When your chest is burning with heartburn, your stomach feels as though it will expand until it explodes, and you can't control the belching and burping for hours after a meal, it's time to find something to soothe and relieve those acid reflux symptoms. You may be using antacids on a daily basis or added them to your diet as the fifth food group, but they have side effects when used to excess and don't work very well for long-term relief. Now it's time to find new ways to relieve the pain, help you sleep, stop coughing and choking on regurgitated food. Here are some ideas that may be helpful.
Step 1
Stop eating trigger foods such as spices, junk foods, chips, caffeinated beverages such as coffee and sodas, milk, aged cheese and fast foods, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Step 2
Lose some weight. Again, the Mayo Clinic suggests that being overweight adds to the acid reflux problem, putting pressure on the stomach and often causing hiatal hernias, which greatly aggravate gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.
Step 3
Eat a teaspoon or two of raw organic honey for relief from heartburn pain. In his book "Alkalize or Die," Dr. Theodore A. Baroody advises taking 1 to 2 tsp. raw honey, which soothes the stomach lining and is high in potassium. If you tend to have reflux symptoms during the night, take a spoonful before bedtime or if you awake in the middle of the night to relieve excess acid pain. You can find raw honey in health food stores.
Step 4
Try extract of radish. Life Extension.org explains that extract of radish greatly increases movement through the digestive tract, encouraging foods and acids to move out of the stomach with more speed, shortening the length of time needed for the production of digestive juices and lessening acid reflux symptoms.
Step 5
Drink licorice root tea to soothe and calm the stomach and esophageal lining, reports EarthClinic.com. The tea is naturally sweet, but if you like it sweeter, add some raw honey. Don't add any milk, though, as it aggravates reflux symptoms. Licorice tea is known to raise blood pressure, so consult your doctor before using. Buy it in local health food stores.
Step 6
Use ginger in all of its forms to decrease symptoms of reflux. Make tea by soaking a small piece of raw ginger in hot water. Raw honey can be added to sweeten the tea. Eat candied ginger for relief. Just a piece or two should do the trick. Incorporate ginger in your cooking or drink ginger ale as long as there is real ginger in it, suggests Jethro Kloss in his book "Back to Eden."
Step 7
Try over-the-counter remedies such as antacids and acid reducers available in pharmacies for your reflux symptoms. They all have side effects can't be taken indefinitely, so consult your doctor for recommendations regarding brand and dosage.
Tips and Warnings
- All of these methods can be used in concert with one another to bring relief from GERD symptoms, but don't use them all at the same time.
- If you have used the above methods and not experienced relief, or you symptoms get progressively worse, see you doctor.
Things You'll Need
- Ginger
- Licorice root tea
- Extract of radish
- Raw honey
References
- Life Extension.org: Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
- Back to Eden, Jethro Kloss, 1972
- Mayo Clinic: Heartburn
