Heartburn

Heartburn

Sure you knew better. But how could you pass up the Nuclear Nachos plate at Harry’s House of Jalapeños?

Now your innards are fighting a five-alarm food fire, and ten straight glasses of water haven’t doused the flames.

Hydrochloric acid is what puts the burn in heartburn. The discomfort you feel is caused by acid that has escaped from your stomach and into your throat. While your gut has a lining that protects it from the stuff, your esophagus gets no such help. The natural remedies in this chapter, used with the approval of your doctor, may help relieve heartburn, according to some health professionals.

See Your Medical Doctor When...

You get heartburn frequently—every day or at least several times a week.
You have what feels like heartburn along with vomiting, dizziness, chest pain, bloody or black stool or difficulty swallowing. If you have these symptoms, seek medical attention quickly.

Acupressure

You can get rid of heartburn by pressing CV 12, the Center of Power point, says Michael Reed Gach, Ph.D., director of the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley, California, and author of Acupressure’s Potent Points. CV 12 is found near the center of the front of your body, halfway between the breastbone and the navel. (For help in locating this point, refer to the illustration on page 564.) Dr. Gach says to press this point for no longer than two minutes and only when your stomach is fairly empty. This point should be touched gently if you are pregnant or have a hiatal hernia, he adds.

Food Therapy

Think carbohydrates for dinner, says Michael A. Klaper, M.D., director of the Institute of Nutritional Education and Research, an organization based in Manhattan Beach, California, that teaches doctors about nutrition and its relationship to disease, and a nutritional medicine specialist in Pompano Beach, Florida. “When you dump a lot of protein into your stomach—like you do when you eat meat or fish—and then go to bed, you’re going to have a lot of stomach acid churning around, which will create heartburn. What I suggest to people who have heartburn problems is to make dinner more of a carbohydrate-based meal centered around rice, beans, pastas and other nonmeat sources.”

Herbal Therapy

For immediate relief of heartburn, make yourself a cup of ginger tea, says Mary Bove, L.M., N.D., a naturopathic physician and director of the Brattleboro Naturopathic Clinic in Vermont. Her instructions: Put 1¼2 teaspoon of shredded fresh ginger in a cup of boiling water. Then let the ginger steep for about ten minutes, strain the tea so that no ginger remains, cool to a drinkable temperature and drink.

You can also try this tea, according to Dr. Bove: Add two teaspoons of anise seeds, fennel seeds or dill seeds to one cup of boiling water. Cover and steep for five to ten minutes, then strain, allow the tea to cool and drink a few teaspoons every few minutes.

Homeopathy

If you have heartburn associated with heaviness after meals, excess gas and a bitter taste in your mouth, especially after large meals, try Nux Vomica 30C every couple of hours until you feel better, says Chris Meletis, N.D., a naturopathic physician and medicinary director at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon. If food feels stuck behind your breast bone, your tongue is coated and you crave starchy foods, which make the symptoms only worse, Dr. Meletis says to try Pulsatilla 30C every two hours. Natrum muriaticum 30C every two hours may offer relief if your heartburn is accompanied by nervousness, tension and pain in the upper abdomen, he says. If you tend to eat too fast and have gurgling and bloating after the meal, he suggests Zinc metallicum 30C every hour or two until you feel better.

All of these remedies are available in many health food stores. To purchase homeopathic remedies by mail, refer to the resource list on page 637.

Hydrotherapy

Activated charcoal provides quick relief from heartburn, says Agatha Thrash, M.D., a medical pathologist and co-founder and co-director of Uchee Pines Institute, a natural healing center in Seale, Alabama. She suggests mixing two tablespoons of activated charcoal powder with a little water in the bottom of a tall glass (“Stir gently, or the powder flies everywhere,” she cautions). Continue stirring and adding water a little at a time until the glass is full, then drink it with a straw, suggests Dr. Thrash. Activated charcoal is available in most health food stores and some pharmacies.

Reflexology

Work the diaphragm, gallbladder, pancreas and stomach reflexes on both feet, says St. Petersburg, Florida, reflexologist Dwight Byers, author of Better Health with Foot Reflexology. To help you locate these points, consult the foot reflex chart on page 592. For instructions on how to work the points, see “Your Reflexology Session” on page 110.

Yoga

To avoid heartburn, eat slowly and take a deep breath between bites, advises Stephen A. Nezezon, M.D., yoga teacher and staff physician at the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. For instructions on deep breathing, see page 152.