Heartburn Treatment « Heartburn and Acid Reflux News Blog

Heartburn Treatment at Home

There are a greater number of people than ever before looking for home remedies for everything from simple heartburn to colorectal cancer. While there are many medications on the market which can effectively treat acid reflux, there are just as many heartburn treatment home remedies, if not more. Some methods of heartburn treatment at home involve lifestyle changes while others are dietary and yet others are homeopathic supplements and formulas. Finding one that works for you may be a matter of trial and error, but always discuss treatments with your doctor first to make sure heartburn isn’t symptomatic of some more serious underlying illness or disease.

Natural Heartburn Treatment for Kids

For many years parents have been giving their children Milk of Magnesia or Pepto-Bismol for heartburn but there is more than one natural heartburn treatment for kids. Perhaps the oldest ‘trick in the book’ is a nice glass of warm milk. Cold milk can shock the stomach so heartburn treatment milk remedies should always be at room temperature or warmer. Milk is alkaline and can quickly neutralize stomach acid before it refluxes with that horrible burning sensation. However, be aware of the fact that if the child is experiencing heartburn because he or she is running a fever and nauseous, milk can promote vomiting. If your child has repeated bouts of heartburn, talk to your pediatrician so that a proper diagnosis can be made.

Looking for the Best Heartburn Treatment Home Remedy

One thing to keep in mind is that what works for one person may be totally ineffective for another. For example, anyone who is lactose intolerant wouldn’t benefit from heartburn treatment milk remedies. On the other hand, there are others who swear by baking soda mixed with water but this is unpalatable to others. Oddly enough, there are homeopathic heartburn remedies that suggest drinking a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Proponents of taking vinegar believe that heartburn isn’t the result of excess acid but rather too little acid which doesn’t allow for adequate digestion of foods. In any case, it is important to try home remedies that are suitable for you. No two people are the same and what works for you may not work for your children or your spouse.

Heartburn Treatment at Home Lifestyle Changes

Whether you are being treated by a physician for acid reflux or are trying to remedy heartburn at home with natural methods, be aware of basic lifestyle changes that can provide significant relief. It is recommended that you never wear tight fitting clothing after eating to allow for better digestion and movement of food through the digestive tract. Also, eat lighter and more often. Large meals promote heartburn even in those not prone to it. Avoid fatty foods, an excess of refined sugar and of course caffeinated beverages. Those who cannot refrain from their coffee find that placing a teaspoon of baking soda in the grounds when brewing it can help reduce the acidity in the coffee. Finally, try sleeping with your upper body elevated at least six to eight inches. This can be accomplished by putting risers under the legs at the head or with a wedge shaped pillow.

Looking for the best heartburn treatment at home can be time consuming as you may need to experiment a bit, but once you find an effective remedy you will be able to keep it close at hand. Try not to use acid reducers or antacids during your quest for a home remedy as you will not know if it is the medication providing the relief or the natural remedy. And as always, if you experience heartburn more than twice a week over an extended period of time you should consult with your physician to rule out more serious conditions.

Understanding Heartburn and Heartburn Relief Remedies

There probably isn’t a person on earth who hasn’t had, at one time or another, an episode of heartburn severe enough to reach for the good old fashioned chalky mint flavored antacids. However, some people are more prone to it than others, which is why there are a million and one heartburn relief remedies. The trick is to find heartburn relief that is safe and effective for you. But, first you need to know what is causing that sour stomach that repeats on you.

What Causes Heartburn?

In order to find effective heartburn relief, it is important to understand the triggers that cause it. Heartburn is named as such because of the burning sensation experienced in the chest when stomach acid comes up backwards through the LES (lower esophageal sphincter). At this point the acid irritates the delicate lining of the esophagus causing that painful burning we have come to know as heartburn and why we are so intent on finding heartburn relief remedies.

What Causes the Acid to Work Back Upwards?

Sometimes the LES is not functioning properly and other times the valve is just weak. Then there are simply times when we eat too much of the wrong foods that cause excess acidity which cannot be neutralized quickly enough during the natural digestive process, so it refluxes (comes up the wrong way). The thing to look for is whether you have frequent heartburn which necessitates taking regular doses of heartburn relief medicine or if it only happens infrequently. If you have frequent heartburn it could be GERD, a disorder which often needs medical diagnosis and intervention.

Two Types of Heartburn Relief Remedies

If you have been diagnosed with GERD or other disorders such as Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, it is doubtful that heartburn relief natural remedies or antacids will provide the type of treatment needed. The treatment of choice for these types of disorders that affect the LES would be a group of medications classified as proton pump inhibitors which help to reduce the amount of acid being produced in the stomach. This is a significantly different approach than taking antacids which simply neutralize the acid in the stomach as opposed to stopping the production of it.

