January 21, 2011
Hiatal Hernia Symptoms
It’s important to know and be able to identify Hiatal Hernia symptoms so that the condition can be properly treated and prevented from escalating to a state of bleeding.
Symptoms of a Hiatal Hernia often closely resemble heartburn. They include a burning sensation in the chest, acid reflux (or stomach acids making their way up into your mouth), burping, hiccups and chest pain. However, this chest pain is different from the chest pain of a heart attack and it’s vital to differentiate between the two.
Hiatal Hernia chest pain is often the result of spasms due to the displaced stomach. The pain can be extreme, but it is often just pain, or pain accompanied by heartburn symptoms. The pain of a heart attack is often accompanied by shortness of breath and pain or numbness in an arm or hand. Knowing and understanding what these different symptoms indicate can be the difference between life and death. If you’re experiencing chest pain associated with shortness of breath, seek medical attention immediately.
Causes
A Hiatal Hernia happens when a portion of the stomach becomes displaced, and is forced through an opening in the diaphragm. Although it can be difficult to point to specific causes, some risk factors that may make you more susceptible to a Hiatal Hernia are smoking, obesity, and aging.
Hiatal Hernias that occur in younger children or infants are often a congenital condition that they were born with.
Solutions
Hiatal Hernias are rarely serious conditions, but shouldn’t be ignored. They can often be somewhat painful, and so should be dealt with promptly. Surgery is seldom necessary, as your body can often heal itself of a Hiatal Hernia. However, there are a number of things you can do to help speed the healing process up.
If you’ve been diagnosed with a Hiatal Hernia, eat smaller meals, but do so more often. That way you’re giving your body the same amount of nutrition, just over a longer period of time, so that it can better digest the food and extract nutrients from it without getting overly stressed. This helps reduce the impact of eating on your already strained digestive tract.
Also, don’t eat right before you lay down. This will help prevent food from gathering in your stomach, and moving back up into your esophagus where it can cause irritation. You really shouldn’t eat less than two hours before bed if you are battling heartburn or a Hiatal Hernia. That way you won’t have any food or acid lying in wait when you do decide to go to bed.
Additionally, quit smoking. Smoking is very detrimental to your health, including your digestive system. Quitting will help your body heal at a more natural rate, and will help prevent a future Hiatal Hernia from occurring.
You can also reduce stress in your life to help your hernia heal. Although stress can’t be directly blamed as a cause for Hiatal Hernias, it can certainly hinder your body’s ability to heal from one. It tends to cause an overproduction of stomach acid, which can irritate your esophagus and stomach, slowing the healing process. So, do things to help yourself relax, like getting a massage or adding regular exercise to your routine. These things will help you tom maintain a healthy mind and body.
For more information on Hiatal Hernia symptoms, visit refluxremedy.com today!
Filed under Hiatal Hernia by admin
January 12, 2011
Acid Reflux Food to Avoid
Acid reflux is a terribly common problem among people in today’s fast paced culture of high fat foods and things that can be eaten on the go. There are a number of acid reflux foods to avoid, and certain things that will help eliminate and prevent your heartburn.
First, let’s look at what acid reflux actually is and how it happens. Stomach acid helps to break down food in your stomach so that your body can extract the vitamins and nutrients it needs. Certain things like difficult to digest foods, stress, smoking, or lying down after eating can cause that acid to creep up into your esophagus. This causes pain, indigestion, burping, hiccups and can even result in damage to the esophagus if the reflux occurs frequently.
Trigger Foods
Everyone has their own foods that will set off acid reflux, however there are a few common triggers. These foods should be avoided to help prevent damage to the esophagus, and keep heartburn at bay. They include:
- Garlic
- Caffeine
- Alcohol
- Citrus (including juices that are high in acids)
- Onions
- Meats that are difficult to digest (like ground beef, marbled sirloin and chicken wings)
- Dairy
To help find out what your own triggers are, start a food journal. Keep track of what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat it. That will help you to better understand what sets your acid reflux off, and narrow down your specific triggers. Some of your food triggers may surprise you!
What you can do
Now, just because there are a ton of foods you should avoid doesn’t mean you need to go on an extreme, crash course diet. It’s always best to try to maintain a balanced diet, so things like dairy, citrus and meat that are part of a healthy diet should not be completely cut out. They should just be consumed in moderation, and possibly in tandem with other heartburn preventatives.
Heartburn Preventatives
Sometimes foods that are known to cause heartburn for you just can’t be avoided. Maybe you’re at a friend’s house and they cooked nachos for you with ground beef, onions, and a whole host of other heartburn triggers just waiting to settle into your stomach. So what can you do?
Try taking a papaya enzyme tablet after you eat. Papaya contains digestive enzymes that will help your body to digest foods and prevent acid buildup that causes reflux.
Try drinking a full glass of water after you eat. This will help dilute stomach acids and flush your digestive tract out so you won’t have to experience excess irritation. For more effective relief or prevention, try adding a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar to a full glass of water. This will help neutralize the acid in your stomach in addition to washing it away.
Eat an apple before or after your meal. Apparently the old adage “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” has some basis, as many people are finding success with this technique for keeping acid reflux at bay.
There are countless home remedies you can try to prevent and relieve heartburn. The Reflux Remedy Report promotes natural heartburn remedies and can help you prevent your acid reflux, as well as formulate a diet appropriate for acid reflux. For more information on acid reflux food to avoid and other preventative measures you can take, visit refluxremedy.com today!
