True Story About A Patient Overcoming GERD problem

Many people like Beth (which you can watch the video below) thought that their heartburn problem was a simple case and did not really bother about it.

When the symptoms got worse, they started to find something is serious about it.

Click this video to learn more about it: True Life Story: GERD

Pain the chest, upper abdomen, a sign of heartburn

When there is unexplained pain in the chest or upper gastrointestinal tract, that may be a sign of an increased risk of death from alcohol-related causes, pneumonia or lung cancer.


Thus, people with these symptoms are likely to be hospitalized for "ischemic" heart disease - the type of heart disease caused by restricted blood flow in heart arteries which Dr. Estrid Muff Munk and colleagues from Aarhus University Hospital found.

The researchers noticed that when a patient with pain in the chest or the upper abdomen has normal results on a test called endoscopy, in which a scope is used to view the inside of the esophagus and the stomach, the pain may be due to undiagnosed ischemic heart disease.

To date, studies have shown that patients with this type of pain and normal upper endoscopy results have not excluded those with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or ulcers, they add. "Thus, it is uncertain whether all study subjects had truly unexplained pain."


To address this issue, researchers looked at heart disease risk and death over a 10-year period in 386 patients with pain in the chest or upper abdomen, normal upper endoscopy and no existing heart disease, and 3,793 control patients. They excluded patients with reflux, heartburn or other symptoms of GERD or ulcers.

The patients with unexplained pain were 60 percent more likely to be hospitalized over the next 10 years. They also were more than twice as likely to die within the first year of their endoscopy, while mortality risk was elevated for up to five years after the test.

Their risk of death from alcohol dependence, pneumonia or lung cancer was triple that of the general population.

Unexplained chest pain and upper abdominal pain in patients with a normal endoscopy test "is a strong marker for ischemic heart disease and increased mortality," they conclude.

[SOURCE: BMC Gastroenterology, published online July 15, 2008.]

Thus, I believe that once you start to experience the symptoms that indicate you may be having heartburn acid reflux problem, it is best to consult your doctor

Change Your Diet To Combat Heartburn Symptoms

One of the best way to control your heartburn acid reflux symptoms is to get yourself onto a heartburn acid reflux friendly diet. Initially, it seems difficult to give up some of your favorite foods. The thought that heartburn acid reflux symptoms is just mere inconvenience, you may just continue with your current lifestyle. If you leave it untreated, it may lead to more or even complicated problem like GERD or even cancer.



Here are some suggestions you can consider for modify your diet.



Milk: When indigestion strikes, many reach for milk to soothe the stomach. No doubt, milk has a calming affect for many people, it is not necessarily a good choice in your diet if you suffer from acid reflux.

Drinking a glass of milk before bedtime is a common habit as milk can induce sleep. But, when you sleep, milk can encourage your body to churn out more acid, leading to painful reflux symptoms. If you wish to drink milk, you should have it earlier in the day. Should you really wish to have some milk at night, how about drinking a small glass and accompany it with some bread or any other high carbohydrate type of food. This will speed up digestion and reduce the potential of developing acid reflux symptoms.



Fats: Do you know that fatty foods take longer time to digest and that encourages your body to produce more acid to digest those fats? If you still like to have some fatty food, eat only a small portion. Take note that any fats may slow digestion, and if your reflux is flaring, avoid them as much as you can.



Fried Foods: Eating fried foods, whether deep-fried or stir fried, is a common acid reflux trigger for many people. Getting people to give up fried foods is the toughest because fried foods tend tend to be many people's favorite dishes. Instead of frying most of your food, you can try out heartburn-friendly cooking techniques like grill, broil, bake. May be the foods won't taste as good as fried, but you'll find more satisfying because they help you to minimize the likelihood of triggering an acid reflux episode.



===> Learn more about Heartburn-Friendly Cooking Techiques



Carbonated Drinks: Soft drinks or sodas like Coke, 7-up are a popular choice of beverages among many people. Unfortunately, for heartburn acid reflux sufferers it is advisable not consume them at all. The gas in these drinks can contribute to burping, and can encourage acid to reflux into the esophagus. If you must drink soda, the best way is to allow it go flat before drinking to reduce the impact of the carbonation. As you know drinking a flat soda, it is no different from drinking a flavored drink without bubbling gas. Furthermore, most sodas contain caffeine which is another common heartburn acid reflux trigger. The best beverage to have is still the plain water.



