How to Cure Heartburn
Heartburn, named for the burning sensation felt near the heart, actually doesn't have anything to do with the heart. Its cause is stomach acid that has come up into the esophagus. This happens when the valve situated between the stomach and the esophagus relaxes at the wrong time, thus causing the burning feeling in the chest or throat associated with heart burn.
Great attention has been focused on helping heartburn patients and many theories as to the cause of heartburn have been put forth. The most likely perpetrator to trigger heartburn is typically thought to be certain foods or beverages, although which food creates the problem can be different in each individual victim. As a rule, about 10 percent of the total population and up to 25 percent of the pregnant population, experiences heartburn on any given day.
Frequent, recurring heartburn is referred to as acid reflux or Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Stomach acid was meant to remain in the stomach to aid in digestion. The lining of the esophagus is not able to endure stomach acid, causing as many as ten to fifteen percent of identified GERD victims more extensive however, and may even include such things as asthma, hoarseness, chronic cough, laryngitis or even non-cardiac chest pain.
Still the symptoms of heartburn may not be quite as blush. Only about seven percent of those diagnosed with GERD suffer attacks of heartburn daily and need treatment daily. About 30 to 40 percent of the remaining acid reflux disease patients suffer from heartburn only about once a month. This second group actually does not need daily medications for acid reflux disease but should rather use them on an as-needed basis, thus saving themselves the cost of daily treatment as well as the usual medicine recommended for heartburn and GERD sufferers includes some treatments including H2 blockers and proton pump inhibitors (PPI). Other do-it-yourself treatments are still used by many including taking an antacid or other medicine before consuming a meal suspected to be a heartburn initiator, thus heading off heartburn before it has time to even begin. Lifting the head of the bed to keep stomach acid from coming up the esophagus tends to help some heartburn patients, as well as simply eating smaller meals and losing weight to relieve pressure on the stomach and esophagus.
A traditionally reliable treatment, however, may still be the most effective at relieving heartburn and when drunk on a regular schedule may even be helpful in curing the damage that stomach acid may have had on the esophagus. That treatment, particularly beneficial for pregnant heartburn sufferers, is simply consuming milk daily. Easy to find and relatively inexpensive, easy to use, a good source of calcium for your bones and enjoyable to drink, imbibing milk could be the best advice for many of the heartburn sufferers out there.
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