Simple Remedies for Heartburn

Heartburn; you know the feeling, digging pain in the chest, sometimes going through the back and shoulder, burning in the esophagus. If this happens a lot you should see a GI doctor, you might have GERD. Although these remedies may help GERD as well, you need to be under a doctor's care for GERD. Sometimes heartburn is caused by medications,especially NSAID such as Motrin. Take Motrin with a cup of milk or if you are allergic to milk, take with food. For general heartburn, which can really be torture, there are several simple remedies you can try.

A simple glass of milk, preferably whole, is a good remedy for heartburn caused by spicy foods. The milk coats the esophagus and fights the acid. Heartburn is caused by the stomach acids going up the esophagus, sometimes from an esophageal problem but usually from poor digestion. Overeating or eating very spicy food can adversely affect digestion causing the rise in acid.

Peppermint tea-very strong, use 2 tea bags for a small cup. Add some sugar if you want and drink slowly and don't drink it too hot, let it cool a bit. Another remedy with the peppermint theme is peppermint gum. Chewing gum gets the digestion and enzymes moving and peppermint cools down the acid.

My favorite remedy for heartburn is dinner mints. You know what they are-the little pillow shaped powdery mints that come in soft baby colors like pink and blue. They often put them on the table at restaurants after the meal is over. They can be found in most supermarkets and are universally called dinner mints. I am never without a bag of these in my house. When heartburn strikes, eat these until the pain stops. In my experience if I have really bad heartburn, dinner mints are my first remedy choice. Sometimes I need to eat a lot of them but they work.

Another very important remedy for heartburn is to sleep high on pillows. Keeping your upper body elevated will save you from waking up with terrible heartburn pain .Whenever you have heartburn before going to bed, especially from overeating, make sure to pile up the pillows. Sleeping on your left side is better for you than sleeping on the right, your stomach is towards the left and you want the food going there.

Prevention is always the best cure. Obviously that means don't overeat and keep away from spicy foods. But we all indulge despite the risk of heartburn. Once someone has heartburn, telling him the prevention cure is not going to work. Try a remedy I mentioned, or try them all.