February 10, 2011
Home Treatment for Acid Reflux
Home treatment for acid reflux is easy to address and can be a very effective way to handle the problem.
Acid reflux can be debilitating and painful, especially if it occurs frequently. Obviously, don’t immediately turn to home treatment for acid reflux before consulting your physician. It’s best to work in tandem with your doctor and find a solution that works best for you.
Acid reflux occurs when too much acid builds in the stomach and some if it is allowed up into the esophagus. Once there, it wreaks havoc on sensitive esophageal tissues, and may even make its way all the way up to your mouth on the backs of hiccups or burps, making itself known by leaving a sour or bitter taste behind. Acid reflux can be a very uncomfortable and embarrassing condition in public situations, but is surprisingly easy to deal with if you know what steps to take.
Probably the most common cause of acid reflux is food: how much you eat, what you eat and when you eat all factor in to your acid reflux.
- Keep tabs on how much you’re eating. Often smaller meals consumed more frequently across a longer period of time often help to prevent acid reflux from getting started. This is because smaller amounts of food prompt a proportionally appropriate amount of acid to be produced. Large meals spur an overproduction of acid which results in reflux.
- Foods like garlic, caffeine, highly acidic fruits and alcohol are all known to cause reflux and should be avoided, or at least consumed in moderation. Be diligent about your food consumption and keep track of what you’re eating so that you can understand what specifically causes reflux for you, and then modify your diet accordingly.
- You should also take care not to eat right before you go to bed. Eating before bed doesn’t allow the food to move out of your stomach, which means acid has free reign over your esophagus and upper digestive tract. That adds up to a painful night for you.
Stress is also a major instigator for acid reflux. Do you tend to pop a few Tums before that big presentation? Do you find that you’re hiccupping more after getting yelled at for missing a deadline? Burping excessively while pouring over your budget? The problem with constant stress is that the body doesn’t know how to respond. Sporadic stress is good, and helps us to stay focused and productive. But chronic stress causes health problems like high blood pressure, ulcers and reflux. To avoid or eliminate these problems take steps to better handle the stresses in your life. It’s nearly impossible to remove stress entirely. There will always be a deadline, a bill, a death in the family, a rowdy child, a disrespectful boss, or a guy that wasn’t paying attention on your way home from work. The key is to handle these scenarios without getting too worked up. Maintain a peaceful attitude by breathing deeply, meditating, exercising regularly, getting a massage, or taking up a hobby. That can do wonders when it comes to your battle against reflux.
Home treatment for acid reflux is a great way to battle the condition. For more tips and tricks to naturally be acid reflux free, visit refluxremedy.com today.
Filed under Acid Reflux by admin
January 28, 2011
Remedy for Heartburn After a Meal
If you often experience heartburn after eating, you may be searching for remedies to help relieve that pain. Heartburn can be a debilitating condition and can cause damage to your esophagus if it happens frequently. This damage can lead to chronic cough and ulcers if left untreated. So, dealing with your heartburn is often the only way to prevent future issues down the road.
There is no one remedy for heartburn after a meal. Some people find success with some methods, while others have better luck with other methods. However, there are plenty of things to try, most of which are natural and fairly low impact on your wallet and lifestyle.
First of all, if you’re regularly experiencing heartburn after a meal, analyze what you’re eating. Some foods are known to spark heartburn in most people. Things like caffeine, garlic, onions, citrus and alcohol should probably be avoided if you’re frequently experiencing heartburn after a meal. However, everyone is different, and what bothers someone else may not bother you, so keep close track of what you eat. That way you’ll be able to easily identify what set off your most recent episode of heartburn and adjust your diet accordingly.
Second, adjust your intake of food. If you eat smaller meals you’ll be able to better control acid production in your stomach. Large meals prompt the digestive system to produce excess amounts of acid to better break down all that food. So, just eat less more often to get the same amount of food in your system over a longer period.
Third, don’t eat right before bed. It may be tempting to eat a big, heaping helping of comfort food and curl up for a nap on the couch, but you might regret it when that heartburn comes calling. When it comes to heartburn, gravity is your friend. It helps to keep food down in your stomach, where it belongs. When you lie down right after eating, food and acids can mingle in your esophagus, which is painful and irritating to the area, causing heartburn. So, try not to eat less than two hours before you go to bed, and that’ll solve that problem.
If you’ve done all these things and you’re still experiencing heartburn after a meal, there are still some things you can try. For instance, papaya has been found to contain digestive enzymes that help your body to break down the food you’ve eaten and keep excess stomach acids down to a minimum, preventing heartburn. Chew a tablet after meals to help prevent acid buildup and subsequent heartburn pain.
Additionally, if you get heartburn after a meal, try drinking a nice tall glass of water when it strikes. As simplistic as this may sound, it really does work. The rush of water to your stomach will help to dilute stomach acids and flush your digestive tract, removing irritants and thus relieving heartburn pain.
Of course, there are many other things you can do to help get rid of your heartburn pain after a meal. If you’re still looking for just the right remedy for heartburn after a meal, visit refluxremedy.com today and get on the right track to be free of your acid reflux.
Filed under Heartburn Remedies by admin
January 4, 2011
Gastric Ulcer Causes
Ulcers can happen throughout the entire digestive tract, but when they happen in the stomach specifically, they’re referred to as gastric ulcers. Gastric ulcer causes are numerous, but one cause is the most common.