What Are the Best Heartburn Relief Remedies?

As mentioned, there are two types of heartburn relief remedies and they type which is best depends on the cause. Proton pump inhibitors are the best heartburn relief remedies because, over time, they help to stop the production of excess acid in the stomach. This is the best treatment for ongoing disorders. The best heartburn relief remedies for the occasional occurrence of heartburn might be an OTC antacid or heartburn relief natural remedies.

Natural Heartburn Relief Remedies

Some people swear by home remedies for heartburn. In fact, perhaps the number one heartburn relief home remedy is something we all typically have on hand in our refrigerators – milk! For heartburn relief, milk does seem to neutralize excess acid while it also soothes the lining of the esophagus which is burning from the reflux acid. Other people find that aloe vera helps to soothe the burning sensation even more powerfully than milk. Aloe vera is available in both gel caps and in liquid form at health food stores as well as in many pharmacies.

Whether you choose to find heartburn relief naturally or in pharmaceuticals, the main concern is to keep a diary of how often it occurs if you find that you seem to be experiencing it frequently. If you find that you are subjected to heartburn more than twice a week over a period of weeks, it’s time to consult with your doctor as there is obviously some underlying problem. However, for those of us who just have periodic bouts of heartburn, a simple OTC antacid or a heartburn relief home remedy should do the trick.

LINX – New promising anti-reflux surgical treatment option

From time to time I browse news to search for new promising treatment options for heartburn. Today I found quite an interesting one called LINX.

This procedure is only at the very beginning of its trials but an idea sounds very smart and also significantly less invasive than everything else available at the moment (in my opinion).

The idea of the procedure is to place a bracelet with magnetic beads at the very bottom of your esophagus. The magnetic force of the bracelet will help your esophagus to close and won’t let acid back into your stomach.

I like this idea a lot because instead of trying to anatomically change esophagus by putting scars or staples on it LINX adds some force to your esophagus without doing anything bad to it.

Another positive side of LINX is that if magnetic bracelet doesn’t work due to some reasons you can remove it and completely reverse the procedure! None of other anti-reflux procedures give you that.

The one possibly negative side is that to insert the bracelet a minimally invasive surgical technique, called laparoscopy is required. At the same time this surgery technique is one of the safest available and lots of surgeries are performed using it nowadays since laparoscopy considerably minimizes infection risks and hospital stay.

I really hope that trials would go successfully and we’ll see high success ratios for this procedure.

If you’re interested in this procedure here is LINX official page http://www.toraxmedical.com/patients/linx.php. On this page they also have a link to a site where you can find information on how to participate in LINX trials.

DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice) and Heartburn

Here is some information on DGL studies from Astrid Pujari, M.D.”In terms of relevant studies, the two that I know of were published in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were small, and didn’t meet the ideal criteria we now use for research studies. These scientists didn’t study heartburn specifically, but found that DGL helped to accelerate healing in people with ulcers.

While the data on DGL for heartburn is fairly skimpy, licorice has been safely eaten as a food, in reasonable amounts, for hundreds of years. Without the glycyrrhizin, the risk is even lower. Given that, it may be worth a try ”as long as your doctor agrees.”

This is very close to my experience. DGL is claimed to be a proven heartburn remedy by many web sites but there is very little ground for that.

For more information read entire article in Seattle Times.

Prilosec and Nexium do not increase risk of heart problems

According to recent review released by the Food and Drug Administration patients who suffer from heartburn are not at increased risk for heart problems as a result of taking Prilosec or Nexium. The FDA and its Canadian counterpart began reviewing the drugs, used by tens of millions of people, in May.

The drug’s manufacturer, AstraZeneca PLC, provided them with an early analysis of two small studies that suggested the possibility of a risk.

The agency said its review of that study as well as 14 others indicated no increased risk for patients.

“FDA recommends that health care providers continue to prescribe, and patients continue to use these products as prescribed,” the agency said.
Well it is a great news for us – heartburn sufferers. We can take our Protonixes, Prilosecs and Nexiums without worrying about consequences too much .

I hope they will do more research regarding all other concerns related to long term PPI treatment like malnutrition, potential lung diseases, etc. For example:

Vitamin B12 Levels During Prolonged Treatment With Proton Pump Inhibitors.

Clinical Reviews

Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. 30(1):29-33, January 2000.
Howden, Colin W.

Abstract:
Reduced serum vitamin B12 (cobalamin) levels have been documented occasionally during long-term treatment with a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) in selected groups of patients. This has largely been confined to patients being treated for Zollinger-Ellison syndrome who have sustained drug-induced achlorhydria, which does not ordinarily occur during treatment with a PPI. An appreciation of normal cobalamin metabolism and the pharmacological action of the PPIs adequately explain the mechanism for this reduction. PPIs do not promote the development of pernicious anemia.

