Fasting to Heal Ulcers

I began fasting to help heal my ulcer. You want the entire story? I think it might actually go all the way back to 2001. I was in the Army at the time and I injured my knee. The doctor prescribed some ibuprofen. I followed the doctor’s advice and took the anti-inflammatory drug, but it always made my stomach feel weird. I even took it with food as directed. Now, understand that I was only 23 at that time. I’ve learned a lot about the human body and health since 2001.

In 2008, I was still in graduate school between my two stints with the Army. I was studying public health. This is the year that I developed a peptic ulcer. What were the symptoms? I experienced a dull ache in the upper left area of my torso. It always seemed to get worse at night and especially if I lied down for too long. At first, I ignored it as I used to do with all physical problems, but this was something that I couldn’t ignore for long. I just couldn’t sleep. I tried propping myself up with furniture so that I could sleep upright. That made my nights unpleasant. I used to sleep with a bottle of water near my bed so that if the burning in my abdominal area got bad, I could douse the flames with drinking water. I had a bad night about 4 out of 7 times a week on average and at that time I couldn’t predict when I would have a good night or a bad one.

That year was not a good year economically nor was 2009. I was forced to work as a substitute teacher to pay my bills. I also had no health insurance, so any medical care was paid for out of pocket. This added stress was probably not helping me much, but at least I finished graduate school with a high GPA and with honors. I had earned my Master’s in Public Health with an epidemiology specialty. While I focused mostly on infectious diseases, I knew a thing or two about noninfectious diseases as well. I went to see a doctor and he too suspected that I had an ulcer. He confirmed that I had an H. pylori infection and I was even screened for pancreatic cancer just to be sure. I was prescribed antibiotics and proton pump inhibitors to treat the infection and reduce acid respectively. However, this was just the beginning.

In addition to trying the standard therapy, I tried a plethora of different remedies used to treat ulcers naturally including mastic gum, licorice root, golden seal root, marshmallow root, L-glutamine, pine nut seed oil, and Matula tea. While these products were all quite pleasant, none of them seemed to really facilitate healing much. My infection was clear, and this was in fact confirmed with laboratory tests – no more H. pylori. However, I still experienced pain especially after eating, which suggested that it was a duodenal ulcer and not a gastric ulcer. The duodenum is the upper part of the small intestines FYI. It got worse after eating because eating stimulates the production of digestive enzymes and acids within the GI tract, and once the stomach and upper intestines are empty, the acid is far more likely to irritate the open sore. I had a doctor prescribe me Ambien, but I didn’t take it. My insomnia was actually pretty bad, and I couldn’t sleep for more than maybe 15 minutes at a time. I didn’t want to go down a road in which I was dependent on prescription drugs, so I researched more natural ways to treat ulcers and came across a website with absolutely NO pictures; that always intrigued me. This website was very dense with information on the healing abilities of fasting. I read most of the information on the home page.

What’s interesting is that when I first began to experience this pain, my initial instincts were to stop eating but this seemed crazy at the time. Like most people, I always thought that I should be eating 3 times a day for optimal health. However, after reading the website, I discovered that many people fasted for weeks and had no problems if they properly prepared for it. I had very little to lose by trying this out. I had paid for the doctor visits out of pocket and I still needed to pay for food, car insurance, fuel, and other expenses. Money was tight but eating less means paying less for nutrition. I could save money and heal my body if this worked, right?

I didn’t jump right into a 2-week fast. I first did a juice diet for 5 days. I consumed no solid food and simply went for walks around the block. I felt fine after the 5 days were over. Next, I decided to do a 5-day fast. During these 5 days, I consumed only water. This was the first true fast that I ever attempted in April of 2009. I spent a lot of days watching Backyardigans and Wubsy with my little nephew while trying to heal. I think this was also a year in which I did not go out on a single date with anyone. I was so focused on getting better that I had no time for a social life. After the five days were up, I broke the fast and prepared for the big one. My research suggested that one should not set a goal of days when fasting but rather, let your body tell you when it is time to break the fast. The website that I read also suggested that I not tell anyone that I was fasting because they would not understand. They would just call me crazy and discourage me from even trying. I decided to keep the project to myself, but I took a lot of notes.

