Heartburn: Don’t Let It Control Your Life

Millions of people in the country suffer from heartburn or what is also known as acid reflux. Although most adults experience this condition, having a chronic heartburn can definitely become a huge problem that it can affect your entire life in a very negative way.

As a heartburn sufferer, you will always hear doctors telling you to take drugs in order to relieve the symptoms. And, they will also tell you that heartburn cannot be cured.

However, this is not always true as there are quite a lot of people who have successfully treated heartburn without depending too much on medications.

A lot of heartburn sufferers today are what you can call pill poppers because they are told by medical professionals that taking drugs is the only way to alleviate the symptoms associated by heartburn. This means that whenever they experience heartburn, they pop the pills to relieve the symptoms. This is not really a good thing to do as you will become dependent on the pills and you are actually letting heartburn take control of your life.

If you are open minded enough, you may want to try out alternative treatments for heartburn instead of just popping those heartburn pills whenever you experience the symptoms. In fact, you will find that there are lots of ways to regain control of your life from heartburn. All you need to do is open your mind.

By doing so, you will not only be able to treat heartburn and reduce its frequency but you will also save a lot of money on the process.

Basically, the best way to treat heartburn is to stop its causes. By knowing what is causing heartburn, you will be able to know how to prevent the causes and ultimately, treat heartburn effectively.

Heartburn is basically caused by stomach acid getting in contact with the esophagus. When this happens, the acid will irritate the esophagus, which in turn will cause heartburn.

You will often find that heartburn is associated with a sour taste in the mouth. This is actually the stomach acid that you taste, which explains the sour taste.

Eating big meals will worsen your heartburn problem because your body or your stomach will produce excess acid in order to digest huge amounts of food. This is why you have to try and eat smaller meals at least 6 times a day instead of eating 3 large meals a day. This will lessen your stomach’s production of acid, which will help in managing heartburn.

You should also try to avoid foods that weaken the sphincter. You have to keep in mind that the sphincter acts as a valve that keeps the stomach acid in the stomach. When you eat certain foods that weaken or relax the sphincter, it will allow stomach acid to reach the esophagus, which ultimately causes heartburn. This means you should avoid coffee, chocolates, onions, peppermint, and citric fruits, such as oranges and pineapple.

If you are a smoker and you frequently experience heartburn, then you may want to stop smoking. Cigarettes and cigars contain nicotine, which can weaken the sphincter and cause acid from stomach to come in contact with the esophagus.

These are some of the ways on how you can control and manage heartburn. By getting rid of the causes, you will be able to take control of your life again and prevent heartburn from ruining your life.