Need Natural Treatment For Acid Reflux

I use baking soda and water, between 1/2 to 1 teaspoon in a juice glass of water. But it's not something you want to do all the time, it's more of a once in a while type of thing.
Also eating non acidic frequent small meals or snacks can help absorbe the stomach acid. I'll munch on bananas throughout the day.

Steven, I have a lot of experience in this area. I suffered from chronic acid reflux for years and I ignored it until it turned into a severe case of erosive esophagitis. I've been to 3 different doctors, two of which were gastro specialists.

After years of being on medications such as Nexium, Prilosec, and Dexilant I decided that there had to be a better way.

The #1 trigger of acid reflux for me was the specific foods I ate. Everyone's bodies are different, but some of my acid reflux triggers were:

• Coffee
• Alcohol
• MSG (often disguised as "natural flavoring" and 20 other names that the crooked FDA allows)
• Certain fried foods
• Anything with soybean oil in it
• Artificial sweetners
• Dairy (specifically the protein Casein)
• Gluten
• Eating before bedtime (I won't go to bed at night until 5 hours has passed after I have eaten dinner)
• I don't sleep flat anymore, I sleep on my bed and have the head portion propped up at a 25-35 degree angle.

I was also diagnosed with chronic gastritis. So combined with the erosive esophagitis I've been to the emergency room about 6 times in the past several years because I thought I was having a heart attack.

The pain was that bad.

The best natural treatment for acid reflux is to watch what you eat, eat in smaller portions, and sleep with your head elevated (but not using pillows, the whole bed has to be an at angle).

Aside from that the poster above is correct, a little baking soda and water will neutralize the acid in your stomach, however, it should only be used sparingly as it is not good for you (think kidney stones).

Bananas and apples are good for helping regulate the acid levels in your stomach. Eating toast has helped me, though I buy bread that is gluten-free now.

I don't eat dairy anymore, I stay away from gluten, fried foods, I don't drink alcohol or coffee anymore (it relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter) and it has made all the difference in the world. The doctor says I should be healed up completely in about 6 to 12 months (since the damage to my esophagus is pretty bad).

RoD

My mom used to give this to my uncle mixed with some ginger to be served as tea.

Since I don't like tea, I drink small amounts of virgin coconut oil whenever I had a bad hangover and acid reflux kicks in.

Note: Those remedies don't taste good, but at least they're worth it as temporary salve.

It might actually be that you need more acid in your stomach to properly digest food.
If you don't have enough stomach acid, then food and acid sit on top of, or come out
of the stomach and it feels like acid reflux or heartburn.

If Thom's suggestion does not work, then try taking about a teaspoon of apple cider
vinegar and see if that helps. It will burn some going down. If it make things worse
right away, then you probably do have too much acid. If it's not too bad or starts improving,
then continue about a teaspoon or two a day.

Other things you might look at are getting your digestive track back in balance. Especially
if you have fairly recently taken anti-biotics because they kill the good bacteria as well. The
good bacteria as found in yogurt. Diet. (Especially no fried foods.) Plant or digestive enzymes
such as found in papaya. Betaine HCL if you do need more acid in your stomach.

A Vitamin Cottage type store could be very helpful. Ditto for a local trained professional.

Added after reading the previous two posts. naturopathic docs use the vinegar as a test
of whether it's acid reflux or too little digestive acid. Sooo, perhaps a proper diagnosis is
in order if you have not had one already.

Definitely because of the damage that can happen if you don't get it under control.

Dan

P.S.- Try sleeping on your left side. Because of the direction our plumbing goes, this helps
keep the acid where it belongs.

Sorry Steve, not trying to hijack your thread here.

Why the left side? When I have heartburn and such, if I turn on my left side it makes things A LOT worse! Many times after turning over I have had to get up and vomit. (Not trying to gross you guys out here).

I'm fine on my right side. Any ideas?

Oh, and Steve, aside from all of the great info here, it has been previously noted that you have been going through a lot of stress. Do you take the time to go outside and walk for a bit?

When I suffer from acid reflux, a short walk does wonders for me.

~ Theresa

I can't even sleep on any side, too painful. I have to sleep on my back, at an angle. For some people it seems to work for them, but not for me.

RoD

Steven,

I recommend trying Yogi Ginger tea. I also have a peach/ginger tea combo that helps. I use two large pillows to elevate my head when I sleep.

Bonnie

Wow! Thank you Thom!

I will study that link tonight. I had the beginning of an ulcer when I was a mid teenager.
When this happens, I have no indication of it. I'll be on my right side and simply need to switch sides. When I do switch to my left, I can feel the burn and acid and I know I have to get up, usually to get sick. (Again, not trying to gross anyone out here).

