What will soothe heartburn

In fact, you should drink everything slowly when you have heartburn. Ginger has been used as a folk remedy for heartburn for centuries. Ginger can help relieve nausea, so some believe it may be worth trying for heartburn, too.

Consider adding grated or diced ginger root to your favorite stir-fry recipes, soups, and other foods. To make ginger tea, steep raw ginger root, dried ginger root, or ginger tea bags in boiling water.

Carbonated beverages are a common heartburn trigger, and most brands of ginger ale are made with artificial flavoring rather than the real thing. Eating too much licorice or DGL may raise your blood pressure, lower your potassium levels, and interfere with certain medications. Always talk to your doctor before taking licorice or DGL supplements. Apple cider vinegar is another home remedy that some people use to treat heartburn, believing that it may neutralize stomach acid.

One researcher suggested that drinking diluted apple cider vinegar after a meal may help alleviate heartburn for some people.

If you decide to try this remedy, dilute the apple cider vinegar with water and drink it after your meal. According to research , chewing gum for half an hour after meals may also help reduce heartburn. Chewing gum stimulates saliva production and swallowing. This might help dilute and clear stomach acid from your esophagus.

You probably already know that smoking is bad for your health. But did you know that smoking can contribute to heartburn? There are plenty of over-the-counter OTC heartburn medications that are available for use.

These medicines come in three classes:. PPIs and H2 blockers reduce how much acid your stomach secretes, which can help prevent and reduce heartburn symptoms. Antacids neutralize stomach acid. When heartburn hits, many over-the-counter treatments, home remedies, and lifestyle adjustments may provide relief. Adjusting your daily habits can also help prevent heartburn symptoms from developing in the first place. For example, try to:. If you experience heartburn more than two or three times a week, talk to your doctor.

In some cases, they might prescribe medications or other treatments. By Robbie Schneider. That unpleasant feeling of your last meal coming back into your throat. That uncomfortable, even painful, burning sensation in your chest. Heartburn has returned. Heartburn is the feeling you get when the contents of your stomach back up into the esophagus toward the mouth.

It's common to experience it from time to time. When you want to know what helps with heartburn, it seems everyone you talk to has a different home remedy for heartburn they swear by. But are these remedies safe?

According to Mary Rouzer, DNP, a nurse practitioner specializing in gastroenterology with Franciscan Physician Network, "Unless your esophagus has damage we've seen on a scope and requires medication, it's fine to try natural remedies for acid reflux.

Find out which home remedies for acid reflux are safe to try and are most likely to help provide relief and when you should seek medical care. The effectiveness of the various home remedies on soothing heartburn differs from person to person. Home remedies to relieve heartburn, also called acid reflux, include:. Swallowing a small amount about a teaspoon of unprocessed apple cider vinegar mixed with water may reduce the acidity level in the stomach.

But there's no scientific evidence to back up those claims. Bottom line: Apple cider vinegar is safe to try for acid reflux as long as you use a small amount and the cider vinegar's diluted. She cautions that it's important to purchase probiotics from a trusted supplement manufacturer. You want to be sure you're getting a quality product. Bottom line : Test out probiotics for heartburn relief as long as they're from a reputable company. A small study found that chewing sugar-free gum for 30 minutes after lunch or dinner could reduce acid levels in the esophagus.

But for some people, peppermint gum can worsen symptoms. See information on peppermint, below. Bottom line: There's no harm in chewing gum after a meal to see if it soothes acid reflux. You may want to avoid peppermint or spearmint flavors if you can't tolerate them. The gel from aloe vera leaves is known for soothing a sunburn — but what about a heartburn? Some people take aloe vera internally to reduce stomach acid and calm irritation.

Hormones secreted by body fat may trigger some of the symptoms, the researchers speculated. Act like a detective. To find your triggers, keep a heartburn journal, says Eileen Myers, a registered dietitian in private practice in Nashville, Tenn. Record symptoms, their severity and possible causes. Pinpoint what you ate or drank, how fast and the amount. Then, look for trends. Find out if medication is to blame. Both prescription and over-the-counter medications can affect the LES or increase acid production, nurse practitioner Hastings says.

Drugs that treat high blood pressure , asthma, inflammation and osteoporosis frequently fan the heartburn flame, she says. If you suspect a drug is aggravating symptoms, ask your doctor for possible alternatives. Give up red and black pepper and coffee — even decaf — for a few weeks to see if that brings relief. Each can increase gastric acidity. As if you needed another reason to quit! Smoking is a triple offender because it might also pump up acid production and weaken the LES.

Just say no to spearmint, peppermint and other foods that decrease LES function by triggering the release of hormones or affecting chemical pathways allowing the sphincter to relax and food to wash backward. Start with a trial elimination of mint, chocolate, caffeine and high-fat foods, such as baked goods, marbled meats, full-fat dairy and fast-food value meals.

Squeezing into too-tight clothing increases abdominal pressure, just like a large meal does. No lying down before digesting your meal. Finish eating hours before snoozing. Raymond explains. Use an under-mattress foam wedge to elevate the head of the bed about 6 inches.

This gets gravity working to your advantage. Nailing jar caps to the blocks will keep the bed from slipping off. Many things stimulate acid production, including protein in milk and other foods.

Untreated GERD can lead to serious complications, such as bleeding, difficulty swallowing, obstruction of the esophagus, cancer, shortness of breath and throat hoarseness. Many heartburn sufferers need more than lifestyle changes for relief.