Fruit: There are some fruits and fruit juices you should avoid in your new diet. Most citrus fruits like orange and pineapple can stimulate acid production, and are common triggers. The acidic juice can bring on flare ups of acid reflux. Instead of having orange and pineapple, you can eat fruits that are not in the citrus category. How about trying bananas or berries or papayas and monitor your symptoms. You don’t have to give up all fruits, but you may have to be more selective when choosing.



===> Learn more about Can Papaya Help to Remedy Heartburn



Thus, by taking steps to make some adjustments to your diet for better heartburn acid reflux control, and to also make other lifestyles changes, this helps to minimize future health risks and your need to take prescription medications multiple times a year. Isn't this a wise choice?



If you are interested in a more natural method of overcoming your acid reflux symptoms instead of popping pills, please CLICK Below:

Video #1: Understanding What Is Heartburn

There is a great video that illustrate what is heartburn. Hope this will help you to understand more about it.



If you are interested to learn more about Heartburn, you check out this Heartburn Blog.

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.

Learn about the Foods Heartburn Sufferers MUST Avoid

What acid reflux foodstuffs must I avoid?

It is a perplexing question for many heartburn sufferers. Making changes in your diet and lifestyle have been shown to be natural components of any long-term holistic acid treatment and they cannot be dissociated either. A preference for healthy foods and selective nutrition to ban certain foods and eat more of others can show long-term health benefits to acid reflux sufferers.

The reduction of the consumption of unsuitable foods and the adoption of new diet habits in particular to aid digestion for heartburn sufferers could create a very positive effect on your current heartburn conditions.

The kind of food we eat determines how we can maintain the delicate and natural equilibrium inside our bodies. Certain dietary customs and nutritional habits have been shown to contribute indirectly or directly to the degradation of a heartburn condition.

These kinds of foods are:

Drinks with caffeine content like coffee. They cause increase acidity, so stop consuming large cups of coffee. Where possible, halve your cup of coffee to give two separate drinks and drink less coffee before going to sleep. Do not go over two cups of coffee per day and reduce even further if you can.

Alcohol can also be at the same time a relaxant for the LES muscle and an irritant for the stomach, causing an increase in acidity and reflux.

Foods high in fat content have a longer digestion time and take more effort for your body to get rid of them. They increase the risk of acid refluxing into your esophagus and are among the worst delinquents for triggering acid reflux symptoms. The exceptions are fish and fish oil omega-3 fatty acids. These are actually strong anti-inflammatory substances.

If you are addicted to chocolate, go for dark, organic types in preference to others limiting your consumption to two or three little two or three times in any week. Containing large quantities of caffeine and fat, chocolate can also lead to heightened acidity and degraded digestion, and thus should not be consumed.

Before going to sleep, make sure that you do not drink milk or consume any products based on milk containing a lot of calcium.

Leave aside food with strong mint. The same goes for herbal tea that is mint-based. Acid reflux symptoms can be aggravated still more by peppermint and spearmint amongst others.

The esophageal sphincter is also liable to open in response to cruciferous vegetables (such as spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli) and foods high in acid (tomatoes and oranges, to take two examples) leading to further acid reflux.

So finally, which acid reflux food has to be taken out of your nutrition? It doesn't matter what your current level of acid reflux level is; when you make the choice of an improved quality of life, you can make the choice to terminate heartburn permanently, with a holistic solution. You can move to eliminate acid reflux and put your well-being and quality of life on a different level, by making these modifications in your diet and having the right motivation to revamp your lifestyle.

The keys to solving the problem will be yours. To learn more, click here to find out in more details and steps to prevent your heartburn symptoms.

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.

Night-time Heatburn Cures

Here are the simple ways that you can help to prevent having night-time heartburn symptoms:

1. After you eat, walk around to help with your digestion. Do not lie down immediately for 2 to 3 hours after you eat. Sitting upright with the help of gravity can drain food and stomach acid into your stomach and intestines.

2. Avoid taking snack before going to sleep. Eating close to bedtime can set off heartburn symptoms.

3. Have your meals about 2 to 3 hours before your bedtime. This gives time for the food to digest.

4. Eat less spicy food and fatty food. These foods can easily trigger heartburn.

5. Adopt new habits of eating your food slowly and eat smaller and frequent meals instead of having a quick bit or 3 large meals a day. These new habits can help to avert activating heartburn acid refluet symptoms

6. Cut back on stuff like chocolate, mint, citrus, tomatoes, pepper, vinegar, catsup and mustard.

7. Avoid drinks that can activate reflux, like alcohol, drinks with caffeine and carbonated drinks. Alcohol can relax the esophageal sphincter, worsening GERD, so avoid it.

