Yes, our bodies do heal. However I say that with a 'caution' attached.
By about 6 months into my sobriety my whole gastronomic system was doing really good, rarely had heartburn any more or had to use a Rolaids or Tums.
That lasted until about 10 years ago, when everything went to hell in a hand basket. I was diagnosed with GERD. They found new lesions on my esophagus and said I now had 'Barretts Esophagus' which is a precursor to Cancer and that my stomach looked 'terrible' (doctors words not mine). I also now have a hiltal hernia, which is the 'acid' has and is burning away the muscle where the esophagus meets the stomach.
So the sooner one stops the better. Me I was not so smart, drank for 24 years, 22 of that alcoholically and really really did some bad damage. Damage that I thought had healed with my ongoing sobriety, only to be 'rudely awakened' years later that my body was not holding up as well as I though it was.
About 70% of my health issues today can be traced back to my years of abusing alcohol.
The sooner anyone reading this takes abstinence seriously the better their life will remain 'down the road'!!!!!!
J M H O
Love and hugs,