Heartburn is a pain that occurs in the area of a person's heart, particularly around the breastbone or chest bone. The pain sometimes travels to the stomach. If not treated it could lead to other problems, such as ulcers, or even heart trouble.



Those who experience heartburn have quite a few different options for treatment. Some of the most common are as follows:

o A product comparable to the quality of an Alka-Seltzer tablet is taken. This usually comes in a round tablet form and is taken with water, and causes a fizzy reaction in a person's stomach. It helps a person relieve the gas buildup in the digestive tract that can cause heartburn.

o White soda such as 7-UP or Sprite, or plain seltzer water can help relive heartburn. White soda has the similar reaction that Alka-Seltzer has, and has been known to relive both upset stomach and heartburn.

o One teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water will help some people with heartburn as well. You need to be careful if you are pregnant or have high blood pressure, because this baking soda mixture could affect you. If you are at risk, you would need to consider an alternative.

o A change their lifestyle and diet habits can help a person as well. For instance, if a person stops eating so many spicy foods cooked with extremely hot peppers, or fried foods they will be less likely to have heartburn. They can also do more aerobic exercise and watch their consumption of strong drink such as coffee and alcohol.

Other people chew Tums tablets or take Pepto-Bismol to help relieve heartburn as well as stomach pains. In addition, other people have taken prescription medications, such as Levsin, Librax and Bentyl. One other type of relief from heartburn includes that of endoscopic surgery.

There are natural herbs that can be used for heartburn as well, such as tea with arrowroot in it and slippery elm. Another natural home remedy could consist of fennel or anise seeds, or a few cups of chamomile tea a day.

If you need to be sure what remedy will work best for your heartburn condition you will want to contact your doctor to find out. In addition, if you experience vomiting or the pain of the heartburn worsens, you will want to contact a doctor immediately.

The condition of heartburn is also known as acid reflux. That is because the pain or discomfort of is normally caused by too much acid in the stomach. In some cases, too little acid in the stomach is released. If this is the situation for you then a teaspoon of vinegar is recommended in your case.

If you most often experience heartburn before bed you may want to consider avoiding certain foods before bed time (besides the ones mentioned earlier). Those include soda pop, garlic, chocolate, citrus fruits, or tomato juice. Fruits that can help reduce heartburn symptoms include papaya or banana, and possibly pineapple (although pineapple also contains citrus acid).

Copyright (c) 2006 Ngullen Rivera