Posted on

Current State of VSG/GERD

I just saw a post by a woman who is in stage 3 kidney failure due to long term use of PPIs. Which is why I got off those things very soon after my VSG surgery. If you take them, you should start stepping down from them immediately. The product I talk about in this post would be an excellent way to do that. Read on. However, if you’ve not read it, I’d read my other post which includes the links to PPI research before reading this one if you want the full picture. The kidney specific articles are here and here. I also have several posts about getting off PPIs, you’ll see them in the category.

The woman with kidney failure and my current status have prompted me to write an updated post about my VSG and long term GERD issues. I’ve not written anything about it in detail since 2021 when I tried acupuncture – which didn’t do much, sadly. I wrote a passing note within a deck building post last summer, but I have not written anything detailed, which will now be rectified.

Ok, so let’s go back to my last batch of writing from 2021. I did acupuncture, and while I do feel acupuncture is helpful for many issues, I got little results even with the Chinese Death Tea™.

I got into a routine with ONLY famotidine (H2 blocker), 3x a day, totaling 40mg/day and antacids (calcium). This was fine until 2024, when I started throwing up. Often.

I thought I was just overeating, but when the spitting and puking kept happening, I started to pay attention. It was NOT volume related, it was something else. I did some digging and found that throwing up typically begins with VSG patients around the 8-10 yr mark. Why? It is the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) spasming and/or becoming weak. When I mentioned this within my deck building post, I was thinking it was gall bladder, but no.

So I kept on with my famotidine routine and tried to be extremely careful when eating (read: eating TINY amounts at a time) to not miss the signals that I would end up puking. This went on until about a month ago (June 2025) when I was looking at FB and an ad caught my eye. It was an ad proclaiming Kiss My Acid Goodbye!, which of course, has the perfect tone for me. So I clicked it and read about the product and decided to roll the dice on a fucking FB ad.

I interrogated the dude who said he was behind the product – I even ran his emails through AI detection! – and he was, indeed a real guy who was ALSO a VSG patient who had the same puking experience that I am dealing with. I started the KMAG supplement (you can read all about it here: How KMAG works) and after a month, I can say that it definitely does SOMETHING. I’ve cut down famotidine to 10mg Pepcid at bedtime only and I’ve only had 3 pukes in that time, with a few spits w/out puking. I should probably go to 2x/day with it, but I take SO MANY fucking supps. I take: multivitamin, NAC (because I’m a sot), vit D+K sublingual, B12 sublingual, liquid glucosamine/chondroitin (nasty), concentrated liquid biotin/collagen and liquid magnesium (to offset the calcium, which is becoming a non-thing), PLUS the KMAG. It’s a lot.

I do feel that KMAG is healing my ravaged stomach and LES, it’s taking some time, but ALL natural supplements take time.

So that’s where I am with VSG/GERD and supplements. I feel that KMAG is doing its job healing up damage and soothing the LES spasms that are the likely culprit of the puking.

If you want to read ALL my posts relating to VSG, PPIs and managing GERD, here is the category, which is recent first, so you’ll need to go backwards to get to the beginning.

Posted on

Writing this Summer

My blogging has been sparse this summer! Mainly because I’ve been busy with reading, keeping this place going and rebuilding our deck!

Pretty much every weekend has been dedicated to working on the deck for the last 3 months. We are not fast, but we are VERY meticulous! We are 95% done, only the stair rails remain as far as construction. We’ll have to put lattice on the base to completely finish, but we’re taking a break from the deck to pursue other things for at least a month. Probably two. Anyway, here is a shot of where we are – we are SO proud of our hard work!!



If you’d like to see ALL the refurb photos, please to be perusing the Google Drive.

In other news, I’m having a LOT of VSG troubles. I’ve begun throwing up in addition to getting the spits, which is a new development. It’s not often, but I’ve never had the spits for an hour and/or thrown up before. I looked up “throwing up years after VSG” and found that this could be gallbladder issues, which are fairly common. My nails changing into soft, peeling messes coincide with this new tummy issue, so I think I’m also having vitamin/mineral absorption issues as well. Which makes sense, I can only take my vitamins occasionally since they make me nauseous and/or make me throw up. Blood tests are called for. I’ll get them once we have taken care of the Ranger ($1000) and Shasti ($500 blood tests + checkup).

