Ottiebow...
There are other stomach acids tests...the one I have used is to take 1 HCL pill with a meal of a certain size and if your stomach does not feel warm afterward then the next time you eat a meal of that size add a pill (up to 7). If your stomach does feel warm, then subtract a pill next time you eat a meal that size.
But in practice, idk how you could go for a year w/o enough stomach acid...the symptoms you should notice (besides bloating and belching, which I suppose may not be there as they are due to pathogens in the gut which grow due to the wrong ph - but if you are taking something to kill said pathogens, you may not have THOSE symptoms). But what you surely will(?) feel is a thick coated tongue and a craving for acidic foods or beverages. And in fact, if you should care to splash a bit of apple cider vinegar in water to taste (and taste will depend on how alkaline you are - but try just 1-2 tablespoons to start because in most cases more would be too much) and drink it you should find that it hits the spot and thins out the coating on the tongue (which is caused by stuff in your stomach not going down).
The only reason that medical science has been able to determine causes low stomach acid is thyroid issues. It is well known that the standard range for "normal thyroid" is as wide as a barn door and includes many people with thyroid out of range symptoms. Also the medical community is amassing quite a body of evidence that - for instance, high cholesterol occurs at certain so-called normal thyroid ranges and not others (so the normal range should be greatly reduced). You could check at
www.lef.org for thyroid blood test ranges and a discussion of what disease states have been associated with TSH or FREE T3 in a huge section of the 'normal' range.
Rydra
Um, I have a book The Metabolic Code and I just found out about this endless circle that you need to be aware of: If for whatever reason you become low iron, this means you cannot make sufficient thyroid hormone (I forget if T4 or T3). If for whatever reason, you can't make sufficient thyroid hormone, then you cannot make sufficient stomach acid. If you cant make sufficient stomach acid for whatever reason, then you cannot digest phenylalanine, which is needed to make tyrosine, another amino acid you cant digest well without HCL, and tyrosine is needed to make thyroid hormone -- AN ENDLESS CYCLE! So to break it you'll need HCL (or some other acid might do, such as apple cider vinegar) and to get your protein level up. I just learned this and wanted to share.
Take care
Rydra