Has anyone tried d-limonene for indigestion?

I have had digestive issues for many months that have been causing PACs for over six weeks. I have been working with a nutritionist, but so far my inflammed stomach and burning of my esophagus, throat, and tongue due to a weak LES muscle continue. We have treated candida overgrowth, H. pylori, low stomach acid by taking up to 6 HCl pills at each meal while supplementing with zinc and iodine so I can make my own HCl, and "cleared" many food allergies/sensitives, and I am staying away from gluten and wheat. Still, my burning continues.

Yesterday I tried 1000 mg of Jarrows d-limonene for the first time at dinner. It is made from orange peels and contains a form of orange oil. Research has shown that it helps calm the digestive system, which seems to active the vagus nerve when there is inflammation or digestive upset, causing AFIB or other arrhythmias. So far, I still have the burning, but one is supposed to take d-limonene every other day with a heavy meal for 20 days. Research has shown that it reduces GERD for most people by the end of the 20 days. For some people, the GERD has not returned. For others, the effects seem to last 6 months. One can go to iHerb and read 97 reviews of Jarrows d-limonene, which is what convinced me to try it.

Below is a website Jackie researched by Dr. Weiss, NMD, who explains how d-limonene might work and how effective it is. Dr. Weiss recommends using a 98.5% d-limonene product, which Life Extension makes. I bought the Jarrows product as it is the only one I could find locally within 30 miles. The Jarrows product is "food grade", but had great reviews. iHerb has them both at good prices, but my digestion was so bad that I didn't want to wait to get it in the mail.

[www.heartspring.netacid_reflux_orange_peel_extract.html]

Has anyone else tried d-limonene for indigestion? I would be interested in your experience with it.

Windstar (Nancy M)

Nancy - I'm a big fan of essential oils and have used them both internally, topically and via aromatherapy for about 20 years. BUT... I do think that for someone with an irritated mucosal lining, they would be too harsh unless you started with only few drops placed in a "benign" carrier oil to help offset the potency of the undiluted oil. I'm thinking maybe something like half a teaspoon of coconut oil might be just enough to accomplish that just as you begin a heavy meal" to be sure that the oil is dispersed. I've not had a stomach problem myself so I can only relay what I've heard commented about these oils when ingested. Initially, I attened a lot of seminars on using essential oils for healing and I recall the cautions on ingesting.

One caveat on essential oils... always use one that is steam distilled so you avoid petroleum distillate residues. Many are not labeled as such. The very best essential oils for purity and reliability are pricey and are sold at ... www.youngliving.com

Have you tried Marshmallow Root? It lays down a nice muscilagenous coating that is very soothing and helps discomfort while the gut lining heals. Also, I don't recall if you said you've tried Organic Aloe Vera Juice, but that's also soothing. What you are trying to do is soothe but still allow for the natural stomach acid production to enable food breakdown so food particles can pass through the stomach without lying there and fermenting which would then cause more gastric distress.

I am certainly sorry you are struggling so much with this.

Jackie

I have GERD and I've just started with D-limonene. It does tend to come back on me but its not unpleasant I'm aware of a slight burning but its no more than I would get if I chugged fresh orange juice. I'm taking with my main meal every other day. Will let you know how it goes.

Jackie,

Thanks for your help on the essential oil information. I have not tried marshmellow root. Is there a good brand I can get from iHerb? I bought some aloe vera from my nutritionist and tried it for a month, 3 times a day, but it had some other herbs in it that were causing me to detox and I became very achy, so I stopped it.

I tried my second dose of d-limonene on Wednesday and will do a third dose at dinner tonight. So far, it hasn't caused any additional burning. In fact, it is supposed to produce a mucous lining in the stomach, and take away inflammation so food can be absorbed. It is also supposed to help the LES work better, which is a major reason I am trying it. Research has shown that it is relaxing and helps one sleep better, yet another reason I am going to continue with it. The only problem I've had so far is that I had loose stools the morning following my second dose. I'm not sure if this was from the d-limonene or from taking too much potassium supplement the day before. My PACs have been increasing, so I tried adding more potassium gluconate to quiet them, but this didn't help. I decided that my magnesium IV that I had 2 weeks before was wearing off, so we drove 160 miles round trip to get another magnesium IV treatment. This time, we did 2 grams of magnesium and a Myers cocktail without the B vitamins since they seemed to cause me to have insomnia for two nights after the IV. Unfortunately, I still have PACs after that treatment, so I've been slowly adding potassium again throughout the day. After my first treatment 2 weeks ago, which was 3 grams of magnesium, the PACs completely stopped, so I am disappointed this hasn't done the same. Because my BP was low (118/50) and the doctor wasn't in, they didn't want to give me the full 3 grams of magnesium.

Heather,
Glad to hear someone else is trying d-limonene. Have you had any side effects so far like loose stools? Please continue to post so we can compare experiences.

Blessings,
Nancy M

Hi Nancy - I noticed where you mentioned you are supposed to take l-limone with heavy meals for 20 days. Maybe the idea if eating heavy meals is a contributing problem.

I have had some luck with indigestion by what I am not doing. I found the indigestion at night to be the biggest offender. We are now trying to eat by six o'clock, no later. I do not take any supplements at dinner except a very few essentials: Magnessium, a digestive enzyme and a fish oil. I believe the concoction of different supplements was sometimes hard to digest in conjunction with my food. Dinner is light, follows a food combining protocol for ease of digestion and is made up of only very easily digested foods, no red meat and well chewed. I was always a late night snacker, but now I have strictly nothing after dinner until breakfast. This includes no tea or drinks other than minimal water. If the food is still in my stomach when I lay down, I lay only on my right side.

