I got an advice about this tea from a friend and it really made a difference for me.

There are multiple benefits of it:

1) It has no caffeine

2) It has anti-inflammatory, anti-septic properties

3) It has no known side effects

Before trying it I looked at some sources on the net to see if it is true.

Calendula article in wikipedia confirms that calendula has anti-viral, anti-genotoxic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Also I found following article on google scholar http://www.balestramech.com/usa/pdf/DolceDigestivoTech.pdf. This article describes a herb preparation for GI problems treatment and marigold (calendula) is part of it. This article doesn’t look like marketing material but actually has some scientific background. You will also find lots of other herbs which help in treating heartburn and acid reflux.

Also if you’re really into science use google scholar http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=2000&q=calendula+stomach+inflammation to get scientific proof on calendula properties.

Make sure that you’re getting tea components from professional. I got calendula (marigold) flowers from my friend who is very good in finding herbs.

Here is a good source of different herbs on the internet.

Calendula Flowers Cert. Organic (Calendula officinalis) 1 lb: C

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1434162

It pretty clearly proves that if you go to bed at 11pm and have later dinner at 9pm your pH will be 1.39. If you have early dinner at 6pm than your pH will be 1.69 or 20% lower.

Please note that the higher the pH the lower the acidity. Thus pH of 1 is very acid while pH of 5 is very alcaline.

Conclusion: moving your dinner 3 hours early will reduce your nighttime heartburn 20%… Of course your mileage may vary but trend is quite obvious.

Moving dinner even earlier won’t help much since you’ll get hungry by the time you need to get to sleep.

Nebraska Medical Center, offers the BARRX Medical HALO ablation technology, which removes the diseased layer of cells from the esophagus and offers treatment of the disease before it has the chance to progress to cancer.

For more details look at http://app1.unmc.edu/publicaffairs/todaysite/sitefiles/today_full.cfm?match=5503

This looks like a very good progress in prevention of esophageal cancer. Hopefully this procedure will prove to be successfull long term.

Option 1: Use PPIs – if it works you’re done. Most people stay with this option until it stops working (I have no idea why – but I heard from lots of people that PPIs stop for them working after several years)

Option 2: Use plan below to get rid of constant nighttime heartburn.

1) Find all food triggers for your heartburn and remove them from your diet. This included but is not limited to alcholol, chocolate, caffeine, acidic food (if you have doubts about any food acidity just exclude it – you can also use acidity database on this site). It is better to exclude all foods that you have doubts in rather than suffer nighttime heartburn.

2) Make your last meal very simple and plain. I use steamed rice with butter in this case. Simple meal will make your stomach produce only tiny amount of acid before the night and reduce irritation.

3) Last meal should be at least 3 hours before going to sleep.

4) Make sure you’re not hungry through the day and especially before going to sleep. This doesn’t mean you need to eat right before going to bed. It means that you have to eat through the day to get all the calories you need. Since your last meal is going to be simple you will need to consume more food during the day. Just eat some snacks to compensate loss of calories.

5) As a bonus you should get anti heartburn propup pillow. It will help you a lot in your efforts.

Plan above works like a clock to me. It just takes willpower to stick to it.

Good luck!

2) After meal pain: starts after heavy meal when there is too much food in the stomach and stomach acid refluxes back to the esophagus.

3) Alcohol/spicy or bitter food related delayed pain: starts several hours after alcohol/spicy food consumption. My guess is that alcohol causes some kind of delayed action when stomach starts actively producing acid several hours after consumption.

4) Chocolate/caffeine consumption heartburn pain. Starts when you consume some chocolate or caffeine late in the evening and lay down later. Heartburn happens because chocolate and caffeine relax the valve between stomach and esophagus and let acid get into esophagus.

Correction: actually it looks like onions don’t loose many vitamins and minerals during cooking. Please see tables below.

Well it looks like it is safe unless you combine it with Plavix. Recent research study found that in patients who suffered heart attack and were prescribed PPIs (in case of study it was Prilosec) together with blood thinner Plavix risk of repeat heart attack doubled in comparison with patients who were prescribed just Plavix. So Plavix+Prilosec equal to double risk of getting repeat heart attack.

It would be nice to get some study to figure out if Plavix+Prilosec are doubling chances of first heart attack. If it is then it should be taken very seriously and every patient prescribed with PPIs should know what risk they may be taking.

Anyway looks like there are some hidden sides in PPIs. It doesn’t mean that we should stop taking them when heartburn is really bad but be careful and if you can find alternatives it maybe time to consider them.
Here you can find more details on this study http://www.healthfinder.gov/News/newsstory.aspx?docid=624675.

