Heartburn remedies
For those that suffer from heartburn it can be very frustrating. People often suffer from chronic heartburn or maybe just the occasional heartburn associated with eating certain foods. No matter what causes your heartburn, I’m sure you are ready to find some relief. There are several different ways to treat heartburn. Some may work for you while some may not.
In order to understand how to treat heartburn it is important to know exactly what it is and what causes it. Heartburn is a burning sensation that a person may feel when acid from the stomach rises up through the sphincter muscle and back into the esophagus. Our esophagus does not have a protective lining to prevent the acid from causing discomfort like our stomach does. So once that acid rises it can cause a great deal of pain. The term heartburn has nothing to do with your heart at all, instead it has been a term used to describe the feeling that one may have from the acid burning in the chest. It may feel as if your heart is burning! Heartburn can be caused by eating too much food at one time or by foods that contain a lot of spices. Some people may never experience heartburn at all, when others may have it on a daily basis. Pregnancy can often trigger heartburn as well as the condition GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease).
Regardless of what may be causing your heartburn, you may be looking for a remedy. Typically the remedy most people reach for are antacids. Antacids can often provide relief for heartburn because they are made up of calcium. Calcium is a base that is used to neutralize the acid in your stomach. However, there are other things that you may want to consider trying for your heartburn that you may never have heard of in the past.
One of the home remedies that people have been using for years is actually apple cider vinegar. It does sound strange but lots of people swear by this remedy. Although apple cider vinegar is an acid, it actually helps to digest your food quicker therefore moving food through your digestive system quicker. The sooner the food moves out the sooner you will have relief. You can try this method by sipping one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar mixed in about a half glass of warm water. This can be done before, during or after a meal, but for best results it’s recommended you chose before or during the meal to prevent the heartburn in the first place. Similar to the vinegar and water would be a bit of water with lemon juice. Lemon is another acid, but it can have the same effect as the vinegar.
Often it is more important to take preventative measures against heartburn to keep yourself from having to worry about the pain that you do not want to be faced with. For one, you need to try to eat less at one meal. Anytime one stuffs themselves full of food beyond the capacity of the stomach it is one inevitable that the food will have nowhere else to go other than back up the esophagus. Your stomach just cannot digest large amounts of food quick enough to prevent this from happening. Avoid eating foods that are greasy and fatty, they are main culprits in acid problems. Do not lie down after a meal. I know there’s nothing better than eating an evening meal then lying down on the couch to relax, we’ve all done it, but this is one of the worst things you can do! Try to eat dinner at least 2-3 hours before lying down to rest.
If you have severe heartburn or frequent chest pain and cannot seem to find a remedy that works for you, it may be time to visit your doctor. There are prescription strength medications that may be able to help you and you may have a condition that is a bit more serious than the average heartburn.
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