My EP has had me on Nexium since my ablation, but my functional MD has suggested weaning off it by taking 10 drops of marshmallow root in water in the morning, plus a ginger root tea for two weeks before removing the Nexium. I have been following this and am down to a 1/4 dose of Nexium with no further indigestion.

This could be a situation where less is more as I always dealt with any stomach discomfort by eating, and now I leave my stomach to empty completely, knowing I will not waste away by morning!
Ron

Limonene is usually taken with or just after a meal.

There is no suggestion that it should be taken with a 'heavy' meal.

Sam

RonB,

I usually eat dinner by 7:15, but it is not a large meal--some protein, a green veggie, and very sm. potato or 1/2 sm. yam with butter. I have a bedtime snack of rice toast with almond butter at 9:30, because if I don't, I get hungry and hypoglycemic and either can't get to sleep or wake up around 1:30 or 2AM. As it is, even with this snack, I can wake up at 3AM or 3:30 hungry. Because I am not digesting my food well, I am not getting enough nourishment from it and need to eat more. If I understand it correctly, my nutritionist says I do not have enough magnesium to make the ATP cycle work. So I am just about to embark on getting magnesium IV treatments of 2 grams three times a week for 2 weeks. Hopefully, this will replenish my magnesium so I can digest my food and make my PACs stop as well.

I see my nutritionist tomorrow and will ask him about using marshmellow root. I believe he suggested it once before and for some reason I never bought it. Right now, I am allergic/sensitive to ginger and can't use it in any form. Hopefully, I will get "cleared" of that as well as my sensitivities to the latex foods tomorrow.

Appreciate all you help.

Blessings,
Nancy M

Hi Nancy - I was always eating late and even in the middle of the night and found I had the hunger feeling as well. I'm not sure if it was a true hunger feeling or another stomach disturbance that presented itself as hunger. Anyhow, as much as I miss my late night snacks I am actually fine without them. Right now I am still having an anxious heart in the middle of the night, but at least it is not usually associated with an upset stomach anymore.

I have no idea if the marshmallow root is having any affect, but feel quite strongly that going to bed with an empty stomach, or close to empty, has helped.

Are you taking any supplements late in the day? I sure don't anymore and feel they can be a big contributing factor.

Your late night snack of rice toast could by high on the glycemic index and contributing to hypoglycaemia. Have you checked it?

Ron

Magnesium oil is another way to get magnesium into your body without going through the gut.

______________
Lone paroxysmal vagal atrial fibrillation. Age 62, female, no risk factors. Autonomic instability since severe Paxil withdrawal in 2004, including extreme sensitivity to neuro-active drugs, supplements, foods. Monthly tachycardia started 1/11, happened only at night, during sleep, or when waking, bouts of 5-15 hours. Changed to afib about a year ago, same pattern. Frequency increased over last 6 months, apparently with sensitivity to more triggers. Ablation 6/27/13 by Steven Hao.

Magnesium oil does indeed get into the blood stream quickly and efficiently. The next challenge, though, is to get it from the blood through the cell wall or membrane and into the heart cell itself. That's what makes the difference in why many people don't see progress in spite of various forms of magnesium. It's what actually gets inside the cell and in a sufficient enough quantity.

Hi All,

I have stopped the d-limonene as of Thursday when I went to see my nutritionist. I started having sores on my throat, mouth, and tongue on Tuesday, and my nutritionist said they were from the d-limonene. I took 1000 mg of l-lysine on Thursday night and 500 mg on Friday, and the sores went away. However, my nutr. said my B vitamins were all low, causing my ATP to not work properly and my homocysteine to be too high, which is either causing or contributing to my PACs. He prescribed 3 different B supplements, two of which were sublingual. After taking them for two days, my sores are back!! I noticed that one of the B sublinguals, vitamin B6, contains citric acid, which may be the culprit. I stopped that this morning and will see what happens. I'm substituting Solgar P-5-P capsules, 50 mg twice a day, instead.

Yes, Ron, I do take several supplements at dinner and bedtime, but I don't want to stop them, esp. the potassium glyconate. If I don't take that, my heart just pounds when I go to bed. I have also tried eating no snack and having an early dinner. I did this for four months at a doctor's request, with no good result . In fact I was on a diet that allowed only 100 g of carbs for 2 months and was hungry all the time and lost too much weight. I was down to 102 lbs and I'm 5' 5 1/2". I also tried eating just protein at bedtime, like a piece of chicken or turkey, and this didn't seem to be any better. In fact, it seemed to just sit in my stomach because it was too heavy, and I still woke up at 3AM hungry. The fact is that my ATP just isn't working and so I'm not absorbing my nutrients well, which is why I get so hungry at 3AM and wake up. Hopefully, adding these B vitamins will help my ATP and allow my body to absorb more food and supplements. I find it amazing that something that I took for granted all my life like digesting food has become such a problem. Wow! I don't know what I'd do without my faith and my wonderful husband. They both keep me going and give me hope as do the people on this formum!

By the way, my nutritionist said on Thursday that I am only getting 4% of my Designs for Health magnesium glycinate into my tissues. I was shocked!! But he said that it is normal to absorb only 30% of magnesium glycinate even in a body that is working well. So when we think we are taking 600 mg a day of mag gly as I'm taking, if we only get 30% of that, we are really only getting 180 mg! Pretty sobering thought! That's why, like RonB, I've been putting on 300 mg of magnesium chloride oil daily and taking epson salt baths, but if the cells don't take it in, as Jackie said, then even topical supplements can be ineffective. Hopefully, the B vitamins will start making a difference for me soon.

Blessings to you all,
Nancy M