I’m not saying much about politics, other than to say I think the Democrats have lost their damn minds. OF COURSE I’ll vote for Harris, but I am very concerned that many ::cough white men cough:: will not be able to manage a vote for a black woman. OTOH, if we do manage to pull it off, seeing the Orange Shitgibbon lose to a black woman will be SAWEET. At least until the civil wars start. Sigh.

I’m reading the Scalzi Old Man’s War series and enjoying it a lot. Highly recommend!

Enjoy the rest of the summer, y’all. Stay hydrated!

Posted on

Acupuncture for GERD #5

Didn’t feel all that great this morning, so I knew the session would be painful. YUP.

She left everything in place for twice as long as usual.

I am still on the same Death Tea™, which is not too horrible at least.

After a hard session, I usually feel tired, as I do today. So I’m going to take it easy today, do some light cooking and just chill.

I really wish my body was as compliant as Nick’s. He’s already feeling better after 3 sessions. ::sob::

Alas, my body is as stubborn as my mind, so onward we go with treatment.

SIGH.

Posted on

Acupuncture for GERD Session #4

Since the previous session, I’ve been taking the new Death Tea™ as directed, but the GERD is back in force. Last week I had several days where every single thing I ingested caused a GERD spike and I was eating Tums by the handful. NOT GOOD.

At the first of this week, I was feeling depressed about the GERD resisting acupuncture and just not in a great space. But the GERD did ease off a little bit this week. You have to remember that when it’s spiking badly, it will wake me up twice every night as well, and I have to eat a Tums. Once a night is bad enough, but twice is pretty bad for sleep quality.

I am tired and feeling gross today, so I knew the acupuncture was going to suck. I almost didn’t go! And I was not surprised when almost every needle hurt. Being overly tired will often read as anxiety to Drs because, for me, my heart rate is elevated when I’m overtired. So she gave me two scalp and a third eye needles today – which did help me relax. The needles even hurt coming out today – which NEVER happens. :(

No cups today, but I did get seeds in the ears for acupressure! They look like this:

acupressure seeds
Acupressure Seeds

I also got a new Death Tea™, since the one she gave me was clearly not working. She said she’s changing tack and give me a more supportive tea rather than trying to take on my issues directly. She said that this tea will support my spleen and help bolster my “good energies”.

WE SHALL SEE.

Next appointment is 3 wks, on a good luck Friday the 13th! I really hope this new tea works!

Posted on

Acupuncture for GERD session #3

Today’s session is full of new and exciting things! I allowed electricity to be used and I had some cupping done! FOR SCIENCE!

I’d been having an odd thing happen for almost a week. I was getting a tingly/zingy feeling in my left hand going up the thumb and forefinger. I told Dr Li about this and she said, “Oh, yes, that is your colon meridian. It’s talking to you!” How cool is that? My body is actually TELLING ME what’s up!

Most of the work we’ve done so far has been the colon meridian. As Dr Li puts it, “Things need to move down. They are not moving down.” I would agree! Ever since VSG, my entrails have not worked right. With the PPI, I had diarrhea most of the time and when I stopped that, I have constipation most of the time. So, YEAH, things need to “move down”. AGREED.

Today she brought up the electricity again and I balked. She insisted that it is NOT like anything that touches the skin, because it does not touch the skin at all. I thought that I should give it a go myself to see how it is for SCIENCE. So I did. And, she is 100% correct: it is nothing like on the skin. At all. It just feels like a pulsation. I’d still say if you’re new to acupuncture, probably get used to the needles first, then move on to electricity. The reason she was keen to do it is because I’m not getting past these colon issues, and adding electricity to the acupuncture makes it MUCH more effective. We shall see, I guess. She told me that the electricity is used on the abdomen, but rarely the spine, due to the sensitivity of the spine. Makes sense. Here’s what it looks like:


Continue reading “Acupuncture for GERD session #3”