Heartburn - Dealing With the Discomfort of GERD...

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Things you can do that may help prevent Gerd...

By Sharon Stajda, Indigestion, heartburn, GERD - by any name it hurts! You eat a single piece of pizza, and wham ! The minute the pepperoni hits your stomach,your stomach acids kick into overdrive. You start to feel that all too familiar symptom of burning in your mid chest region. It's a very familiar feeling you have come to know so well, heartburn. It feels like an out of control fire... Hey, you are not alone. Did you know 60% percent of Americans suffer from some form of heartburn better known as "Acid Reflux or GERD"? As many as 33% experience heartburn on weekly bases, and that number is rising daily. Heartburn(GERD) gastroesophageal reflux disease can set off many symptoms that can in themselves be very stressful, and I might say ugly. In the addition to the heartburn, GERD can and most likely will produce other symptoms, Such as chronic cough, hoarseness, and nausea. If heartburn is left untreated the condition can become chronic, and lead to more serious problems, such as esophageal cancer. In the past 10-year hospitalizations for gastrointestinal problems (problem that are the results of GERD) have doubled. Persons that suffer symptoms related to GERD are spending billions of dollars on for over the counter and prescription drugs in their quest for relief. Over 1 billion dollars a year is spent in simple over the counter antiacid produces alone. Are you plagued with heartburn (GERD)? Please take a few minutes to browse through this lens. I have some helpful tips on how to get some symptom relief, and stave off potentially dangerous problems that can occur with untreated GERD.

First Things First - What is a major cause of acid refux? 

When you eat a valve located in your esophagus opens up to let your food pass normally to your stomach. The valve then should close, to keep the stomachs juices confined to the stomach, where they are suppose to do their job of digesting the eaten food.

But sometimes this valve will open spontaneously, or for one reason or another won't close properly.

This malfunction can result in stomach acid back washing up into the esophagus. This back wash of acids will cause burning in the esophagus, as a rule this burning will be located just below the breastbone.

The whys of it? Some foods are known to trigger this faulty valve reaction. to list just a few foods: coffee, chocolate, citrus fruits, soda drinks, spicy foods, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and foods high in fats.

About know your thinking - what's left to eat?

Everyone is not made equal in respect to what they can get away with eating. Think triggers!
Naturally all of the listed foods may trigger your valve to backfire.

I suggest you keep a food diary. Once and for all find your triggers, and stay away from foods that give your valve a reason to malfunction.

I must also bring up another common culprit. Anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). Such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen. If you use anti-inflammatory medications, make sure to see if they cause GERD symptoms when you take them.

Pizza - Its a common GERD trigger...

Here Are Just A Few Popular Food Culprits - That Can Cause Heartburn... 

Citrus fruits

Chocolate

Peppermint

Spearmint

Tomatoes

Raw onions

Garlic

Black pepper

Vinegar

Fatty foods

Spicy foods

Coffee

Citrus juice

Carbonated beverages

Alcoholic beverages

Just Curious... 

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A Few Tips On Decreasing Symptoms Of GERD... 

Gid you know - Laughing provides us with the natural stomach lining massage, and it is also believed that changing ones mood, to a happier out look on life, can aid in speeding up relief from GERD as much as 30% faster, than using medications alone!

Smaller Sized Meals... 

Consuming smaller sized meals throughout your day will aid in not overwhelming your digestive tract. Making it easy on your system to digest your food properly .Eating smaller meals, and by the way - it also helps to eat more slowly.

Sit Up While you Eat... 

To help your digestive system with it job, avoid eating before lying down. This will prevent the stomach acids from getting all bent out of shape so to say. If one lays down on a full stomach, the stomach will produce an increased amount of acid, the stomach sort of kicks into overdrive.

Rule of thumb - have your last small meal two to three hours before you go to bed.

Another tip, sleep with your slightly elevated - about 9 to 10 inches above your waist.