How I cured my Heartburn

To celebrate 1 year anniversary of Manage Your Heartburn I created an overview of “How I cured my Heartburn” in a form of a short article so every visitor of this site could read it in 5 minutes and get a good overview on how I did it. Check it out here

Quick tip to reduce night time heartburn

Sorry for the delay in writing – I was on short vacation. I hope you find my blog interesting and useful. Even though it is not very personalized I try to put as much useful information here as possible.
There were a couple of occasions recently when I was drinking beer or wine. Usually when I drink it over some certain amount I’m guaranteed to have night time heartburn. Usually my limit is 1 glass. Anything more than that = pain (usually minor but still pain).

So I tried to come up with some idea on how to reduce this pain even when you overindulge. I though that when you drink much you usually have alcohol staying in your system for some time. I read that alcohol usually stays from 1 hour to 10-12 hours. So the goal is to get rid of this alcohol as soon as possible. Doing this has two benefits. First it will reduce the night time heartburn (or hopefully it won’t show up at all). And second it will reduce the hangover.

So here are couple advices.

Eat food while you drink. Food, especially high protein food such as meat, cheese and peanuts, will help slow the absorption of alcohol into your body.
Drink water 1 hour before going to sleep (after being done with drinking). Alcohol pushes out water from the body. At the same time water pushes alcohol from the body too. This will also reduce morning dehydration and hangover (if you were drinking way too much)
Incliner Sleep Wedge is an innovative sleep solution. It was scientifically designed just to help acid reflux sufferers. It relieves acid reflux by elevating your head, shoulders and upper body as doctors recommend. It helps you to sleep in a natural position for controlling heartburn, respiratory problems and digestion ailments. An alternative to sleep wedge pillow is Mattress Genie

Over the course of living with heartburn and acid reflux I found only one herbal treatment which is very effective. It is Slippery Elm. I mostly use it in the form of the powder and make a tea out of it. Tea isn’t very tasty but it covers stomach and esophagus with gel like liquid which protects them from acid. Usually one cup of tea is good enough to have zero heartburn through the night and in the morning.

When it comes at night (hopefully it won’t) don’t suffer in the bed. Stand by and sip some water. This will dilute acid in your stomach and also help your stomach to clear up. Also wait for some time 10-20 minutes before going to sleep again. Water and acid will leave stomach sooner when you’re standing or sitting.

I hope these advises will help you to win a fight over the heartburn!

Get your heartburn non-prescription medications on eBay

I always thought that the only way to get non-prescription heartburn drugs like prilosec, zantac or tums is to go to the nearest grocery or drug store. How big was my surprise when I found out that you can easily get them on eBay and for considerably cheaper prices!

Even though shipping might eat some money you still can be in a win situation and save some money.

Constant heartburn

Constant heartburn usually requires more attention than occasional heartburn. Constant and frequent heartburn could be a symptom of more severe condition called GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).

Symptoms of constant heartburn:

- Pain or discomfort that starts in the middle of the chest and can then move up through the throat

- Chronic cough

- Burning in the throat – or hot, sour, acidic or salty-tasting fluid at the back of the throat.

- Difficulty swallowing.

- Feeling of food “sticking” in the middle of the chest or throat.

- Sore throat

- Chronic hoarseness

Here is a list of quick advices to deal with constant heartburn:

- go to your doctor and get some medications (usually PPI – proton pump inhibitor)

- cut back on acidic foods

- avoid caffeine and alcohol

- don’t lie down right after eating (1-2 hours should be enough if you lie down for short period of time). It is better to lie down on a wedge pillow.

- don’t eat just before going to bed (allow at least 3-4 hours)

- avoid clothing that’s too tight around the waist

Learn more about chronic heartburn and chronic heartburn causes.

Prilosec and Nexium don’t cause any heart problems

According to Food and Drug Administration study started in May Prilosec and Nexium don’t cause any heart problems.

Manufacturer AstroZeneca rised this concern when two small studies compared patients who underwent surgery with patients on a drug regimen. These studies found that patients on a drug regimen suffered from heart related issues more frequently than those with surgeries. It turned out that these studies were biased. Patients who underwent surgeries were significantly yonger when compared to ones who were treated with drugs. So higher rate of heart related issues could be easily described by older age of the patients.

Also FDA looked at 14 additional studies about Prilosec and Nexium and found that those people who took heartburn pill versus dummy pill had lower chance of heart related problems.

News Source

Categories

Archives

Pages