Heartburn: What is it and how to deal with it?

Heartburn, regular or constant is a common symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Though it’s named as heartburn but it doesn’t deal with the heart. It is the burning sensation in the lower chest.

Around twenty percent of the people have heartburn at one point or another in a week time. Some of the symptoms of GERD are sour or bitter taste in the mouth, heartburn, burning sensation in chest especially while going to bed at night, coughing, wheezing, hoarseness and regurgitation of food or liquid.

Things to avoid:

• Smoking
• Caffeinated drinks such as tea and coffee
• Raw onions
• Citrus fruits
• Tomato products
• Chocolate
• Peppermints
• Spicy foods
• Fatty foods
• Alcohol consumption
• Obesity
• OTC Pain killers such as Aspirin or ibuprofen
• Black pepper
• Garlic
• Vinegar

What should I do to avoid heartburn?

# Don’t over eat. Try to eat food at least one or two hours before you retire to bed at night.
# Eat food slowly.
# Put some blocks under your bed and arise the head of the bed.
# If you are overweight than then to loose weight.
# Don’t eat or drink before going to bed.
# Avoid wearing tight fitted clothes.
# Keep a tab on thing that you eat.
# If you feel burning sensation than don’t lie down but sit or stand up.
# Eat small meals instead of three big meals.

Remedies for Heartburn

1. You can chew gum (don’t eat peppermint gum) for an hour time after meal will really help.

2. Pour few drops of clove oil in a glass of water and then sip slowly.

3. Sipping small amount of cold milk after an hour or two will help.

4. Add turmeric in your meals as they help in stimulating digestion and prevents the acid build-up. If you don’t use turmeric in your cooking than you can take 2-3 1/2-1 gr capsules before meal.

5. Eating bananas as such will help.