So this morning I woke up (that happens most mornings)

Went to brush my teeth (also normal)

But then!


I was looking at my tongue, and it was totally gross looking. Like all coated in white, like pretty thick. So I was thinking hmmmm, I know I've heard of people getting a white coating on their tongue from ketosis, I think I may have even experienced it before, but this is much more severe than I imagined...

I brushed my tongue and carried on with my day. Low and behold after lunch, I noticed the same thing with my tongue. And I'm thinking, "What's with that? Am I freakishly sick or something?"

But then.. I realized it was from taking Tums lol. The antacid. I've only rarely taken them before, but then my stomach keeps getting upset and asking for food when I know I'm not "hungry" so I thought maybe I'd take the antacid until my stomach became adjusted to my new eating habits.

It had been perplexing me all morning *major face palm*

Hmm... Just a suggestion that you shouldn't be having to take Tums all the time if you're eating right. Most people notice that their acid indigestion goes away when they stop eating crappy food and fast food.

Also, Tums is not intended to be an appetite suppressant. It's easy to come up with a healthy snack instead of taking a pill. Just something to think about.

Jay

LOL!!! For some reason your post has given me a much-needed chuckle. Thank you so much for sharing your "d'Oh!" moment!

Hugs,
Robin

I'm with Jay. I used to live on that stuff. Maaolox was my choice. I'd chug-a-lug all day long and through the night.

From day one, that's right day one of my lifestyle overhaul, it was no longer needed.

I'm wondering if you're confusing what's going on.

Is your stomach really asking for food? Do you feel an emptiness? Are you light headed?

OR:

Is your stomach upset? Gassy, crampy?

Perhaps you need to take a closer look...

I was going to say thrush (yeast infection) like small kids get. lol

The stomach thing just feels really acidy and a little nauscious. It feels like my stomach is releasing all it's digestive chemicals in anticipation of eating. (I always feel better as soon as I eat) Like even if I start thinking about food I can feel it mildly. But then I've been eating a meal in the middle of the night since I was a kid. Like my stomach will feel bad in the night, and wake me up and I'll go get food. This made a lot of sense physiologically as a kid because my mom had an eating disorder and would severely restrict my calories. So in the night when she was sleeping was the best time for me to eat. But now I can eat whenever I want, but my body still wants me to go eat in the night, and it's hard to fall back asleep with a tummy ache.

It happened at school today too, it was my first day at university and I was really, really anxious about it and felt like I was going to throw up before heading out. But this hardly ever happens, like where I get so anxious that my stomach hurts.

Anyways, I'll stop making excuses. I appreciate your concern about it, and I don't intend to start abusing it as a way to not eat enough.

I've asked my doctor about my stomach, worried maybe I had an ulcer or something, but he said it was fine. Just a combination of my brain misbehaving and too much stomach acid.

How long have you been on this eating plan?

Robin said her issues went away the first day...mine took about three months. But better eating has taken away my acid reflux entirely, it just took time.

I suggest more frequent meals, but much smaller. There's a scientific explanation for that advice revolving around stomach acid, but I'm not sure what it is off hand at the moment. I'm pressed for time. But this issue is near and dear to my heart since I suffered with it myself.

Small frequent meals and water. No caffeine and avoid greasy, high fat foods. Another trigger for me is overly processed simple carbs.

I've been on this eating plan for about 6 months. Like basically on a whole foods natural diet, with 4 "big meals" at 400 calroies, and then 2 snacks at around 100 calories. Which I feel is enough calories, I'm not tired or light headed or anything, but still losing some weight. But then I still have middle of the night meals frequently enough to reinforce my old habits.

The Tums did seem to work pretty well. Last night when I woke up I tried doing nothing and just waiting until I fell back asleep. But then I threw up a little bit into my nasal cavity (which REALLY sucked lol)

My stomach acid production is really crazy. I'm not really sure if it's going to get better. As a younger kid it was already really prevelant, and I never ate any sort of junk food. And then as a teenager I pretty much only ate fast food, and my stomach didn't really get better or worse. It mostly feels like as soon as my stomach is empty that it wants more food. My aunt says she has the exact same problem, and she grew up in a really similar food situation as me. So I'm not sure if maybe there's something genetically weird about our stomachs, or if it's a psycological thing with how we were raised to eat.

It's mostly just annoying, babies wake up every three hours to eat, but you expect them to grow out of it by the time they are in their 20's. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I were to just eat some greens and drink lots of water during the night, but it feels really important to me that I'm able to sleep through. Like just as an emotional mile stone.

You could have GERD--has your doctor explored this with you? Perhaps you should ask for a referral to a gastroenterologist. You may need more intervention than Tums can give you.

Also, you might have a "hiatal hernia" which makes it hard for your stomach contents to stay down. This stuff can't be self-diagnosed, though.

Might be time to get checked out.

Jay

I've never heard of either of those things, but they both sound ominous.

My doctor has hardly paid it any attention, mostly just told me it was psychological, but never actually run any sort of test. I go in on Monday to check in and I'll ask about both of those things.

Thanks for all the really great advice

I have to take a lot of pain meds occasionally, was eating tums like MAD for the reflux. Dr. prescribed me Prilosec, it's made a world of difference. I dont need them as often as the tums and they work much better.

I get the reflux when dieting, too, they've really helped so much. The scripts stuff is actually cheaper than the OTC, if you can get a script.

Good luck!

If he continues to tell you it's psychological, I'd look for another doctor.