Natural Heartburn Cure: Fighting heartburn, naturally

Television commercials have trained our minds to believe that taking antacids for our heartburn is a normal part of our life.

However, simple diet and lifestyle modifications can help prevent you from joining the 25 percent to 35 percent of Americans who suffer from frequent, severe heartburn, also known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). This condition can have serious consequences if left untreated, including an increased risk for esophageal cancer.

Frequently, medications are the first method of treatment for GERD. Unfortunately, some of these medications have side effects, such as impaired absorption of nutrients including calcium, vitamin B12 and iron. You may be able to avoid medication and its side effects by taking these easy steps to make prevention your first line of defense against heartburn:

# Avoid wearing tight-fitting clothes like neckties and tight waistbands. This will give your system room to move.

# Do not eat within three hours of bedtime. Avoid bending over or lying down immediately after meals. Gravity can help aid digestion.

# Avoid acidic, spicy foods, or any foods that you know trigger your heartburn. Consider skipping the nachos during the game.

# Avoid large, high-fat meals. Fat slows digestion, and slow digestion contributes to heartburn.

# Limit alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. These substances relax the esophagus and may allow acid to creep back from the stomach.

# Increase regular intake of "bitters" such as dandelion and mustard greens to stimulate digestion.

# Always consult your health care practitioner if your symptoms continue or become severe.

[Source: Laura Hunter, BS, dietetic intern and Debra Boutin, MS, RD, assistant professor in the School of Nutrition and Exercise Science at Bastyr University
Nonprofit, accredited Bastyr University (bastyr.edu) offers multiple degrees in the natural health sciences, and clinical training at Bastyr Center for Natural Health (bastyrcenter.org), the region's largest natural medicine clinic]

Surgery may cure heartburn

This is an interesting article that I got it from The Detroit News:

Dear Dr. Donohue: I have been suffering from GERD for 19 years. Stomach acid stays in my throat. I have tried all kinds of medicines, but they make things worse. I have had acid tests with a tube in my throat that indicated an acid rise when I step out of bed. Why on an empty stomach? My sphincter muscle doesn't work. I had a procedure called EndoCinch; it didn't work. I spoke to a surgeon about laparoscopic surgery. Do you feel surgery would benefit me?

L.T.

Dear L.T.: You'd be hard-pressed to find a single person who hasn't had at least one episode of GERD -- gastroesophageal reflux disease, or heartburn, in common language. It's often felt on an empty stomach. Food initially neutralizes stomach acid, but some foods do increase acid production shortly after they hit the stomach.

GERD is like Old Faithful, except instead of water, it is a geyser of stomach acid, which shoots up into the esophagus because of a lax sphincter (SFINK-tur) muscle. The sphincter, if working, would shut and prevent the upward spurt of acid. Sometimes, as in your case, stomach acid can rise as high as the throat and mouth to cause hoarseness, cough or an awful taste sensation.

Have you tried the non-medicine approaches that can sometimes control GERD? Chocolate, peppermint, spearmint, coffee (including decaf), other caffeine-containing foods and drinks, citrus fruits, tomato products, high-fat foods, garlic, onions and spicy foods often make it worse. Six-inch blocks under the bedposts at the head of the bed keep stomach acid in the stomach during sleep. Weight loss, if needed, is another way to stop stomach acid from spurting up. Small meals, slowly chewed, help. Smoking and alcohol aggravate GERD.

If nothing works, surgery is a definite option. The Nissan fundoplication is successful 90 percent of the time. It can be done with a scope. The upper part of the stomach is wrapped around the lower esophagus to create a barrier to acid reflux. A number of procedures, like your EndoCinch, can be done through a gastroscope -- a scope passed into the esophagus through the mouth. The long-term results of these procedures aren't as well-known.

The booklet on GERD, heartburn and hiatal hernia discusses these topics in depth. Readers can order a copy by writing: Dr. Donohue -- No. 501, Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6 Can. with the recipient's printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.

Write to Dr. Paul Donohue at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

Heartburn Cures - Heartburn & Diet Part 3

Junk food?


Occasionally, but with caution, choose fat free cookies, baked potato chips, or red licorice. A good exercise to do if you suffer from heartburn regularly is to create a food diary and log your meal intake for 2 or 3 weeks. Then note each time you experience heartburn in order to target the foods you need to avoid.

In addition to making better food choices, consider changing your portion perception.

Overeating is another heartburn aggravator. Exercise caloric conscientiousness and choose to skip that second helping or fatty side dish, eat slow and drink plenty of water. Living without heartburn is within anyone’s grasp, and shouldn’t require drastic medical treatment.

Simple, reasonable modifications in your eating habits can do wonders for quelling acid reflux, not to mention improving overall health.

Heartburn Cures - Heartburn & Diet Part 1

The occurrence of heartburn is closely related to your daily diet.

Everything in your body must have a good balance and interestingly, our human body is like a miracle of systems that manage to maintain all the right conditions to keep everything running smoothly. Hence, the stomach regulates acidic digestion with enzymes that convert acids into manageable alkaline or basal substances, this creates an acidic balance or equilibrium.

However, when there is an over-production of stomach acid, which usually with the help of lifestyle choices like overeating or smoking, heartburn is likely to occur. If it goes unregulated or treated, heartburn disease can develop and become cancerous.

One of the most important things you can do to cool heartburn down is to avoid certain foods. In many cases, just changing the diet is all that is necessary to control acid reflux. Most health care professionals recommend a low-acid diet consisting of more alkaline or basal foods. Foods such as chocolate, foods with a lot of extra cheese, tomato sauce or catsup based foods, onions, chilies, caffeinated beverages, fatty or fried foods, alcohol, mint, and citrus fruits have been known to aggravate digestion, acting as catalysts for acid reflux.