H. Pylori
Helicobacter pylori is a corkscrew shaped bacteria that lives in the digestive tract. The bacteria is fairly common, and in most cases isn’t harmful. However, occasionally it can inflame the lining of your stomach, and disrupt the mucus layer which causes an ulcer.
H. Pylori can be transmitted from close contact, like kissing. It can also enter the digestive tract through contaminated water or food. It’s a fairly common infection, with half of the people who are over 60 contracting it, and one in five people under 30 getting it.
Other Causes
While H.Pylori is an extremely common cause of ulcers, it’s not the only cause. NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are a big cause of gastric ulcers. Medications like Motrin, Ibuprofen, Asprin, Aleve and others can damage the stomach’s delicate lining, resulting in an ulcer. NSAIDs block the production of an enzyme that protects the stomach’s lining against damage and injury. Without this protection, the stomach is vulnerable to acids. If you have an ulcer, make sure your doctor is aware of that fact before he or she prescribes any kind of pain reliever, including prescription pain medications or over the counter NSAIDs.
Smoking is also pointed to as another main cause of ulcers. The nicotine found in tobacco is thought to increase the production of stomach acids, which eat away at the lining, resulting in a painful ulcer. Smoking also slows the healing process, which can be detrimental when trying to get over a gastric ulcer. If you are diagnosed with an ulcer, it is best to stop smoking so that your body can heal, and keep ulcers from recurring in the future.
Although it’s unclear whether excessive alcohol consumption can cause an ulcer, or merely exacerbate an existing ulcer, it should be avoided if you suspect that you have an ulcer or have a family history of ulcers. Alcohol eats away at the mucus lining of the stomach, making it vulnerable to damage and stomach acids. Monitor your alcohol consumption to ensure a healthy digestive tract.
Although stress can’t be pointed to as a sure fire cause of gastric ulcers, it can certainly worsen them. Stress causes the body to overproduce stomach acids which eat away at the body’s stomach lining. If you have an ulcer, or are susceptible to ulcers, take steps to dramatically reduce your stress levels. You can try taking a course on meditation, or practicing regular exercise to reduce your stress. Additionally, something as simple as taking a deep breath, listening to soothing instrumental music, or counting to 10 can often help you maintain a calmer attitude. Stress is thought to exacerbate a number of health problems, so reducing your stress level can do nothing but good for your body.
For more information on gastric ulcer causes, visit www.refluxremedy.com today!
December 7, 2010
Medium Hiatal Hernia
Medium Hiatal Hernia refers to the size of your specific hernia. A small Hiatal Hernia often presents with no symptoms, while a large Hiatal Hernia can cause frequent heartburn and chest pains. A medium Hiatal Hernia falls somewhere in between.
Hiatal Hernias
A Hiatal Hernia occurs when a portion of the stomach becomes dislodged and encroaches on other parts of the chest cavity, like the esophagus. There are two types of Hiatal Hernias. The more common type, a sliding Hiatal Hernia, involves the stomach passing up through an opening in the diaphragm and displacing the esophagus from underneath. The more severe type is para-esophageal Hiatal Hernia. This involves the upper portion of the stomach moving up and beside the esophagus and putting pressure on it from that position. This type of hernia can cause food to get caught in the esophagus, and result in the formation of ulcers.
Causes
Some people can be born with the tendency to be susceptible to a Hiatal Hernia simply due to an enlarged hiatus. However, sometimes the hernia can happen as a result of heavy lifting, straining during a bowel movement, excess vomiting, or frequent coughing. Although a cause can?t be found for everyone with a Hiatal Hernia, it is thought that added pressure on your stomach due to these factors can result in the injury.
Symptoms
Symptoms of a Hiatal Hernia aren?t many. In fact, often times a Hiatal Hernia doesn?t present with any symptoms, or they are confused with another disorder. Heartburn is the main symptom, which includes a burning sensation in the chest, burping, and a general feeling of indigestion.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (or GERD) is sometimes associated with a Hiatal Hernia, but it?s difficult to say whether one causes the other. People with GERD often don?t have Hiatal Hernia, and people with hernias don?t have to have GERD. However, because of the dislocation of the stomach, it?s not uncommon for those with Hiatal Hernias to suffer from GERD. GERD?s symptoms are also very similar to heartburn, including nausea, burping, hiccups, a burning sensation in the chest that sometimes radiates up to the neck, and an unsettled stomach.
Treatment
Rarely is surgery necessary to treat a Hiatal Hernia. Often your body just needs time to heal itself. Help this process along by taking a few simple steps:
? Primrose oil and papaya extracts both contain helpful digestive enzymes that will help ease the stress of meal time on your stomach.
? Less is genuinely more when it comes to letting your Hiatal Hernia heal. All you have to do is eat less food more often and you?ll prevent your stomach from getting stressed out from too much food entering it all at once.
? Avoid foods like onions, garlic, caffeine, citrus juices and fruits, and alcohol that are known to cause heartburn. Heartburn and its associated acids can cause further damage and irritate a Hiatal hernia, so try to avoid it at all costs.
A medium Hiatal Hernia should be able to be resolved with minimally invasive treatments. For more information on medium Hiatal Hernias, visit www.refluxremedy.com.
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