If you’re experiencing intense stomach pain after eating, you may have a stomach or gastric ulcer. Pain after eating is one of the main symptoms of this condition, as well as nausea, weight loss, heartburn or acid reflux, loss of appetite, vomiting, blood in your stool, or you may not have any symptoms at all.

Gastric ulcers occur when the delicate lining in the stomach becomes damaged or torn. This can be the result of too much acid in the stomach that wears away the lining or some other trauma.

The most common cause of gastric ulcers is the H. Pylori bacteria. The bacteria are fairly common in most people. It becomes a problem when it runs rampant and causes damage to the stomach lining. Although some people can get ulcers from too much stress or too much spicy fooulcer, it’s much more common to get an ulcer as a result of H. Pylori.

So, what can you do about it? If your ulcer is in fact due to H. Pylori, you’ll have to undergo a series of tests, antibiotics and more tests to make sure the bacteria is in fact gone. In the mean time, or if your ulcer is the result of something other than H. Pylori, you can help your body heal itself by following a few simple steps.

1. Be careful of what you eat. Certain foods, like fatty foods, some types of meat (ground beef, marbled cuts of meat, etc.), whole milk and other fatty dairy products, and some vitamins (like iron and calcium) are very difficult to digest and can exacerbate an ulcer. Use caution when consuming these foods if you have an ulcer. You may want to focus your diet on more easily digestible foods, like those that contain whole grains, fish, and other foods that are high in vitamins that your body needs to heal.

2. Avoid pain killers. Although your intense stomach pain after eating may have you reaching for a bottle of Aspirin, you should resist that urge. Pain killers are known to cause gastric ulcers, and can significantly worsen existing ulcers. So, use other methods to relieve your ulcer pain.

3. Eat smaller meals. This will help your body better handle the digestive process. When your stomach is already injured, adding large amounts of food can stress the area and slow the healing process dramatically, as well as worsen your pain. So, simply eat less more frequently to help your body heal.

4. Focus on lowering your stress levels. Stress can worsen an ulcer by increasing the amount of acid in your stomach. So do what you can to mellow out. Get a massage, take time to curl up with a good book, add exercise to your daily routine, practice meditation and deep breathing, or listen to some soothing music at work. Do whatever you need to in order to take the focus off the stressful situation and place it back on your overall mental health. Your body will thank you for it.

You don’t need to continuously suffer intense stomach pain after eating. See your doctor and take steps to help your body heal from its ailments. For more information on intense stomach pain after eating, and healing the condition naturally, visit refluxremedy.com.

A sliding Hiatal Hernia is the more common form of Hiatal Hernia, and it happens when the stomach pushes through an opening in the diaphragm and encroaches on the esophagus. It can be rather painful and cause sudden, and severe, heartburn.

While most Hiatal Hernia?s are not severe, medication can be prescribed to assist with the symptoms. However, there are actually several things you can do as far as self help for a sliding Hiatal Hernia. But, please note, these techniques are not meant to replace medical treatment. Always consult with your physician if you suspect you have a Hiatal Hernia or other gastrointestinal disorder, and together you can decide on the best course of action.

Some things you can do to help your sliding Hiatal Hernia include simply maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Eating right and providing your body with proper nutrition helps it have the appropriate building blocks to heal. You can even focus on foods that are high in vitamins and antioxidants to try and speed the healing process ? things blueberries and other so called super foods should help.

Also, add things to your diet that will help with digestion. The fatty acids found in foods like Fish, or digestive enzymes found in papaya help to break down food and minimize stress on your stomach at meal time.

Eating smaller meals more often may also help with digestion and reducing heartburn and pain. If you flood your stomach with food all at once, it gets stressed out and overproduces stomach acids in order to break everything down in a timely fashion. However, this excess of acid irritates your stomach, and can prevent your hernia from healing. So, by presenting your stomach with smaller amounts of food over a longer period of time, it can better handle the digestive process.

Smoking is also very detrimental to all of your body?s health systems, including the gastrointestinal system. Smoking actually sends stomach acid production into overdrive, which irritates a hernia. It also slows the healing process, which means it will take all that much longer for your stomach to go back to where it belongs. Quitting will eliminate all these factors.

Believe it or not, a massage may help. Put your fingers just below your breast bone and rub downward. Do this a few times a day for one minute each time. It may be painful at first, so go easy, but ? like exercise ? over time it will become less sensitive. If you do it over the course of a week or two, it will help push the stomach back down where it belongs.

Reduce the stress levels in your life. This will help keep stomach acid production at a normal level, and will relax muscles around the affected area, allowing it to naturally fall back into place. Try practicing meditation, take deep breaths, if you feel stress coming on count to ten or put on some soothing music. This will help your body heal quickly and naturally.

For more self help for sliding Hiatal Hernia, read The Reflux Remedy Report at www.refluxremedy.com. It has a huge range of natural remedies for all kinds of causes of acid reflux, including Hiatal Hernias. So what are you waiting for? You could be on your way to healing right now!

I once saw my best friend go through a hiatal hernia attack, which put us both into a state of panic. What do you do when your friend suddenly acts like he?s dying but nobody knows what?s wrong.

He was choking up meat he had just eaten within the hour and had trouble breathing in. I could see the pain and pressure was freaking him out, the look in his eyes and the recurring spasms of violent choking had concerned me as well.

I would have called an ambulance, but he insisted it was over, then it would start again and again- it was nerve racking to say the least, for both of us.

I kept asking him questions, but he could hardly talk. I could tell my asking questions was about the most irritating thing I could be doing, because he obviously had trouble talking as well. There?s nothing like being interviewed while you feel like your choking to death, or dying from a heart attack- we didn?t know.

In between his hiatal hernia attacks all I could do is get on the Internet to see what I could learn fast.

I had never understood what a hernia was, but it didn?t take me long to match the symptoms he was having with the definition of hiatal hernia. Of course, when I told him I thought he was suffering from symptoms of a hiatal hernia, he just looked at me like I was out of my mind.

The situation was bad, he couldn?t relax, sit down or lay down at all, he just kept pacing, leaning against the wall holding his chest area or rushing to the bathroom to choke up his lunch bit by bit.

Today I could recognize the symptoms of hiatal hernia a mile away and now I understand why a hernia caused all those symptoms.

Once I ?Googled? the correct information about hiatal hernia symptoms, I had him dropping his heels, jumping on his wife?s exercise trampoline and finally stretching backwards over her giant grape purple yoga ball . . . and it worked like a charm.

The bouncing and stretching allowed gravity to do its trick, restoring his stomach, esophagus and diaphragm back to their original positions, below in his chest cavity.

Here?s some extra advice for those of you with hiatal hernia symptoms . . . make sure you chew your food better. It?s better for you because the digestive process starts in the mouth as enzymes and saliva to help break down the size and bulk of your food to make it easier on your gut to digest.

When the esophagus or stomach slides or rolls past the diaphragm and bulges upward in your chest cavity, there may be undigested food in that area that can?t go back down below the diaphragm muscle junction. So the better you chewed it, the easier it may be for you to swallow or eliminate any obstructive food stuff.

My friend was very fortunate the food trapped in his throat area didn?t go down his wind pipe . . .I?m sure under the circumstances his hiatal hernias symptoms would have been fatal.

Not a choice way to sign off in my book, especially on my shift!

Let?s review the symptoms published by the Mayo clinic:

• Heartburn
• Belching
• Chest pain
• Nausea

If you have hiatal hernia symptoms chew your food, walk and jump more and keep a giant grape purple yoga ball around just in case, of course the grape purple color is optional.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist