September 28, 2008
Stress and Heartburn: Are They Related?
Managing your stress is vital to your health if you want to lessen the heartburn symptoms you endure on a daily basis. Although there isn’t a scientific connection between heartburn and stress, there’s lots of evidence for an indirect link.
With stress, we eat more, make worse food choices, sleep less, and sometimes indulge in other bad habits like smoking and drinking. These actions will compound the problem if they end up worsening your heartburn.
If chronic heartburn is a problem for you, you need to take a close look at the stressors in your life so you can get rid of them. Is it your relationships? Your job? Too many entries in your daily calendar, or not enough money in the bank? Any of these can add to the stress in your life and result in heartburn if the pressure causes you to make bad lifestyle decisions.
As you start to realize the situations that are causing your discomfort, you are in a better position to prevent chronic heartburn by easing your stress levels. Could you go into counseling, or even just steal some time away to unwind and appreciate life?
Sometimes you can alleviate stress, and ultimately heartburn, by improving your life in different areas. Add exercise to your daily routine if you don’t already do it. You might also lose some weight, which is another major contributor to heartburn.
If relaxation is the solution, meditation and massage are both good choices to help you unwind. While these may not directly inhibit heartburn, they can make your life less hectic and allow you to de-stress and live the kind of lifestyle that helps heartburn sufferers cut down on the frequency with which they experience heartburn.
Perhaps setting aside time each day to listen to your favorite music will help to relax you and still your mind. This kind of relaxation is helpful in stopping your cravings for food, alcohol or cigarettes. These habits can all lead to a bad case of heartburn.
You might like to exchange your bad habits with a more positive activity, such as laughter. Give your mood a boost, drop stress, and lose your troubles by searching out humor in the world around you.
Seek out methods of reducing stress and preventing heartburn symptoms that won’t put you in financial jeopardy. You want to avoid adding financial problems to your misery, and there are lots of cheap ways to manage your heartburn and enjoy your life.
Filed under Heartburn by Keira Adams
September 17, 2008
Alternative Treatment Options for Acid Reflux
Although there are many effective medications on the market for acid reflux, they often only make matters worse once the person stops taking them on a regular basis. Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI), one type of acid reflux medications, cause the body to produce abnormally high levels of acid when they are no longer taken. Individuals who take PPI’s should do their best to avoid a sudden stop in treatment so that the body does not respond with “rebound hypersecretion.”
There are a variety of natural herbs that can be used to treat heartburn. After eating, tea made from coriander, chamomile, angelica, fennel, caraway seeds, anise, peppermint, or spearmint can help relax the stomach and reduce symptoms of acid reflux. Supplement capsules of caraway seeds and peppermint are also available and quite effective.
Other nutritional specialists choose to use roots. Taking in 500 milligrams of ginger root each day can do wonders for the symptoms related to acid reflux. Ginger is also an ingredient in Ayurveda.
It is also important to include healthy levels of fiber in your diet in order to combat acid reflux. If you don’t like foods with fiber, you can get it from pills or powders. Fiber is essential because it keeps the digestive system regulated, absorbs excess acids, and prevents constipation.
Smoking is definitely not a good choice for acid reflux sufferers. The esophageal sphincter is relaxed by nicotine consumption, allowing acidic fluids to swish into the food pipe from the stomach. Stress and smoking are often related and both are known causes of acid refluxes. Hence, both should be reduced as much as possible.
No one likes to limit their diet, but some foods to be avoided to help treat acid reflux are chicken nuggets, cheese, liquor, wine, tea, coffee, salad dressing, citrus fruit, ground been, Buffalo wings, potatoes, spaghetti and ice cream.
Some alternative medications for acid reflux that have been well documented for their positive effect on the condition are licorice, chamomile, and marshmallow. Papain, a digestive enzyme, also supports healthy digestion. Meadowsweet is an anti-inflammatory antacid that shields digestive membranes from harm.
In order to have success in your battle against acid reflux you must put forth effort to control your weight, reduce stressors, stick to a diet, and make some serious lifestyle changes. Fortunately, doing so is well worth it.
Tags: v for heartburn, peanut and heartburn, what is heartburn
Filed under Heartburn by Frank Robson
September 16, 2008
Acid Reflux – Is That Heartburn Or What?
INTRODUCTION: Acid reflux is a condition where gastric juices containing acid travel back from the stomach into the esophagus (gullet or swallowing tube). More commonly found among adults, yet, children as well as infants, can be likewise affected.
It is most often recognized by its symptom of “heartburn” which reportedly affects 1 out of every 10 adults in the US and is a very serious and common affliction in the world today. In severe cases, this can be very troublesome. It is treatable and you should ask your doctor what treatments are available and right for you.
GERD: Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), or more commonly known as acid reflux, is a chronic condition where the esophagus gets inflamed and irritated because of the stomach’s acidic contents that backflow towards the esophagus passing from the lower esophageal sphincter. It is a severe form of reflux that often causes pain, vomiting and poor weight gain.
HEARTBURN: The name of the affliction given to a burning discomfort in the chest, just back of the breastbone. It is a sign of another digestive problem, and not a problem by itself. Following heartburn, other reported symptoms are regurgitation, bitterness in the mouth, hoarseness, wheezing, dry cough, and throat tightness as if some chunk of food is entrapped. An occasional heartburn does’nt always mean one has GERD.
SYMPTOMS: Symptoms of acid reflux include: Heartburn (a burning feeling rising from the stomach or lower chest upward towards the neck) and can be greatly relieved or prevented by lifestyle and dietary alterations as well as using herbs known to promote healthy digestion.