Filed under Acid Reflux by admin
January 11, 2011
Acid Indigestion Symptoms
Heartburn and acid indigestion plague millions of people worldwide. But, for someone who is experiencing it for the first time, it can be difficult to identify the symptoms of heartburn. So, what are some of the acid indigestion symptoms, what causes these symptoms, and how can they be prevented?
Symptoms
Symptoms of acid indigestion can be scary if you don’t know what they are. Chest pain is a main symptom; however it is different than that of a heart attack. Heartburn pain is often described as a burning sensation that radiates from the abdomen up into the chest and neck. A heart attack can feel like a weight on your chest, pain, and pain or numbness in your arm. It’s important to know the difference between these two symptoms and react accordingly.
Other symptoms of acid indigestion include reflux, or acid making it all the way up to your mouth, burping, hiccups and an overall feeling of indigestion.
Causes
These symptoms are a result of either acid overproduction, or acid being allowed into your esophagus, which can have a number of root triggers. They include daily habits, food and food consumption, and stress, among others.
Daily habits often cause acid indigestion. Something as simple as lying down right after eating isn’t good for digestion, and can easily result in heartburn. This is because when you’re in a horizontal position, acid is allowed to move freely through your stomach and esophagus. So, if you’ve just eaten, there may be acid and even food left in your stomach when you lie down. That means it’ll end up in your esophagus and cause acid indigestion if you don’t stay up for a bit longer. To avoid this, try eating no less than two hours before meals.
Food and how much of it you eat are huge triggers of heartburn and acid indigestion. Things like garlic, onions, caffeine, alcohol and citrus are common triggers, but you may have your own unique things that set you off. Keep track of what you eat so that you can easily point to your own acid indigestion culprits. Additionally, eating too much food at any one time can cause heartburn. This is because the body can’t process the sheer volume of food, and goes into overdrive of acid production. That creates a pressure buildup and causes indigestion and discomfort. In order to avoid this, try eating smaller meals more frequently. That will help your stomach more easily digest what you do give it, and keep indigestion at bay.
Stress is also a big indigestion trigger. It’s known to increase acid production, which can result in heartburn and discomfort. So, do things that will help you to relax. Listen to soothing music, take deep breaths, read a book, exercise, practice some yoga, whatever you need to do to help you calm down. It will help you prevent acid indigestion later in the day if you squash stress at its source.
Prevention
Preventing acid indigestion is easier than you may think. Simple things like altering your daily habits and food intake as stated above can majorly help improve your quality of life when it comes to heartburn. However, there are plenty of other things you can try to keep heartburn at bay.
- Papaya tablets can help you to more easily digest your food, and keep acid production down to a healthy level. Papaya contains digestive enzymes that help break down your food and make it more digestible.
- Eating an apple before or after a meal can also help to keep heartburn at bay.
These are just a few of the natural prevention techniques found in The Reflux Remedy Report. The report contains hundreds of holistic methods for keeping your foods down where they belong.
For more information on acid indigestion symptoms and how to prevent them, visit refluxremedy.com today.
Filed under Acid and Digestion by admin
January 6, 2011
Heartburn and Water
When some people are suffering from heartburn, the last thing they tend to reach for is a glass of water, especially when we’re talking about severe heartburn pain. However, water can often be a very effective way to resolve heartburn.
Heartburn happens when stomach acids are allowed to escape the stomach and make their way into the esophagus. This causes pain and discomfort that often radiates from the stomach or mid chest area through the neck. It can be accompanied by burping, reflux (which means acid makes its way all the way into the mouth), and hiccuping.
Heartburn’s Causes
Heartburn has a number of causes, ranging from foods to clothing and stress.
Everyone has their own food triggers for heartburn, and frequent heartburn sufferers might want to keep a log of what they eat in order to identify their specific triggers. However, some common heartburn instigators are caffeine, alcohol, garlic and citrus fruits.
Your daily habits can also cause heartburn. If you go to bed right after eating, stomach acid can creep up into your esophagus, causing heartburn. To avoid this, try sleeping propped up a bit, or just don’t eat less than 2 hours before bed. Additionally, don’t overeat. Large meals are more difficult for the body to digest, and can cause acid to back up. Smaller, more frequent meals are an excellent way to prevent heartburn before it happens.
Don’t wear clothes that are too tight for you. Constraints on the stomach can force stomach acid into the esophagus even if you’re eating all the right foods.
Smoking also causes heartburn, in addition to all the other potentially fatal health problems it causes.
Stress can easily cause the body to go into overdrive when it comes to acid production, so try to stay as calm as possible to avoid feeling the burn later in the day. Take deep breaths, listen to soothing music, try some yoga, count to 10, do whatever you need to in order to keep stress at bay.
Pouring Water on the Fire
Staying properly hydrated is a constant battle for many people. Recommended portions of water continuously change, and vary from person to person. Generally speaking though, you should drink 8 to 10 glasses of water every day. Practicing this technique can help keep a number of conditions at bay, including heartburn. It works by keeping toxins out of your body by diluting them or flushing them away.
This also applies to stomach acid. When it comes to heartburn, drinking a large glass of water can help to wash stomach acids that are causing pain and discomfort away. It’s such a simple solution most people overlook in favor of popping an antacid.
However, depending on the cause of your heartburn an antacid may not always work, especially if your heartburn is due to dehydration. Occasionally, your body will signal dehydration with heartburn, and if you simply pop an antacid your problem won?t be solved and most likely your symptoms won’t be relieved.
When it comes to relief, heartburn and water go hand in hand. For more tips on relieving heartburn naturally, read The Reflux Remedy Report at refluxremedy.com today.
Filed under Heartburn Remedies by admin