Monday, August 01, 2011

When your Regular Remedies for Heartburn won't Work

So your stomach supposedly has all this dangerous acid boiling away inside. What keeps it from affecting the delicate food pipe that's just an inch away, leading up to your mouth? Well, it does happen in some people: ones for whom the mechanisms designed into the digestive system fail, inexplicably. People get heartburn when this happens. With most people, the drugs called PPI's make the body cut down on the amount of stomach acid it makes so that nothing backs up into your food pipe. What are you supposed to do if you happen to be one among the people who complain that these standard drugs just don't work for them? These remedies for heartburn that won't yield to normal medication should help.

Even if you feel you've tried every way of taking the standard remedies for heartburn that you've been prescribed, you have to understand that doctors discover that with lots of people, it all comes down to timing it correctly. PPI drugs are usually supposed to be taken about an hour before breakfast. In some people, the problem is stubborn enough that they need a second dose near bedtime. You need to make sure that you completely understand the exact dosage recommendations your doctor gives you.

Even if your drugs do seem to be working, heartburn can be a stubborn enough problem that you should need to aid them. One of the first things that  doctor will tell you that you need to pay attention to, is that even if you are taking your drugs just the right way, you need to stay away from large meals within four hours of going to bed. Usually, for most people, that will mean that they need to stay away from large meals at night altogether. Large meals are trouble in themselves; go to bed before your stomach has a chance to completely process all the food, and you've got a problem that even the best drugs can't handle. If you must go to bed soon after a large meal, make sure that you don't lie on a flat bed. Elevate your upper body like they do on a hospital bed.

People who are overweight happen to suffer from heartburn three times as much as people who are thin. Sometimes, even shedding 5 pounds can make all the difference. These may not be direct remedies for heartburn; but they certainly help your standard remedies in working correctly.

And finally, the best way to combat stubborn heartburn is usually to understand the way the disease works in your case. You may know someone who has always had heartburn but who manages to eat spicy food without triggering the symptoms. That doesn't mean that's the way it is with you. You need to study your own situation long and hard and avoid the things that trigger your specific symptoms. Whatever foods aggravate your symptoms, you need to make sure you remove them from your diet.

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