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Comment by leephillips | Hacker News Reader

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leephillips·

"and have tried all of the AMA's recommended cures. None of them worked"

But sodium bicarbonate is a standard medical treatment for acid stomach or reflux. They even have it in pill form.

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I guess the doctors I saw didn't know that. I heard about it from a fellow sufferer.

It’s literally alkaselzer I thought.

Yes, but alka seltzer also has aspirin in it and anhydrous citric acid.

Alka Seltzer Gold omits the aspirin.

AKA, Tums.

Don't make calcium supplements (ie Tums) a regular part of your diet:

https://nutritionfacts.org/2018/03/22/if-calcium-supplements...

Tums is calcium carbonate, not sodium bicarbonate.

The bicarb is what really matters

CaCO3 and NaHCO3 effect pH in similar ways, Calcium Carbonate is the stronger alkaline buffer though because it can pick up 2 H+ where as bicarb alread has an H+. Both can form bicarbonate ions depending on the pH.

lawr.ucdavis.edu/classes/ssc102/Section5.pdf

So is Tums safe since it isn't bicarbonate? I take it every day to counteract acidic foods.

The excess calcium can greatly increase your risk of kidney stones.

This is myth, Ca actually can reduce kidney stones while Na increases the probability they will develop. Ca could have negative cardiac effects above 1200mg per day though.

https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseas...

I’m uncertain which is correct now. My own healthcare provider warned me of the correlation...

And it’s also listed as a(n) (albeit rare) side effect here.

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000198.htm

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