TREATMENT: Treatment is the next step, but remember that correct treatment can really only be implemented after a definite diagnosis has been made. Also, after the esophagus has healed and treatment is stopped, the injury will come back in most persons within a few months. You may need to experiment with doses and medications to find the best treatment for your heartburn and GERD.
Medicinal treatment is often only needed for a short period of time although it may have to be repeated since some symptoms may come back. NEXIUM is prescribed for the treatment of frequent, persistent heartburn symptoms. However if these symptoms occur two or more days a week inspite of treatment and change in diet, you may have (GERD) also known as Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.
CONCLUSION: Acid reflux is caused by food and stomach acid coming back up from your stomach and entering your esophagus and is often characterized by a burning sensation in the stomach and chest area. It is a medical condition, with heartburn as a possible symptom of that condition. You should also realize that if it is left untreated for too long, you could be looking at a lifetime of dealing with it. The bottom line is that finding the right cure is mostly about knowing your body and your symptoms.
Tags: foods that cause heartburn, heartburn angina symptoms, zoloft and heartburn
Filed under Heartburn by Richard H Ealom
September 10, 2008
Acid Reflux Remedies With Just One Pill a Day
Acid reflux disease or GERD, as you may have heard in the media is, at least for me, a catch all phrase for mild to chronic indigestion. I do not have an ulcer. I do not have H-pylori and I do not have heartburn, per se, but I am and have been since I was 19-years old, treated for acid reflux disease.
In my case I have been told by doctor after doctor that my symptoms are not usual for heartburn. Since I am always looking to loose weight, feeling famished all the time is not a good thing. I know I am not starving because I have just eaten a huge meal when it happens or I could have had a small meal. It happens anyway — unless I take pills for heartburn. I have an over productive acid producing stomach system. I can also begin my morning with a desire to eat a 3-course meal.
The symptoms of acid reflux should be considered as much more than just an inconvenience. Sufferers run the risk of having their esophagus wear away by the unwanted acid, bile and pepsin that is produced in the stomach to aid in normal digestion. What is not normal is that this same bile, acid and pepsin can “back up” into the throat and cause a burning sensation and inflame the esophagus, your throat. Prolonged symptoms can damage your throat and even cause cancer. You can even experience heart attack like symptoms as well as, the more common, throat confined throw up.
Visit your local drug store and speak to the pharmacist. They will have suggestions and recommendations for heartburn. It could be that simple. Drugs such as Zantac and Prilosec used to be only available through a doctors prescription but not anymore. You can get a 30-day supply just by walking into your drug store and asking for it. The drug stores do keep these more expensive drugs under lock and key and it will require a drug store attendant to get them for you.
In the event that your neighborhood pharmacist cannot help provide relief for your stomach acids you will need to see a doctor to rule out other more serious stomach issues. An internist or a gastrologist is recommended since both treat those areas of the body. A gastrologist is a stomach doctor. Diagnostic tests will usually need to be ordered and they are not cheap so make sure that both the doctors and the clinics that do the testing are on your insurance and in network. Take nothing for granted.
Relief could be as easy as taking a prescription pills each day and avoiding acid reflux foods. I take Prevacid, the over the counters do not work for me. Get help now!
Unless pregnant, once you begin experiencing acid reflux it is usually a lifelong ailment. I can attest to that fact since I have at it since I was 19 and am now over 50 years old. I M U S T take my medication everyday rain of shine or I will experience symptoms. It has never gotten any better.
Generally after meal time is when most people feel the effects of acid reflux. The contents of their stomach trigger the digestive acids that are required to digest food normally. What goes wrong for sufferers is that the biles and acids are not confine to the stomach but regurgitate into the throat. It affects some people a lot more severely than what I experience. For some it is so bad it is likened to a heart attack. Why not get treated? Why would you wait around and not take care of yourself? What is stopping you?
I had a Tums devouring brother who didn’t realize he had a serious problem until I finally asked him what was the deal. He said he hadn’t noticed how much he depended on Rolaids and Tums. He takes a pill a day (and sometimes two on Thanksgiving of Super Bowel Sunday) and he doesn’t feel the symptoms anymore.
Filed under Heartburn by Ellen Mathers
September 4, 2008
Acid Reflux: What are the signs
The meal was delectable, to die for even, and you ate as much as you could. Clearly you just couldn’t bring yourself to say no to that tantalizing beef dish with its savory cream sauce.
After such a delicious meal, you couldn’t help but curl up in your most comfortable position on the couch and watch your favorite television show. Naturally, there were peanuts available to snack on, sweet chocolate to satisfy your sugary cravings with, and a glass of fine wine to sip at your leisure.
Welcome to the signs of Acid Reflux.
Even a situation as seemingly perfect as the one described above can be ruined by chest discomfort. A sour tasting fluid filled with the flavors of all the foods that you’ve been digesting can surge up past your breastbone and fill up your throat. Despite your desire to vomit out such a terrible mixture, it decides to stay right there causing extreme discomfort.
Some people also experience further unpleasant sensations when dizziness sets in as a result of a reaction by the Vagus nerve to stomach problems. All these symptoms are part of the body’s typical reaction to acid reflux.
If you have been ignoring these kinds of things happening earlier, chances are that you would also get a feeling of food getting stuck in your throat. A sensation of food finding it difficult to travel down the food pipe, is also possible.
Such an experience is commonly associated with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) or acid reflux.
Completely unrelated to age, race, nationality, or genetic disposition, acid reflux is experienced as a result of habits that involve nutrition, eating, and health. People of any age, such as senior citizens, teenagers, and even very young children can suffer from acid reflux. Children tend to develop this problem because of issues with their physiological development. For other individuals, however, their own overuse and abuse of the body’s digestive system is what causes them to suffer from acid reflux.
Filed under Heartburn by Robert Billings

