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Today's article is of interest to many since according to GI doctors at least one in ten people experience heartburn symptoms at least once per week.  Many have actual GERD where the condition is chronic and the patient is prescribed daily medication.  Acid reflux can be triggered by many conditions: chronic digestive problems elsewhere in the digestive tract, or disharmony, STRESS, poor eating habits, many medications, and even foods.

Acid problems ensue when the acid in the stomach flows backwards into the esophagus, patients can experience pain, burning, sour or bitter tastes in their mouths, even coughing and vomiting.

As a naturopathic digestive specialist I encounter this problem daily and help many patients.  Here are some pointers to help you:

It is important to identify the actual physical cause.  This may be difficult to do for yourself so if you are unable to help yourself in a short while, consider working with a Naturopathic  doc  or Clinical Nutritionist.

 

Bacterial Imbalance:

 

I have found time and time again that bacterial overgrowths cause many digestive symptoms.  Acid reflux can appear in isolation or be present with several other symptoms.  It is important to test for this, and work with a knowledgeable practitioner long term to restore balance to the entire digestive tract including the liver and gallbladder.  Chronic intestinal imbalances place stresses on every other digestive organ.

 

Stress:

 

Extreme or long term stress can set the stage for this and many other digestive imbalances.  Of course, then digestive imbalances are stressful in and of themselves. Solutions for unmitigated stress are: Acupuncture which can rapidly rebalance you and restore health, and/or other stress reducing practices such as spiritual guidance, yoga, meditation, exercise, gardening, music, and whatever restores your calm state.  Stress cannot unfortunately be avoided but one can learn or receive rebalancing if serious.

 

Poor Eating/Lifestyle Habits:

 

This is such a humungous topic in itself that I will devote an entire article to it this month. For now this is what is important to the stomach.  Avoidance of extreme temperature foods especially heating foods, overcooking, charring, etc.  The stomach prefers moist foods and dislikes dry foods.  Check you diet and see if your foods are too dry.  An example would be crackers.  The stomach also dislikes extremes in heating spices.  Cayenne, garlic, ginger, onions and cardamom as well as nutmeg and cinnamon are extremely heating spices and may prove too much for some people.  Foods such as chocolate and red meat as well as mint are “hot” and may antagonize the stomach!

 

People know that overeating and especially overeating bad foods may trigger reflux, but few know that not eating enough trigger reflux as well.  Chronic dieting or undereating will definitely antagonize the stomach.  Find a moderate style in terms of eating and try to maintain regular meal times, and try to avoid late night eating especially after 7PM when stomach energy is at a low ebb.

 

Natural Remedies for Reflux:

 

One tablespoon of Apple Cider vinegar in water can help resolve reflux for some if they are low in stomach acid. This is counter intuitive but helpful for many since too low acid levels can provoke the exact same symptoms as high levels.

 

Slippery Elm tea can be helpful for soothing occasional reflux, one product is Throat Coat by Traditional Medicinals. 

 

Small amounts of Aloe Vera juice can also be cooling and healing but do not overdo as it can cause other problems long term as will the above recommendations.

 

Lastly DGL chewed between meals can help to soothe gastric tissue.  We have two great DGLs in our store, DGL Licorice by Rx Vitamins and Rhizinate 3X DGL.  Also check out Acid Block by Rx Vitamins!

You can also visit our store for this and many other fine remedies in our Natural Pharmacy. Still, I do believe that proper digestion is fundamentally important and would encourage you to seek out a qualified ND specialist to help you improve your digestive health.

 

Best of Health!

 

Visit our Natural Product Pharmacy for top prices and FREE SHIPPING on hundreds of natural products from professional brands like: Metagenics, Douglas Laboratories, Pure Encapsulations, Integrative Therapeutics, Thorne Research, and Carlson Labs!

 

Taryn DeCicco, ND, LAc, LDN

Naturopath

Acupuncturist

Clinical Nutritionist

Professional Vitamins and Supplements

Chinese Herbs

Natural Skin Products

Arlington Heights, IL

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