Acid reflux tips

1. Acid Reflux And Apple Cider Vinegar
Q: Does Apple Cider Vinegar help heartburn?
A: Maybe. Some people swear by it. But there is no medicinal evidence that it helps. Read this article for more information about how Apple Cider Vinegar can help you.
So it worth a try.
2. Acid Reflux And Apples
Q: Does Apples help Heartburn?
A: Apples are acidic fruits so there is no clear evidence that they should help heartburn.
But several sources on internet claim that certain kinds of apple help acid reflux.
3. Acid Reflux And Burping
Q: Is burping caused by Acid Reflux?
A: It maybe. Though there are multiple other conditions like aerophagia which can cause burping.
Work with your doctor to discover exact reason for it. Try elimination diet.
4. Acid Reflux And Caffeine
Q: Does caffeine increases heartburn?
A: Yes. It is clinically proven that caffeine relaxes LES (lower esophageal sphincter) and causes heartburn.
So switch to decaff coffee or cocoa. Read this article about caffeine to know more about it.
5. Acid Reflux And Baking Soda
Q: Does baking soda helps heartburn?
A: Yes. Certainly baking soda and any of the previously mentioned neutralizing agents can be used to treat GERD. These medications are very safe to use in the recommended doses. However, stronger therapy is often needed because GERD is a chronic disorder and the symptoms tend to recur very frequently, often many times per day.

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.

What is the difference between Hiatus Hernia and Hiatal Hernia

It looks like lots of people confuse what is Hiatus and what is Hiatal Hernia. Hiatus is translated from Latin as hole and in medicine it means a hole in diaphragm. When part of stomach moves through this hole it is called Hiatal Hernia (because it moves through Hiatus).

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

Apple Cider Vinegar and Heartburn

I was always wondering how does very acidic drink can cure heartburn which is caused by acid and LES dysfunction? Usually vinegar supporters claim that it helps by increasing acidity in the stomach. But won’t it hurt inflamed esophagus? Isn’t drinking lemon juice going to give the same effect. It is just slightly more acidic then vinegar according to http://www.manageyourheartburn.com/foodhb.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…

How to stop swallowing air?

That is a hard one… I really think that air swallowing is one of key contributors to lots of digestive system disorders. Big problem is that we do it completely unconsciously. One way to see how often you swallow air is just to have a sheet of paper nearby and write an X every time you swallow air. Do it for 30 minutes and measure how many times you did it. Also it may be helpful to ask someone to watch you while you’re speaking and see how many times you swallow air during that time. I noticed that I swallow unconsiously way more when I speak then when I’m not.

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

Aerophagia, its symptoms and treatment

I just wrote an article which summarizes my knowledge about aerophagia.

Here is an excerpt from it:

Aerophagia is defined as a condition when a person swallows too much air. This air is usually goes to the stomach. People with Aerophagia are believed to have excessive belches due to air swallowing. You probably also heard terms like constant or chronic belching or burping. These conditions are closely related to aerophagia but not necessarily caused by it.

You can read complete text of the article at http://www.manageyourheartburn.com/aerophagia.php

What causes excessive burping and belching

Since excessive burping (or some called it chronic belching) happened to me a lot of times I always was curious why the heck it happens. Recently I was reading through some forums and wanted to share ideas on that subject with my readers:

- You’re to anxious/nervous. Yeah - sound quite usual. But it is the most common reason why it happens. If you burp all the time - try to watch after yourself for 20 minutes and make sure that you’re not swallowing air. If this was the reason for burping in 3-5 minutes you should get rid of it completely. Though note that some people swallow air unconciously even without thinking about it - so it maybe quite hard to stop doing it.

- Milk and milk products. Large percentage of adults have lactose intolerance. So try to stop milk consumption for sometime and result may surprise you.

- Carbs. Some of carbs products cause belching.

- Aerophagia. You just swallow air too much - could be related to anxiety. Try to control it. I know - it is easy to say - hard to play.

I think there are many more to be added to this list but I hope I covered most popular ones.

Read some more details on constant belching here http://www.manageyourheartburn.com/articleview.php?ArticleID=16

Belching - how bad it can be?

I just read this quite an interesting topic about uncontrolled belching and burping. It looks like this area of medicine is very undeveloped and lots of people don’t receive any help when going to docs.