why I noticed a great improvement after just a couple days of taking it.Try it if you can, Molkosan was a true life saver. It’s not even that expensive either. My next step is to start eating fermented foods, all that antibiotics I took over a year ago are to blame for what is happening to me, I am sure.
Feel better <3
YOU. ARE. ONE. AWESOME. AND. FUNNY. WOMAN. I am always so blessed by what you write. You always make us laugh while we’re reading about the mess we’re in! Do you know I never burp!?! Thank you, my friend, for your heart for wanting to take such good care of us all. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Love, Susan
Rebekah, thank you so much for your endless work and making a massive difference to so many peoples lives! I am ordering supplies for my first cleanse using the links on this site. The above information supplements all the other great information you have on this site. I cannot wait to start feeling better following a decade of poor health! Enjoy the festive season. Rob xx
My dear dear friend Bekah!
I no longer have Facebook, but I follow you on here! I haven’t forgotten about you and your kindnes 🙂 Hope you are doing well and have a great holiday season! Xoxo
Hello, love! ❤️❤️❤️
I was thinking about you just the other night and wondering how you were!
I’ll send you an e-mail.