Natural Heartburn Cures: Chamomile

Chamomile has many medicinal uses. It is often used to treat motion sickness, tension, restlessness, spasms, headaches, migraine and depression.

It is often taken as tea. Chamomile tea is an extremely effective remedy for hysterical and nervous breakdowns and is also used as an emmenagogue.

When chamomile flower combined with ginger and alkalies, this cold infusion proves an excellent tonic to indigestion problems such as flatulent colic, heartburn, acid reflex, loss of appetite, and also in gout and periodic headache.

For more other natural remedies using chamomile, find out from Alternative medicine: Chamomile

Heartburn Cures Overcome Acid Reflux Symptoms during Holiday Season

Pat Baird, Registered Dietitian and National Heartburn Alliance (NHBA) member offers some ways to overcome our heartburn or acid reflux symptoms.

- DO NOT overindulge yourself. Eat only smaller portions of your favorite holiday foods. Bear in mind that too much good things can lead to heartburn.

- Avoid heartburn trigger foods like red wine, alcoholic beverage, fatty foods and spicy foods.

- Avoid eating late at night or right before going to bed. This is to decrease your chances of suffering from nighttime heartburn.

- Relax. During the holidays, stress levels tend increase because of the anxiety of getting things ready for the holidays. Holidays are meant to let you wind down and enjoy your family and friends times. Every day, just give yourself 15 minutes to relax and do nothing. How about taking a 10-minute walk after a holiday dinner for some stress-free time.

- Practice moderation in eating. From Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve, holiday celebrations and alcoholic beverages are plentiful. If you are going to drink, choose cocktails that are easier on the tummy, such as a wine spritzer (white wine and club soda).

The First Ever Heartburn Awareness Month -November

Do you know that each month heartburn problem is causing a lot of pain to 60 million Americans? This is according to the National Heartburn Alliance (NHBA) who recognized urgent need to provide heartburn education to the people. Thus, they sponsored the first ever Heartburn Awareness month.

In the recent survey, it shows that 66% of Americans experience their heartburn symptoms most during the holiday season. Among this group of people, 94% of them would want to enjoy their holidays without worrying about heartburn & acid reflux problem.

During the Heartburn Awareness Month, the goal is to educate, screen and treat the heartburn sufferers. All heartburn sufferers are encouraged to take an active role in consulting their healthcare professionals during November. They can receive better information about heartburn which can them to eliminate symptoms when they are more likely to indulge in holiday meals and spirits.

"November is a perfect time for heartburn sufferers and healthcare professionals to address heartburn, because more people tend to over-indulge in holiday meals," says Pat Baird, Registered Dietitian and NHBA Board member.

"By incorporating lifestyle changes into their diets, heartburn sufferers can learn to alleviate symptoms so they can enjoy the holidays."

For more information, you can visit the Heartburn Awareness Month Web site at http://www.heartburnmonth.org/. It provides great information about to change your lifestyles to combat against heartburn and you can order free educational brochures, available in English and Spanish.

Heartburn Symptoms

Most people will find that heartburn symptoms are relatively common and they treat it like part of their normal lifestyle. Regardless whether it is mild or serious, it should not be treated lightly. These heartburn symptoms do not happen suddenly. They are due to over a period of time and they serves as a warning from your digestive system.

It is important to learn what are the symptoms of heartburn so that you can help yourself when you are experiencing it.

Common symptoms of heartburn are acid indigestion, acid reflux, acid regurgitation, non-cardiac chest pain, and sour stomach. This symptoms are also described as a burning sensation in the throat or the chest. Some people say that experience pain in their lower chest. While others feel heat or warmth sensation on their upper abdomen.

Most people experience chest pain, pain in the upper abdomen, excessive burping and bloating at the stomach, difficulty swallowing or sometimes, a burning sensation on the top of the throat.

For some people, heartburn symptoms can last for 2 hours or more. Others may experience difficulty in sleeping due to the heartburn symptoms. Some would wake up during the night and have difficulty falling asleep again. As the result of lack of sleep and suffering from heartburn, these people also feel the negative impact on their work the next day.

Another symptom which often goes unnoticed is a dry cough or frequent throat clearing.