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Steps to Relieve Heartburn

CherryHeartburn affects many people every day, and some suffer from it all day every day. However, there are preventive measures you can take to relieve heartburn symptoms and problems. Heartburn can often be a symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease, so it is important to check in with your doctor if you cannot relieve heartburn with preventive measures and over the counter medications.

Prevention to Relieve Heartburn

There are certain foods that have a tendency to increase the amount of stomach acid present in your stomach. If there is excess acid in your stomach, you will experience heartburn. To relieve heartburn, you will need to determine what types of foods or beverages are the worst for producing excess acid in your particular situation. Generally, foods such as fatty or fried foods, tomatoes or tomato sauces, citrus fruits, including juices, chocolate and mints can all lead to excess stomach acid.

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To relieve heartburn due to certain foods, you will initially want to cut out all acid causing foods and juices from you diet. Adding them back into your diet, one at a time, can lead to discovering which foods are the worst ones for your particular case. Once you have determined which foods are bad for your stomach, cutting them out of your diet or at least limiting your intake of them can help your situation quite a bit.

Once you have determined which foods cause you problems, you can relieve heartburn that you do experience with over the counter acid reducers; the most common types being antacids. These relieve heartburn by neutralizing the acid in your stomach. The other type of over the counter medications available, such as Zantac and Prilosec, work not only to reduce the amount of acid in your stomach, but also to reduce the amount of acid your stomach produces on a daily basis. Taking an antacid or other medication as a preventive measure before eating can help quite a bit to relieve heartburn before it even starts.

The ability to relieve heartburn is quite easy to do on your own at home. By watching what you eat, when you eat, and by taking over the counter medications in a timely matter, you can relieve heartburn fairly quickly and hopefully prevent it in the future. It is always important to talk with your doctor if you can’t seem to gain control of your heartburn problem. Constant, persistent heartburn can be a sign of a more serious problem that you will probably want to see your physician about.

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What Happens if You Just Suffer from Nighttime Heartburn

Nighttime acid reflux treatmentWhen anyone refers to heartburn, they mean the burning sensation that you feel when the lower esophageal sphincter opens backwards and allows acid and food to return in the esophagus, sometimes up to the mouth, causing along with it an acute burning sensation in the chest. This is called heartburn, maybe because it seems like your heart is on fire!

Why Does Nighttime Heartburn Plague So Many of Us?

It has been shown through a number of medical reports and studies that lying down or sleeping immediately after a heavy meal, usually causes heavy indigestion and heartburn. This is because sleep reduces the capacity of the body to digest, and hence the food stays half digested in the stomach, for which extra acid will be produced. It has been observed that when one changes the sleeping position to a slightly elevated upper part of the body, the nighttime heartburn, if it occurs, will not be as severe.

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The best way to prevent nighttime heartburn however is to finish your meals at least two to three hours before you retire for bed. In case you cannot avoid late eating or immediately retiring to bed, try to sleep on the left side with your left leg straight, and the right leg bent at the knee at right angle. This position can give almost instant relief from nighttime heartburn and can be used as an SOS when you have nothing better to do against it.

In case, after all the precautions you still get acute nighttime heartburn, it is better to consult with a doctor for better treatment. Ensure that he or she explains to you the problem and what exactly needs to be done, and so on. The doctor will be able to prescribe for you the right treatment, diet and other precautionary measures to prevent the occurrence of the nighttime heartburn.

When the treatment is prescribed, ensure that the advice is followed closely so it can work. Do not stop the course of medicines in the middle, after you “feel a bit better” because this will cause the body to grow resistant to the drugs and thence, create a receptive foundation for the next attack.

There are several medicines that can be consumed to give you instant relief. A doctor can prescribe these medicines, but keep in mind that some are to be used as preventive methods while others are to be taken post discomfort.

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How to Treat Heartburn

Heartburn reliefHeartburn generally occurs when the stomach is producing too much acid. There is always a certain amount of acid in your stomach, but too much acid can lead to heartburn. Some foods and beverages can have a tendency to increase the amount of stomach acid, so the first step to treat heartburn would be to take a look at what you eat and when.

There are certain foods that can be problematic. These can include tomatoes and foods prepared with tomatoes, chocolate, spicy foods and citrus fruits. Beverages that can be hard on your stomach can include alcohol, beverages with caffeine and orange juice or other juices made from citrus fruits.

Medications to Treat Heartburn

The most wide available over-the-counter medications to treat heartburn are antacids. These usually come in tablet form, but can come in a liquid form as well. Antacids treat heartburn by neutralizing the excess acid present in your stomach. They are quite effective for most people, except perhaps those who suffer from chronic heartburn or have problems with acid reflux. Some chronic problems with acid reflux will not be helped by over the counter medications, but for minor problems, they will usually help to a certain degree.

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Other over-the-counter medications to treat heartburn are known as histamine receptor antagonists. Generally, these work by decreasing the daily production of stomach acid, and can also be used to help with acid reflux. To treat heartburn with these medications, you should be able to find them at any pharmacy or discount store. Some of these are available by prescription only, but have been shown to be safe enough for over-the-counter use.