This procedure is only at the very beginning of its trials but an idea sounds very smart and also significantly less invasive than everything else available at the moment (in my opinion).

The idea of the procedure is to place a bracelet with magnetic beads at the very bottom of your esophagus. The magnetic force of the bracelet will help your esophagus to close and won’t let acid back into your stomach.

I like this idea a lot because instead of trying to anatomically change esophagus by putting scars or staples on it LINX adds some force to your esophagus without doing anything bad to it.

Another positive side of LINX is that if magnetic bracelet doesn’t work due to some reasons you can remove it and completely reverse the procedure! None of other anti-reflux procedures give you that.

The one possibly negative side is that to insert the bracelet a minimally invasive surgical technique, called laparoscopy is required. At the same time this surgery technique is one of the safest available and lots of surgeries are performed using it nowadays since laparoscopy considerably minimizes infection risks and hospital stay.
I really hope that trials would go successfully and we’ll see high success ratios for this procedure.

If you’re interested in this procedure here is LINX official page http://www.toraxmedical.com/patients/linx.php. On this page they also have a link to a site where you can find information on how to participate in LINX trials.

So how Duane Thompson, the inventor of this product, did it? Even though his salsa contains some tomatoes they are thoroughly cooked and pureed to keep acidity low. Another ingredient which is great for taste and good for you stomach is roasted green and red peppers.

So if you’re keen to try some salsa and keep your stomach safe – try some of Sabrosa salsa. You can find it in selected Sam’s warehouse locations or directly in Sabrosa foods online store.

While the data on DGL for heartburn is fairly skimpy, licorice has been safely eaten as a food, in reasonable amounts, for hundreds of years. Without the glycyrrhizin, the risk is even lower. Given that, it may be worth a try — as long as your doctor agrees.”

This is very close to my experience. DGL is claimed to be a proven heartburn remedy by many web sites but there is very little ground for that.

For more information read entire article in Seattle Times.

The drug’s manufacturer, AstraZeneca PLC, provided them with an early analysis of two small studies that suggested the possibility of a risk.

The agency said its review of that study as well as 14 others indicated no increased risk for patients.

“FDA recommends that health care providers continue to prescribe, and patients continue to use these products as prescribed,” the agency said.
Well it is a great news for us – heartburn sufferers. We can take our Protonixes, Prilosecs and Nexiums without worrying about consequences too much .

I hope they will do more research regarding all other concerns related to long term PPI treatment like malnutrition, potential lung diseases, etc. For example:

Abstract:
Reduced serum vitamin B12 (cobalamin) levels have been documented occasionally during long-term treatment with a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) in selected groups of patients. This has largely been confined to patients being treated for Zollinger-Ellison syndrome who have sustained drug-induced achlorhydria, which does not ordinarily occur during treatment with a PPI. An appreciation of normal cobalamin metabolism and the pharmacological action of the PPIs adequately explain the mechanism for this reduction. PPIs do not promote the development of pernicious anemia.

I strongly recommend to replace it with water since it will dilute the acid and get it out of stomach faster.

Don’t try to get rid of heartburn by eating something (there are lots of beliefs that eating something will help heartburn). If it is something high calorie it will produce even more acid.

Best recommendation is to stay awake for 2-3 hours after your last meal. This will guarantee that you will go to sleep with an empty stomach and zero nighttime heartburn.

If you cannot stay awake for that long I strongly recommend getting wedge pillow. It will elevate your body in a way preventing acid from getting to your esophagus. Wedge pillow could be uncomfortable for some people but you don’t need to sleep on it entire night (except a case when you have a severe chronic heartburn which needs to be treated for several months). Usually you will need it only for first 2-3 hours of sleep.

Well after 1 year this site proved to be useful to many people. I’m very happy to hear your positive comments about information available on this site.

Traffic has grown from 10 users per day to 500 users which is quite a lot. Also this site got to the first page of Google for the “heartburn” query. So I’m really starting to think that opening a forum here might be a great idea. If you want to participate in it and be a moderator please drop me an e-mail to webmaster(at)manageyourheartburn.com. I would love to chat.

Thanks again for all your support and I wish you a Very Happy No Heartburn Christmas !
And I promise to write more frequently!

So I tried to come up with some idea on how to reduce this pain even when you overindulge. I though that when you drink much you usually have alcohol staying in your system for some time. I read that alcohol usually stays from 1 hour to 10-12 hours. So the goal is to get rid of this alcohol as soon as possible. Doing this has two benefits. First it will reduce the night time heartburn (or hopefully it won’t show up at all). And second it will reduce the hangover.