With me, it's usually stress related. I just didn't understand the "left" side when that's the side that kills me!

Thank you again for the link.

~ Theresa

You may not have enough acid in your stomach. Try this test by taking a teaspoon of lemon juice or cider vinegar, if you burp it may mean you are not producing enough acid. This article is splendid, it explains a lot about it:


Get rid of heartburn and GERD forever in three simple steps

Collison is right even though it sounds funny - but try a spoonful of organic apple cider vinegar - organic preferably. If that doesn't solve the problem, a half tsp of baking soda in water.

There are two causes and so you have to try both to figure out what kind you get. Vinegar is the best and more frequent solution.

BTW - if it's low acid causing it and it's chronic, you can help yourself by eating more foods containing calcium. Calcium is hard to digest and it makes the body crank up the acid production. That's also a good thing to kill foodborne germs.

I just want to make a brief side bar about propping your head with pillows; don't do it. According to my gastroenterologist, this actually puts more pressure on your stomach. You might feel a bit of temporary relief from this, but while you're asleep you're making things worse for yourself.

The key is to make sure you elevate the part of your bed that's by your head, so this way you are lying down flat but at an angle.

RoD

P.S. And yes, apple cider vinegar is awesome! Though with my erosive esophagitis I can't take it anymore. But once I heal up, watch out!

Seems to me that if ulcers are occuring via bacteria, vinegar and/or calcium might help burn that out, too. I've known people who produce too little digestive acids and they are messed up in a lot of ways.

The more bacteria is being studied, the more it's found to be causing different problems. It's really an interesting subject - both in human biology and in earth sciences. Of course - bacteria is also the good guy in many scenerios, too.

OOPS, another side note:

ACV should be something that everyone looks into. I have just started to study it myself.

I had a tooth infection that went even more awry and turned into a really bad sinus infection. (My fault. My filling fell out, I hate dentist, I have to take stupid amounts of antibiotics for them to work on me, Novacain doesn't work on me, dentists will pump me up full of numbing stuff I have never heard of and along with the antibiotics, I get seriously ill and it wasn't hurting). Whew that was long....

Anyhow, I, like Thom, started drinking ACV with water. I added some cinnamon and honey (both great for bacteria), and drank about 16 oz. (sometimes more) a day. My infection was gone in three days. TADA!

Funniest thing of all, I started to notice how much more energy I had and my joints didn't hurt so much! Hmmmmm.

Thanks everyone, this is a great thread!

~ Theresa

Alexa - you're well educated enough that we can trust your research to be of value or at least worthy of serious discussion if we disagree. I've known doctors here that are completely clueless about some things that are so startling that it would scare you. (Note I said - here. I have no idea what Dr.s are like in the UK. I found the ones in Germany lifesaving and extremely knowledgeable in natural health).

Anyhow - don't apologize for no MD after your name when you discuss topics. Some of my most reliable health info I got from listening to just everyday people talking about things that worked for them. Of course, I researched those tips when they required me to do so before trying them.

Sal, you are dead on about that. Doctors here in America are taught a certain way in medical school, usually involving prescribing medicines. They take very few classes on nutrition and even fewer take a true holistic approach. Though my gastro doctors did help me some with their medicines and guiding me on some of the foods to avoid, they really did not know anything about how certain foods can cause inflammation.

I learned more about taking care of my digestive problems from watching food documentaries like Food Matters and Forks Over Knives and from a holistic, natural healing M.D. than the specialists I went to go see.

Even my own G.P. doctor told me he was concerned with how much juicing I was doing because he was concerned about my calorie and sugar intake. I had to remind him that 80 to 90% of my juice was from green vegetables, raw nuts, ginger root, etc. and that my blood sugar levels were fine.

When I went to go back to see him for a 90 day follow up he wanted to know how I got my blood work to turn around. I simply told him that I had been juicing a lot. He still had an incredulous attitude. I have a great respect for their profession, but doctors do not know everything. In fact, the more I'm learning about health outside the western medical circles, the more I'm realizing how little they know about certain subjects, and one of them is nutrition.

I could write novel on what I've learned, but the bottom line for me was the two biggest thing that has brought me relief to all of my digestive and heart issues has been my diet and exercising consistently. Those two things, more than anything else, have helped me to the road to recovery.

@ Steven,

I re-read your OP where you stated you had a bought of acid reflux for about a week. That is definitely a concern to me. Do you keep a food diary of what you eat? There might be a certain food that might be triggering it. You could also possibly have a hiatal hernia or something else that is causing the acid to cause this discomfort for such a long time.

