Hi, Googsta.
Many cases of reflux are (somewhat paradoxically) caused by having not enough stomach acid, rather than too much. The reason is that the acid level needs to be high enough in order to signal the opening of the pyloric sphincter (the one at the bottom of the stomach that leads to the duodenum). If this sphincter doesn't open when it should, the food and acid mixture tends to come back up through the gastroesophageal sphincter, producing reflux and heartburn. This is not true in all cases, since some people do have serious hiatal hernias or poorly functioning upper sphincters, but it is true in many cases.
Before resorting to efforts to decrease stomach acid, which causes a lot of problems for the digestive system and the nutritional status in the long run, it is best to first run a test to see if the stomach acid is actually low instead of high. Here's a simple home do-it-yourself test: On an empty stomach, such as first thing in the morning, drink an 8-ounce glass of water, into which you have mixed one-quarter teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). Time how long it takes you to burp. If you have not burped in 2 minutes, you have low stomach acid. Note: If you have been taking a proton pump inhibitor, you would need to stop taking it, and wait a couple of days for your parietal cells to recover before running this test. Otherwise, there can be a "rebound" effect when you stop the drug, and that can cause excess acid production, giving misleading results.
If it turns out that you have low stomach acid instead of high, you can augment it by taking betaine-HCl tablets or capsules, or the Allergy Research Group dilute hydrochloric acid, or lemon juice, with each meal. If you use lemon juice, be sure to use a drinking straw and to flush the teeth with water afterward to avoid damaging the enamel by chelation of calcium by citric acid. To determine the appropriate dosage of betaine-HCl, start with one pill for a meal, and then raise the dosage by one more for the next meal, and so on, until you experience a warm feeling in your stomach. Then drop the dosage by one pill, and use that dosage for each meal.
Best regards,
Rich