Excerpted from "A Year of Health Hints"
365 Practical Ways to Feel Better and Live Longer
Ah, another big, wonderful Sunday breakfast! A few cups of
coffee with your ham-and-cheese omelet, and you'll lie down for a
relaxing afternoon on the couch. Nothing could ruin that perfect
scenario, right? Nothing but a painful burning sensation in your
chest, known only too well as heartburn. (The name is a misnomer,
since heartburn occurs in the esophagus, just behind the heart,
and in no way involves the heart.)
What causes this irritation? Gastric acids from the stomach
splash back up into the lower portion of the esophagus, causing
pain. The digestive acids don't harm the stomach, thanks to its
protective coating, but the esophagus has no such armor, so you
feel discomfort.
The most common heartburn triggers are:
Taking Aspirin,
ibuprovin, naproxen sodium, arthritis medicine, or cortisone.
Eating heavy meals
Eating rapidly
Eating foods like
chocolate, garlic, onions, or peppermint
Smoking after
eating
Drinking coffee
(regular or decaffeinated)
Drinking alcohol
Being very
overweight
Wearing tight
clothing
Pregnancy
Abulging of the
upper part of the stomach through the diaphragm, a condition that
permits
stomach acid to squirt
back into the esophagus. Thia ia xLLWS Gastroesophageal reflux
disease (GERD). It was
commonly termed hiatal hernia.
Treatment consists of avoiding as many contributing factors as
possible, plus the following:
Sit straight,
and stand up or walk around whenever you can. Bending over or
lying down makes
it too easy for
gastric secretions to move up to the esophagus.
If heartburn
bothers you at night, raise the head of the bed slightly.
Keep your weight
down. In people who are overweight (or women who are pregnant),
the upper
portion of the stomach
can bulge through the diaphragm.
Eat small meals.
Limit alcohol.
Don't eat for 2 to
3 hours before bedtime.
Take an antacid.
They coat your stomach and neutralize acids. For example, take 1
to 2 tablespoons of
a non-absorbable
liquid antacid such as magnesium hydroxide every 2 to 4 hours or
ones that come
in tablet form such as
Tums.
If antacids don't
bring relief take an over-the-counter acid controller, (examples
- Pepcid AC and
Tagament HB.) These
not only relieve heartburn but can prevent it. [Note: Read
label before
taking
antacids or acid controllers. If you have questions check with
your doctor.]
Don't take baking
soda. It may neutralize stomach avid at first, but when its
effects wear off, the
acid comes back to a
greater degree causing severe gastric acid rebound.
Don't smoke. It
promotes heartburn.
If you do take
aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, or arthritis medicines, take
them with food.
[Note: Call your doctor if you find no relief from the
procedures listed above.]