If you treat heartburn constantly and nothing seems to work, you will probably want to make an appointment with your doctor. Sometimes acid reflux disease can cause damage to your stomach and esophagus which will need something a little stronger to help the affected areas to heal.

For most people, the way to treat heartburn can be as simple as watching what you eat. The next step if that does not work is over-the-counter medications. Finally, if you can’t find anything to permanently treat heartburn, you will want to speak with your doctor and get professional advice. The good news is that fortunately heartburn is very treatable and generally isn’t a detriment to your health. However, it can be an annoyance at the very least.

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How to Recognize the Signs of Heartburn

Occasional heartburnFood is an essential part of our lives, without which we cannot survive and which brings us together, for example, at Christmas time everyone gathers and enjoys a specific meal. The same happens at Thanksgiving, Hanukah or any other celebration for that matter. Any time we plan a get together it will inevitably be around some sort of food or the other.

Sometimes these hearty meals can cause problems as well such as heartburn or indigestion and sometimes both; recognizing the sings of heartburn can be of great help in order to prevent it before it causes too much discomfort.

The Cause of Heartburn

Heartburn is usually caused by foods that are not easily digested by our stomach and digestive system. The most common sings of heartburn are: burning sensation in the chest and stomach area, vomiting, sometimes shortness of breath and ache in the chest area.

When you have any of the above sings of heartburn the best thing to do is to take some heartburn and indigestion pills which act right away such as the water-soluble or chewable tables, which will provide relief within 10-15 minutes. If possible try and lie down for this period of time until you start feeling the healing effects.

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Other Ways to Avoid Heartburn

You can avoid the heartburn even before they start and here is how to do it: before any big meal or if you have identified the types of food that cause you the heartburn, you can take a tablet (or two, as required) before you have the meal and thus prevent it before it starts.

Many heartburn medications do not need any prescription and therefore are readily available over the counter in all drug and grocery stores. Find out which heartburn medicine is right for you and always carry some with you – you never know when you crave a greasy burger or hotdog and the signs of heartburn will show up.

Another very effective way to prevent heartburns is to eat sensibly, which in other words means not to over eat. There are times when a particular dish is so tasty you want to keep on eating not realizing that you are overloading your stomach and soon you will have the signs of heartburn which are not pleasant or fun to deal with.

Helpful Tip

We all over eat from time to time – but, if you keep in mind the discomfort you will soon be going through, you will regulate your food intake, which will only work out to your advantage.

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The Warning of a Severe Heartburn Symptom

internal view of severe heartburnHeartburn is a common annoyance. The busy lifestyle, quick meals, fatty or spicy foods all contribute to the occasional need of a chewable pain reliever. The acceptance of heartburn as an inconvenient, but natural, part of the daily grind can blind you to the warning that a severe heartburn symptom can bring.

Heartburn as a Disorder

Heartburn can be a symptom as well as a disorder. Simple heartburn can be controlled and dealt with. However, heartburn can signal the presence of a much more serious problem. If it’s heartburn, you will have a burning sensation in the chest usually after eating. There may be a spread of the burning to the throat, sometimes accompanied by a bad taste, difficulty in swallowing, belching, coughing, hoarseness and/or wheezing.

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It can become worse by lying down or bending over or by eating. Relief can come from an antacid. While the more severe heartburn symptoms may be mistaken for a heart attack, simple heartburn is usually not made worse by exercise. If there is any concern that the pain may signal a heart attack, get help quickly.

Heartburn as a Symptom

When the severe heartburn symptom is persistent and is accompanied by chest pain, morning hoarseness, trouble swallowing, a feeling of something stuck in the throat, a choking sensation, bad breath and/or a persistent dry cough, you may have gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD.

If the severe heartburn symptom is accompanied by a backflow of stomach contents into the back of the throat or esophagus, vomiting, a bad taste, frequent belching or hiccups, chest pain or pressure, a bloated feeling, abdominal discomfort or pressure after eating, gas, discomfort in the stomach or esophagus, coughing and/or difficulty swallowing, then you may be getting warnings of a hiatal hernia.

When the severe heartburn symptom is accompanied by difficulty swallowing, the inability to swallow solid foods worsening to the inability swallowing liquids, pain with swallowing, food sticking in the esophagus, loss of weight, regurgitation of undigested food, and/ or vomiting blood, get to a doctor to test for esophageal cancer.

As you can see many of these disorders have symptoms in common. The severe heartburn symptom can also be a sign of peptic ulcers, gastritis, gastroparesis (especially for diabetics) or the rare Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome. If your severe heartburn symptom has other, more worrisome symptoms with it, see your doctor. Worrying about it can make your heartburn worse.

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Cherry

Heartburn affects many people every day, and some suffer from it all day every day. However, there are preventive measures you can take to relieve heartburn symptoms and problems. Heartburn can often be a symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease, so it is important to check in with your doctor if you cannot relieve heartburn with […]

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