Aloe Vera

If you have esophageal or acid reflux, then you know it is not just uncomfortable, it is dangerous. If left untreated, it can cause cancers of the esophagus.

I used to self-treat with calcium carbonate (Tums). I was buying Tums at Costco to get the volume pricing. That was just masking the symptoms. Stomach lesions, the underlying issue of gastroesophageal reflux, are not treated just by using Tums.

I have used Prilosec in two treatment iterations. Prilosec does work. You have to use it every day for three weeks for the symptoms to disappear. The symptoms came back eventually, though, all too soon.

I have also used every OTC remedy on the market. The last one I used was Tagamet. That's a histamine H2-receptor antagonist that inhibits stomach acid production. Tagamet always works. But Tagamet is a powerful drug, interacts with other medications, and you're only supposed to take it for two weeks.

I just didn't want to give up my coffee.

A few years ago, I started collecting aloe vera cuttings, and cultivating the plant. There are dozens of varieties.

To treat, I break off a leaf and stick in whatever drink I am carrying around. Aloe is somewhat bitter, so I take it with iced tea with lemon, and the sour of the lemon counteracts the bitter of the aloe.

It took several months, but it did happen. The aloe vera cured my stomach lesions, and my acid reflux. And what's most amazing to me, is that I don't seem to overproduce stomach acid anymore.

I have seen aloe vera in bottles at the market. I've never tried them, and can't vouch for their efficacy. The whole reason I cultivate, it's about something that gets lost in the whole "buy local" fervor. The reason you buy local is because every plant and animal has its own immune system, and a plant that has been cultivated nearby has proven that it can tolerate environmental stresses very similar to the ones you encounter. Air pollution, noise, temperature, all these affect the viability of every living thing. When you ingest a plant that has developed immunity to the same environmental stresses that you face, it helps you.

I wouldn't even recommend trying aloe vera without talking to your doctor. All I know is that it works for me. I trust pharmaceuticals only for treating very specific disorders, and then, only for a limited time.
Originally posted 6/15/15

UPDATE: 1-27-16
At the time of this writing, aloe vera surreptitiously treated another stomach affliction and I just noticed. For years, I would experience cramps in the area between my stomach and duodenum. Even hours after eating, it felt like the food hadn't left my stomach. I would describe it as incomplete emptying. And I couldn't trace it to any one food. It happened one time right after eating a few macadamia nuts. I realized several months ago that I haven't had symptoms of this for at least six months. Whether it's correlation or causation, all I know is I believe this condition has also been cured.

Eight Twelve Twenty

If you believe you may have an anxiety disorder or just don't know, contact a mental health professional; many services including in the San Diego area are covered by Medi-Cal. Consult your doctor before following any health advice.

It can happen while you are driving around and feel your heart palpitating a little. Could that be serious? It used to happen to me all the time, and I was afraid to even go to sleep sometimes.

I didn't know that I was experiencing anxiety attacks. I was gulping air, faster and faster, and still thinking that I wasn't getting enough oxygen or something.

The doctor put me on a medication, and it stabilized me within a few weeks. He told me that I was breathing so hard that I was cyanotic. I stopped taking the medication abruptly as I didn't know about titrating or risking possible seizures.

By the time I stopped taking the meds, I had taught myself breathing exercises that work for me, in my particular situation, quite well. I tried yoga first but those people are all so uptight.

If you have ever participated in endurance training like running, then you already understand rhythmic breathing, for lack of a better phrase.

At the start of a run, it's optimal to get into a breathing rhythm right away. My way, was counting out numbers while I exhaled in tiny bursts. One-exhale, two-exhale, three-exhale, four-exhale, five-exhale, six-exhale seven-exhale, eight-exhale, until my lungs didn't have hardly any air left, then, a tiny inhale, and then a pause.

The first time I count to eight; the second time I count to twelve, and then keep repeating briefly until the rhythm sets in. You know you are in proper synchronization when you are striding with minimal effort and are repeating long beats like four-counts to sips of air.

Oxygen is an accelerant; hence you only need sips.

snip

When I got home, I jumped into the pool and floated on a huge innertube, staring at the bottom. The colliding surface waves refracted bright sunshine as intertwined strands and cords of pure light on the bottom of the pool. They crashed against each other violently and I closed my eyes. When I opened them a few moments later, the refracted rays were bouncing a bit more slowly against each other. I closed my eyes again and again, until the bottom was a diffuse pattern of calmly undulating rays. I could see a spider on the bottom of the pool. About two feet below the surface, a single particle of vegetation hung weightless in suspended motion.