Hey! Loosen up those pants... 

By wearing pants that are to tight around your waist you may aggravate your stomach, and produce GERD symptoms that are more severe.

Again the tightness around your stomach tells your tummy to produce more acid...

Sorry to bring it up... 

Added pounds, especially around the waist can aid in pushing stomach acid up toward the esophagus. This can cause one to be more prone to acid reflux, and severe erosion of the esophagus. Which can lead to cancer.

So if needed drop a few pounds off the stomach.

Do You Smoke? 

If so, and you have GERD - its time to lay down that habit once and for all.

Nicotine triggers more acid production. So it triples your symptoms over a non-smoker...

If you suffer from GERD... Don't Stoop Over! 

Try to avoid bending over after eating. The bending motion can crimp the stomach, and the result is an increased production in acid, plus the stooping motion sends all that increased acid right into the esophagus. This will most assuredly cause your heartburn to be much more painfully. Plus as I mentioned, the increased acid in the esophagus, will cause erosion of the esophagus.

Relax... Chill out 

Make all atemps to take time to relax. Cut down on stress, especialy aroud meal time. Your whole digestive system is managed largely by your nervous system. So before eating take time to slow down, and relax a bit.

Don't add more acid to the gut!

What Symptoms Need To Be Treated As A Possible Emergency... 

If your symptoms are sudden or more severe, the situation may be an emergency.

It is well known that heart attack symptoms can be masked by GERD symptoms.

GERD symptoms can also mask more serious esophageal diseases such as ulcers, and cancer.

Heart Attack symptoms;
tight pain in chest, mid sternum, pain at left arm that radiates down to fingers,a pressure that feels like a squeezing of the chest, that lasts for more than a few minutes.
Pain that spreads from one arm or both arms, also pain at jaw, back of neck, and shoulders.
Shortness of breath.

Top Ten Embarrassing Health Concerns  

Top Ten Embarrassing Health Concerns
Do you have a health problem that you are embarrassed to talk about? Let me tell you - your not alone. It is very hard to bring up health concerns, especially the ones that may totally embarrass you, and make you feel like crawling under a table, just thinking about verbalizing your concerns on the subject. Let's face it, Some things are meant to be kept private. But that doesn't mean you can or should ignore your health issues. Below you will find a list of types of health concerns that as a rule cause a person - let just say embarrassment when they have to convey their concerns...

Some Interesting Links You May Want To Check Out... 

Diet And Indigestion
"A failure of any portion of the digestive tract to function in a normal manner in changing food, may be referred to as indigestion. Irregular conditions in certain organs, for example, the small intestine, may be observed more than in others. Faulty digestion of starch in the mouth is not accompanied by symptoms. Insufficient or arrested flow of any juice may upset the orderly sequence of the digestive process."
Indigestion Due To A Lack Of Digestive Juices
"By a method quite simple in itself it is possible to measure the strength of acid and pepsin present in the gastric juice of the stomach. A test meal, spoken of as the Ewald test meal, is used. It consists of a small quantity of toast or crackers eaten with a cupful of tea or water."
Why Are You A Bellyacher?
"The bellyachers are a too great percentage of our population. You are one of those people who make every fifth purchase in every drug store in the United States. Statistics claim that every fifth sale in every drug store is a stomach remedy, a laxative, or a preparation for a disease caused by these two difficulties. YOU are one of the persons who confine their eating mostly to protein and carboyhydrate foods with too few vegetables and too little fruit. YOU are a cousin to John, Bill, Tom, Dick, and Harry Bellyache."
The Digestive System
"Why We Need Food.-You know that if you go past your regular mealtime without eating, you feel hungry. You know also that if a person does not eat for a long time he grows weak, and that if he continues to go without food he finally starves."

I hope you will take time to sign my guestbook... 

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by Shar

Where do I start... I am married and have two wonderful children, along with two great in - law children, and I am also blessed with two Grandchildren... (more)

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