Silent reflux seems aggravated by acetone exhalation

(Michael) #1

I’ve suffered with serious silent reflux for 17 months. In late Janurary I thought it was over but it rebounded after I had a bad reaction to my second Moderna jab.

In February I started Keto at 164 pounds. Since then I’ve lost 14 pounds and have felt great but my throat seems to be adversely affected by exhaling acetone.

Today I bought some sweet potatoes. I’m having steel cut oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow. My silent reflux is my only serious health problem. Addressing that has to be my priority.

(Bob M) #2

Interesting. Let us know what happens.

#3

If the problem was gone and only started up again after your second shot, what’s the thinking behind the carbs? Did it only start after going keto?

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #4

Why do you think that?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

Given that reflux is caused by an insufficiency of stomach acid, many people find that taking a quantity of apple cider vinegar (it’s a bit tastier than distilled vinegar) can help. A search on the forums will provide more information.

(Vic) #6

I have experience with that, sufferd from acid reflux for over 30years.

Some stuff I learnt.

-Grain are a disaster. Stay away from all of them.
-eat solid food you need to chew for a while. No blenders. A solid steak is better then Grounded beef.
-The energy denser the food the better.

The principle is this: keep the acidity in your stomach high. Eating energy dense food in naturally chewed pieces gives a smaller total suface in the stomach for the acid to work on. Digestion takes longer and production of fresh acid can keep up, thus acidity never drops to low and the esophogus never relaxes at the wrong time.

The only time I suffer these days is when I drink more than 1 beer (grains). Perhaps a good thing, keeps me in line :grin:

(Bob M) #7

As someone who basically never has reflux, I pretty much only get it when I eat grains. Every once in a great while, I’ll get it from eating a plant, typically something involving tomato sauce. But it’s rare.

And actually you know what would give me issues? Sweet potatoes. I love the taste, but they kill me in many ways. I was trying a TKD with high saturated fat, and sweet potatoes killed me. (I also went “paleo” for a bit, and ate sweet potatoes then, with the same result.)

And oats? I ate hot cereal grains (malto-meal, oats, you name it) for breakfast for years, decades really. Talk about something that’s not filling. I could eat these (no butter, milk, anything else) and be starving 5-15 minutes later. I don’t know how I did it.

For both of these, I recommend drowning them in butter.

#8

You had the reflux before keto. Why do you think it’s related to it?

I totally agree you should look for a solution, but going heavy on the carbs seems so radical. Why not trying some less carby greens before? A slow increase to find your sweet spot.

I have reflux when I have my OMAD close to bed time. The best thing is to go to bed with an empty stomach. For me. You could try and see if it works for you.

I hope you find a solution! Good luck!

(Michael) #9

Ifod14, I think the silent reflux started up after the second Moderna jab because I had a horrible reaction. The shot gave me 101 degree fever, excruciating body aches and kept me in bed for 36 hours straight. A horizontal position makes reflux worse.

I’m sticking with keto though. The last two mornings I’ve breakfasted on steel cut oatmeal which probably put my carbs up to 50g. Late in the day I start exhaling acetone fumes again. In spite of the oatmeal this morning I registered my biggest daily weight loss–2 pounds.

(Michael) #10

PaulL, I’ve tried using some ACV. Sometimes it seems to help.

BTW, thank you all for the concerned replies.

(Michael) #11

It’s just a guess. The tissues near my voice box are inflamed from silent reflux and acetone fumes might be an irritant.

(Michael) #12

Thanks for the advice. Im 72 now but when I was in my 30s I suffered from terrible heartburn that I thought would never go away. I went to doctors and had every kind on test but nothing showed up. Over time the heartburn went away to the point that I could eat anything.

Often long periods of time resolve medical issues that seemed hopeless but 30 years of heartburn had to be awful.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #13

I’m 76 on June 10 and started keto Jan2017. I had flatulence, indigestion and reflux most of my adult life. It went away within a couple of weeks starting keto. I have a Ketonix acetone meter which I used extensively a couple years ago for several months. I generally measured mid to high acetone levels. In the range of 20 to 60+ ppm. I never noticed so-called ‘acetone breath’ and never felt any throat irritation at all. Still don’t and I’m in ketosis pretty much 24/7/365.

I think you would probably have to experience a very high level of acetone to cause irritation even with your throat sensitized by years of reflux. My understanding is that acetone results from the breakdown of acetoacetate. So it would take a lot of unused acetoacetate to generate an excess of acetone. Since acetoacetate and β-hydroxybutyrate spontaneously convert to/from each other I think something would have to be haywire for excessive amounts of acetone to result.

Therefore, unless you can determine something specific, my guess is that acetone is not your problem. If you purchase a Ketonix you could measure the acetone and determine whether or not it’s extremely high.

(Michael) #14

I’m 72. My issue with silent reflux affecting my laryngopharyngeal tissues began in February 2020. I was coughing every day late at night and after waking but I couldn’t figure why. My best guess was allergies even though I had no history of allergies. My doctor was clueless as he always is.

I should mention that last July I made a mistake with clorox and inhaled chlorine gas which burned my throat and lungs. That’s probably why I seem to be sensitive to exhaling acetone.

Last evening my meal was steel cut oatmeal which blocked ketosis. As a result, I had no reflux at all last night. I’m still committed to LCHF but I will have oatmeal every evening for a couple of months.