How To Stop Heartburn
Do you know how to stop heartburn once it starts? There are plenty of over-the-counter heartburn medications that can stop heartburn after it starts or even prevent it in the first place. Antacids are the most common type of medication used for heart burn. Doctors can also prescribe some medications for those who have chronic, painful heartburn. However, you may also want to look into other methods for how to stop heartburn if you suffer from it frequently.
Remember all those times people told you to avoid complex carbohydrates? Well you should add them back to your diet if you get heartburn often. Complex carbohydrates naturally reduce heartburn by absorbing any extra stomach acid you have.
Another way how to stop heartburn is by avoiding acidic foods like citrus, spicy foods, and alcohol. Carbonated beverages have also been shown to cause heartburn. It’s also important to remember that the same foods don’t trigger heartburn for everyone. Keep a journal of everything you eat and write down whether or not you had heartburn. This will help you identify any unusual foods that are causing your heartburn. Aspirin can also cause heartburn, so avoid taking it for pain relief. Choose acetaminophen for headaches and common pains instead.
If you must eat a food that you know will give you heartburn, then there are a few things you can do to mitigate how bad the heartburn will be afterward. One thing is to add some extra mustard if the food goes well with mustard. You can also carry some ginger root with you for those times when you’ll be eating food that causes heartburn. Ginger root is available in the herbal section of some health food stores. Just chew on a little ginger root for a short time to relieve your heartburn.
You should also make sure you don’t skip meals. Eat at about the same time every day and avoid large meals. Try eating five small meals per day instead of three larger ones. Putting less food in your stomach at a time will decrease the amount of acid your stomach produces.
Smoking can also cause heartburn, so try to quit if you can. There are many different methods for quitting smoking, and the same method doesn’t work for everyone. There’s even a prescription medication that blocks the benefits the brain receives from smoking to help you quit. Some people have found success through this medication, although you’ll have to take it for several months or even up to a year before you’ll know if it’s helping.
The last resort for stopping heartburn is surgery. There are two different procedures that are performed on patients who have chronic heartburn without relief. The most invasive procedure is called fundoplication. This procedure is quite invasive, but the purpose of it is to reduce acid reflect. The other procedure used to treat heartburn is called radiofrequency treatment. This procedure is much less invasive, and patients usually go home right after it.