Home Relief for Heartburn

Some of the following have been said to help temporarily cure your heartburn , but take them for what their worth:

Chewing gum - supposedly, saliva helps reduce acid, and obviously chewing gum will produce saliva.

Baking Soda - This one tastes nasty, but if you can get it down the old pipe, it actually does work a little, but be prepared to let out some massive burps.

Raising the head of your bed - Never worked for me, but who knows.

I actually came across this site, which appeared to have some potential :
Cure Your HeartBurn

Infant Heartburn

Most infants spit up once in awhile after eating, but if you would consider it frequent, this may be due to your child having Heartburn. Along with frequent vomiting, frequent or persisent coughing is also a symptom of infant Heartburn. As I have said before, Heartburn occurs when stomach acids move upward through the esophagus. Usually, Heartburn in infants is from the incoordination of the gastrointestinal tract, and the infant is otherwise in good health. Most babies will outgrow Heartburn, but it is still a good idea to have it checked by a doctor if you suspect somethings wrong.

Heartburn Endoscopy

One of the tests that I had completed to look at my heartburn situation is called an Endoscopy. I have completed two of these in the past four years. An Endoscopy involves placing a thin tube with a light and a small camera on the end of it through your throat to look at your esophagus to see whats happening down there. You are not permitted to consume any food after 12 midnight the day before the process and you also need a designated driver to bring you there, because you will be very much out of it when the test is through. It is an outpatient process and it will take around 10 to 15 minutes. It is pretty much painless, they sedate you to help you relax and to stop you from gagging while they get the scope down your throat. You can expect for the rest of that day you won't be doing much, but after a good nights rest, you should be back to normality the next day.

Heartburn Medication

There many over the counter medications that can be used to help curb your heartburn. Tums, Rolaids, pepcid and other over the counter medications might help the person who gets heartburn once and awhile, but if you have GERD, these type of medicines just aren't strong enough. I am taking 20 mg of Prilosec, one pill a day and this works great for me. I have been on this medicine for 8 years now. I have to take the prilosec the minute I awake or else my heartburn will be soon to follow with a nice warm welcome. I can drink and eat anything I want as long as I take my pill. There was a time when I was taking 40 mg of Previcad but this was because of my insurance, because since then, they have swithced me back to prilosec. Both pills seemed to work the same, so I assume it depends on what your insurance will pay for. I personally have never had any side effects from either medicine but this could differ by individual. The pills are not are addictive in nature or anything like that. Basically, they work as a time release and they stop the stomach acid from being able to travel up the esophagus, thus preventing heartburn pain.

Heartburn Cure

As I stated in my last post, my heartburn just continued to get worse and worse , so I decided that I better get this condition looked at by my doctor. My family physician referred my to go see a gastrologist. The gastrologist did some testing and concluded that I had a condition known as GERD which is also called acid reflux. He put me on a medicine called prilosec. Prilosec is a time released pill that I take every day as soon as I wake up. I've been on prilosec for 8 years now and it has been 8 years of being heartburn free! I drink and eat and anything I choose and as long as I take the pill........................................... no heartburn. But one little slip of the memory and it is back in a heartbeat (excuse the pun). So it seems I will need to be on this medication forever now, but thats fine by me to stay heartburn free. My advice to anyone reading this and who gets constant heartburn -pick up the phone and make an appointment with your doctor.

Symptoms of Heartburn

I started getting heartburn when I was in my mid-teens, but at that time, it was only occasionally, and I didn't think much of it. The heartburn symptoms I would get would usually just be very mild and generally only when I ate certain foods, such as pizza, or anything spicey. I would just take 2 rolaids or tums and that would take care of it for the rest of the day and I would forget about it.

But then , as I got older and into my early 20's, the heartburn started coming around more and more frequently. I was now in college and my eating and drinking habits weren't exactly the greatest. I had to keep a large container of anacids by bedside and found my self reaching for them daily. It got to the point where I would not leave home without them. It started becoming a real burden on my life. I would get symptoms of heartburn everyday, and usually more than once a day. The second I woke up, I had heartburn. After I ate breakfast, I had heartburn. It really started getting unbearable.

Heartburn 101 - What Is Heartburn

Okay, here is the textbook definition of heartburn: painful, burning feeling in the chest caused by stomach acid flowing back into the esophagus.
Now here is my explanation of heartburn: That unbearable, annoying, I can't stand this, here we go again, everytime I eat, will this ever stop, I need some rolaids, ......................... etc. Anyone who suffers from heartburn gets my point here and those that don't, consider yourself the luckiest person in the world. Believe me, heartburn is nasty, and it can literally ruin what started out as a perfectly good night on the town. I've been there a million times in the past and can't believe I put up with it as long as I did. I found myself buying rolaids and tums by the bulk. I thought my heartburn was bad when I ate certain foods, but then throw in a few drinks and forget about it. I recall many a night waking up in agony after I had a few drinks. The worst part about it was when I was out of rolaids. I've actually had to get out of bed at 3:00 am and drive down to the local 7-11 just to get some relief. This may seem rediculous, but these are the things that us heartburn sufferers must endore.