So here are couple advices.

• Eat food while you drink. Food, especially high protein food such as meat, cheese and peanuts, will help slow the absorption of alcohol into your body.
• Drink water 1 hour before going to sleep (after being done with drinking). Alcohol pushes out water from the body. At the same time water pushes alcohol from the body too. This will also reduce morning dehydration and hangover (if you were drinking way too much)
• Incliner Sleep Wedge is an innovative sleep solution. It was scientifically designed just to help acid reflux sufferers. It relieves acid reflux by elevating your head, shoulders and upper body as doctors recommend. It helps you to sleep in a natural position for controlling heartburn, respiratory problems and digestion ailments. An alternative to sleep wedge pillow is Mattress Genieâ„¢
• Over the course of living with heartburn and acid reflux I found only one herbal treatment which is very effective. It is Slippery Elm. I mostly use it in the form of the powder and make a tea out of it. Tea isn’t very tasty but it covers stomach and esophagus with gel like liquid which protects them from acid. Usually one cup of tea is good enough to have zero heartburn through the night and in the morning.

When it comes at night (hopefully it won’t) don’t suffer in the bed. Stand by and sip some water. This will dilute acid in your stomach and also help your stomach to clear up. Also wait for some time 10-20 minutes before going to sleep again. Water and acid will leave stomach sooner when you’re standing or sitting.

I hope these advises will help you to win a fight over the heartburn!

Even though shipping might eat some money you still can be in a win situation and save some money.

Milk, banana, protein – no heartburn but taste is so-so…

Milk, banana – no heartburn – but it is just a banana… Boring!

Milk, banana, strawberry – no heartburn and tastes very nice

Milk, banana, strawberry, peach – don’t overdo with peach, it can add nice taste pattern but also can cause minor heartburn. So experiment here.

Milk, peach, strawberry – risky one. But still worth a try if you don’t like banana. Try to start small on peach since it is quite acid.

I want to try to add some kiwi to my smoothies since they taste delicious. But they are the most acidic (not counting lemon probably)…

If you see any of the smoothies causing you constant heartburn stop it and try a trusted “no heartburn” one. Then slowly add very tiny pieces of fruit you like and see what happens.

Experiment and you’ll find it!

Symptoms of constant heartburn:

- Pain or discomfort that starts in the middle of the chest and can then move up through the throat

- Chronic cough

- Burning in the throat – or hot, sour, acidic or salty-tasting fluid at the back of the throat.

- Difficulty swallowing.

- Feeling of food “sticking” in the middle of the chest or throat.

- Sore throat

- Chronic hoarseness

Here is a list of quick advices to deal with constant heartburn:

- go to your doctor and get some medications (usually PPI – proton pump inhibitor) 

- cut back on acidic foods

- avoid caffeine and alcohol

- don’t lie down right after eating (1-2 hours should be enough if you lie down for short period of time). It is better to lie down on a wedge pillow.

- don’t eat just before going to bed  (allow at least 3-4 hours)

- avoid clothing that’s too tight around the waist

Manufacturer AstroZeneca rised this concern when two small studies compared patients who underwent surgery with patients on a drug regimen. These studies found that patients on a drug regimen suffered from heart related issues more frequently than those with surgeries. It turned out that these studies were biased. Patients who underwent surgeries were significantly yonger when compared to ones who were treated with drugs. So higher rate of heart related issues could be easily described by older age of the patients.

Also FDA looked at 14 additional studies about Prilosec and Nexium and found that those people who took heartburn pill versus dummy pill had lower chance of heart related problems.

News Source

 So here is my favourite smoothie recipe:

Here is the basic recipe:

Here is a link to a list of all eBooks I know…

I’ll post some reviews on them later.

And how can you imagine living the rest of your life without eating fruits? Well there is a trick which can help you to get your vitamins without pills.

Take a couple glasses of milk put them to the blender, add banana or two add fruits or berries you want, blend them together and your heavenly smoothie is ready.

It is definitely not exactly the same as eating whole fruit but as close as it possible. Banana and milk in your smoothie will compensate for an acid in acidic fruit and entire drink will be neutral.

You probably will have to experiment before you’ll get an ideal combination.

Enjoy!

Below are typical symptoms of heart attack:

So if you have symptoms similar to ones listed above seek emergency help immediately.

Below are typical symptoms of heartburn:

So use these two lists to distinguish between these different types of pains. Who knows maybe this can save you a life sometime.

