Easy tips to beat heartburn

Easy tips to beat heartburn

Heartburn is one of the common healthcare problems. Despite its name, heartburn does not affect the heart. Heartburn is a burning feeling in the lower chest, along with a sour or bitter taste in the throat and mouth. It usually occurs after eating a big meal or while lying down. The feeling can last for a few minutes or a few hours.When you eat, food passes from your mouth down a tube called the esophagus. To enter the stomach, the food must pass through an opening between the esophagus and stomach. This opening acts like a gate to allow food to pass into the stomach. Usually, this opening closes as soon as food passes through. But if it doesn’t close all the way, acid from your stomach can get through the opening and into your esophagus. This is called reflux. Stomach acid can irritate the esophagus and cause heartburn.
Heartburn is most common after overeating, when bending over or when lying down. Pregnancy, stress and certain foods can also make heartburn worse. If one suffers from heartburn he should avoid following things as they can make heartburn worse: Cigarette smoking, coffee (both regular and decaffeinated) and other drinks that contain caffeine, alcohol, carbonated drinks, citrus fruits, tomato products, chocolate, mints or peppermints, fatty foods or spicy foods (such as pizza, chili and curry), onions, laying down too soon after eating, being overweight or obese, aspirin or ibuprofen, and certain medicines (such as sedatives and some medicines for high blood pressure).More than occasional heartburn may be a symptom of acid reflux disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), an inflamed stomach lining (gastritis), hiatal hernia or peptic ulcer. Regarding medical treatment, several kinds of medicine can be used to treat heartburn. H2 blockers (some brand names: Pepcid, Tagamet, Zantac) reduce the amount of stomach acids. Several are available without a prescription.Other medicines, such as omeprazole (brand name: Prilosec) and lansoprazole (brand name: Prevacid), also reduce stomach acids. Metoclopramide (brand name: Reglan) reduces acid reflux.