Have you ever had an endoscopy?

RoD

Oh - holy cow. What Terra brought up is something I didn't even think about needing to be said! If you are taking ACV for acid reflux do NOT drink water with it. Take a straight shot (spoon). Reflux is often (as someone pointed out earlier) due to lack of stomach acid. Water will dilute it further. Bad news.

I never drink ANYTHING when I eat. I have some water 1/2 hour before food - and then don't drink again for at least an hour. Not diluting the acid helps with digestion all throughout the digestion process.

A little milk might do it because the body can't digest calcium easily and will raise its acid output to digest it. I wouldn't drink a lot though as it might still dilute the extra coming in.

Rod - exactly. Ever see what the curriculum for doctors is here? Nurses have more nutrition ed. Nurses, however, are getting pharmaceutical approved nutrition info, though. In the US the pharmaceutical corps have the power of approval for doctor's educations and that is scary at the very least. If you have something that needs cut and paste, that's about what our med community is good for. Lot of money in surgery.

Steven - I don't hear "organic" in any of your diet. You'd be surprised all the crap you're getting in that diet if it isn't organic food. Very surprised. I like breads and cereals, too - but make sure every one of them is certified organic. If it doesn't have the certified organic symbol on the box, I don't trust it because a few cereals are getting busted lying about "organic". Our FDA and EPA have both just approved a very deadly toxin for GMO food - both in the gene splicing and for "pesticide". If you want to eat food from a field being sprayed by guys in Hazmat suits, be my guest - but I sure wont. The warnings from scientists and doctors are out. Monsanto and kin just spent tens of millions of dollars for a false ad campaign against labeling. Everything they said was a lie. Now, just like happened in CA, we can sue them for false advertising - but still don't know what's in our food, so it was a cheap campaign for them -- and a deadly one for us.

It would help to not lie down immediately after taking in something orally be it water or food. It would also help to elevate your head to keep the contents of the stomach in its proper place.

I looked at Braggs aminos. Spendy. I just take gelatin. It's actually collagen but collagen digests into aminos, so same thing basically. Very inexpensive.

I think Rod Cortez covered it pretty good. I'll add just a couple of thoughts and ideas. Acid reflux can get serious and do severe damage to the body it can even cause cancer.

So treating is and getting it under control quickly is important. Like Rod, I had episode's so bad I thought I was having a heart attack or dying. It really can get so bad that you can't move or walk because the pain is so intense, your breathing even becomes painful and weak. One night it was so bad I was convinced I was going to be found dead the next morning in my bed. I was so incapacitated with pain I could barely move or breath let alone get to the hospital. It can get that bad untreated and get bad really quick. So please get help from a Dr. if you don't seem to get it under control in a few days. It's not worth waiting or ignoring, trust me.

Here's a few things I learned in addition to much of the advice you have been given already.
1. Taking many pain medications only makes it worse, Advil and Aspirin(tannins and caffeine) can make it much worse.
2. Stop drinking any alcohol especially wine which has tannins also know as tannic acid which increase acid reflux . Tea and coffee also have it so avoid them. I thought tea would work trying to do the healthy thing only to have it make it much worse.
3. Avoid sleeping on your side try and sleep flat on your back. Elevate yourself like suggested earlier use extra blankets, pillows to do it or get some thick foam cut at a fabric store. You don't need to buy a new bed. I did have a few weeks where I had to sleep in a chair it was miserable but the only way I could get any sleep laying down was not an option.
4. Lose weight if you are over weight and make sure to get regular exercise. Avoid extra stress and try and find time to stay calm and relaxed.
5. When I finally went to the Dr. He prescribed prescription strength Zantac. They now sell a 150mg prescription strength over the counter in the U.S.. This stuff worked very well as long as I followed the directions and did not skip use and It worked much quicker than other similar products I tried. I am not a big fan of taking medication but I think it was the smartest route rather than looking for other holistic options which I also tried.

If you have just a mild case or worse try the Zantac make the needed adjustments to your diet and lifestyle ect. And you should feel back to normal in a few days .Personally I would still take the medication for another 4 to 7 days after getting relief just to reduce any flare ups that might get you back in the cycle. If this doesn't help see your Dr.

Just make sure it isn't a warning sign about heart problems. I was just reading about warning heart disease symptoms and a feeling of heartburn was one of them.

Steven (and anyone else suffering from acid reflux),

This article from Dr. Mercola's site is pretty comprehensive. I just finished reading it and it touches upon many of the things in this thread, but it's summarized pretty nicely:

Natural Remedies for the Treatment of Acid Reflux and Ulcers

RoD