I recorded my starting weight, which was 135 pounds. I also kept track of how well I slept and my activities for the day. I purchased an enema bag as well because I had read that during the fast, your bowel movements will stop after a few days. This does not mean that you no longer have digested food in your GI tract, however. That food will remain inside of you and continue to fester. It’s a good idea for one to use an enema to stimulate a bowel movement and remove the feces. Yeah, I know it isn’t a pleasant subject, but I felt so much better after doing these enemas. I first used a disposable enema kit that I purchased from Walgreens, but then I bought a much larger, rubber enema kit with a long tube. This was reusable.

I remember the first 3 or 4 days were not pleasant! It was frustrating to me. Why wasn’t this working? After about 4 or 5 days, the body enters ketosis, which involves the breakdown of lipids into glycerol and fatty acids. These fatty acids are used to make ketones, which can be used by most cells for energy. Glycerol can be used to make glucose – a sugar. There is another process in the body known as gluconeogenesis, which uses amino acids from proteins to make glucose, which of course can be used for energy. Most people are interested in the fatty acid conversion into ketones though, which is the basis for the keto diet that has become so popular. On average I lost about a pound a day. I weighed myself and noted that the body mass index chart suggested that 120 pounds or less was underweight for me, so in the back of my mind, this was a cutoff point.

To my delight, after about 5 days not only was I not hungry, but I could sleep pleasantly every night! It felt so good to know that I could go to bed with confidence that I would not be awaken with pain. I did not engage in sexual activity or exercise during this period although I did go for a long walk one day. I mostly slept and watched the food network. I did add 1 teaspoon of salt to a bottle with water that I measured to be 1.1 liters. I drank from this bottle every day as much as I felt I needed to. I played with my dog, watched cartoons, read books, and slept … a lot. During this period, I realized how much time and energy we really put into food. We shop, we cook, we eat, we wash dishes, we take out the trash, we defecate. I wasn’t doing any of those things with exception of the enema about 5 times during this 2- week period. I’ve done fasts since 2009 and noticed the following symptoms – blurry vision, unusual rash from ketones, and high sensitivity to cold. During this initial 2-week fast, I did not experience these things. However, I did experience light headedness if I got up too quickly. I must say though, I found the light headedness to be surprisingly pleasant at times! I would get up very slowly in the morning expecting the light feeling and almost looking forward to it.

I brushed my teeth at least once a day and flossed as well. If you do not floss during the fast, your gums will bleed! Take it from me; I’ve seen it happen before. During this initial fast I flossed every day and so it wasn’t a problem but I’ve done fasts since 2009 without flossing and let me tell you, I was horrified when I saw how much blood was on the floss after a 5-day fast in 2019. Even without food, dental hygiene is important.

On day 14, I felt different. It seemed like no matter how much water I drank and no matter how long I slept, I felt exhausted and weak. My weight was also very close to 120 pounds which means that I had lost 15 pounds. Keep in mind that my goal was not to lose weight, but rather the goal was to heal the ulcer naturally. At this time, I felt no ulcer pain and I had to remind myself of why I was doing this and that to continue was unnecessary. No one knew that I was fasting, so I wasn’t exactly impressing anyone. I decided to break the fast with lemon water on day 14. Fasts should always be broken with gentle foods and never animal foods such as meat, poultry, or fish. Soft foods such as avocados, bananas, berries, and raw leafy greens are ideal. I’d be remiss if I were to leave out the fact that I did eat a chicken tender on day 14 too after I drank the lemon water. This is not advisable, but it was my first long fast after all.

After the fast, I continued with a mostly vegan diet. I ate some meat, but it was always slowly boiled with many vegetables – basically a beef and vegetable stew made at home. I did consume a lot of salads made with cabbage, romaine lettuce, and avocados. I drank lemon water every single morning before any food was consumed. I also avoided alcohol and purchased licorice root so that I could make fresh licorice tea. This was an introduction to fasting for me, but it was also the introduction to a new way of life. I now only eat one meal a day, but this practice came years later and for more than just health reasons. Still, it was good to be free of ulcer pain. Sure, I’ve had some returns to the pain since then, but I can usually attribute it to something very specific that I consumed and these experiences are so rare that I almost didn’t even mention them in this report. I hope this story helps someone the same way I was helped back in 2009.