A total of 14 excessive burpers and 14 normal people ate a hamburger, fresh onions, chips and had a drink of orange juice, as part of the study.

The researchers then used a new method called intraluminal impedance monitoring, which involves inserting a tube down the oesophagus to record electrical activity.

However, they found no difference in the amount of air swallowed or the size of the air bubble in the stomach, but they confirmed two distinct types of burps.

The first kind was the result of gas from the stomach, or gastric belching. The second type, or supragastric belching, involved gas from the oesophagus that never made it down to the stomach.

The normal group only did gastric burps but the burpers did both, suggesting their belching was self-induced rather than the result of excess gas.

The researchers said, “Their repetitive and bothersome belches originate from a distinct belch pattern, characterised by air that does not reach the stomach.”

“We suspect that excessive belching is some kind of learned behaviour that is initially induced consciously. After a while, however, this control is lost,” they added.

Australian gastroenterologist Dr Katie Ellard said that the study confirmed that burping was behavioural, rather than indicating a serious medical problem.

“I will sometimes say to people you’re not allowed to burp; sometimes you just have to say ’stop it’,” Ellard said.

For more information look at our aerophagia and excessive burping page

There are couple simple methods to avoid burping too much:

• Reduce carbonated soft drinks intake. Air in them will cause a lot of burping.
• Milk products can also cause burping.
• Cut down on caffeine. It relaxes LES.

Another cause for burping could be aerophagia. For more information on how to deal with it look at this aerophagia page

6. Acid Reflux And Beer
Q: Does beer increases heartburn
A: Yes and No. Some kinds of beer will make it worse while others won’t. Unfiltered wheat beer seems to be the safest for heartburn. See more details on alcohol and heartburn.
7. Acid Reflux And Honey
Q: Does honey helps heartburn
A: There is no medical evidence that it helps heartburn. But it can help lots of other medical conditions which could have caused acid reflux. So if honey doesn’t hurt you should use it. Raw and unpausterized honey is the best.
8. Acid Reflux And Lump In Throat (Globus Hystericus)
Q: What is Lump in the throat and what could be causing it?
A: Lump in the throat (Globus Hystericus) is a common complaint that many patients have when presenting to their ENT (otolaryngology-head & neck surgeon) physician. This lump sensation in the neck is most often described as “annoying,” but not painful. The sensation is more pronounced when swallowing and may even interfere somewhat with swallowing whether it be solids or liquids. Often, a person may feel compelled to swallow a second or third time to make sure things get down. The lump itself is described to be roughly the size of a golf ball and is precisely located in the middle of the neck right above the sternum and below the Adam’s Apple.
Heartburn and acid reflux definitely can cause it so try some PPIs and see if they help. If PPIs doesn’t help then most probably the cause is in anxiety. Try exercising more, doing yoga or pilates. Reduce your caffeine. Also it can be related to aerophagia
9. Acid Reflux And Throat Clearing
Q: Is heartburn related to throat clearing?
A: Yes and no. Heartburn may cause throat clearing because your throat could be inflamed by acid. But if you’re on PPIs and don’t have heartburn symptoms and ENT says that everything is fine with your throat then it could be just a bad habbit. You should work on getting rid of it. Try control throat clearing reflex and it should go away. It can take several weeks though.
10. Acid Reflux And Protonix
Q: Will protonix help my heartburn.
A: It most probably will since this drug is one in the family of proton pump inhibitor drugs. PPIs are the most powerful drugs for your heartburn. They reduce acid in your stomach by more than 90% to the level which won’t hurt your esophagus but still will be good enough to digest the food.

You can find much more information about Hiatus Hernia (oops… Hiatal Hernia!) at http://www.manageyourheartburn.com/hiatal-hernia-relief.php

 Here is a quote from an article I recently posted on my web site at http://www.manageyourheartburn.com/articleview.php?ArticleID=13

“Claims of apple cider vinegar’s effectiveness are anecdotal at best. It’s rarely been tested methodically, the way a drug would be, simply because that kind of research is usually funded by pharmaceutical companies and apple cider vinegar isn’t a pharmaceutical product so of no interest to them. The companies that could benefit from it being proven effective don’t have the money to fund the kind of research required.”

“And there is the possibility that it actually does work for some people. As mentioned, different remedies work for different people when it comes to GERD. It’s hard to cite any one cure as THE best option in every case. The point is, don’t pin all your hopes on a folk remedy whose usefulness is anecdotal and unproven.”

So read it and decide for yourself…

 

Any other recommendations? Comment on this blog and you will help hundreds of its readers.