Getting rid of heartburn or acid reflux

So your sitting down at the end of a long day. Maybe your getting ready to write that next blog or hub. Maybe its to watch some TV, or read a book. Or maybe its to spend time with that special someone. And then boom that feeling and comes in your throat. Then you think, " that darned reflux is back again!" What do you do? What can I do to keep the acid down? Here are some of the things that work for me. If these do not seem to help, you need to see your doctor before the problem causes some long term problems.

The solutions I present are ordered in the most extreem to everyday things I do, including prevention which is always the best solution.

There are a lot of prescriptions that your doctor will prescribe for you for acid reflux disses (yes it's a disease they diagnosis). But I have discovered that the over the counter version of the drug is just as effective and less expensive. My drug of choice is Zantac, because its actually what I had prescribed for me once. Now I purchase it over the counter, and I only use it as a last resort. Some medications suggest a daily taking, but I don't personally follow that.

Yep if you have acid reflux you know this one all to well. Tums (actually the generic brand from WalMart is great) is my choice. I also have seen that liquid stuff will work just as well, and in some cases better. There are lots of these products on the market. Some are good for gas, others specifically for reflux and heartburn. My general rule of thumb, if it tasts nasty then its going to work better. Of course if you can't get it down then it won't work at all.

I heard somewhere that this helps, could have been from grandma or mom. For me I know this works, but others who have acid reflux much worse than I it may not work. My wife, for instance, when pregnant this does not help at all. But I doubt anything would help here during pregnancy.

Why does the milk help me. I believe that it just puts something in my stomach. I will get into this more later but I get reflux on an empty stomach.

When I got diagnosed with the doctor he asked me about my daily diet. At the time I was a poor college student and pasta with red sauce was a 1-2 time a week dinner (so it became lunch for a couple of days as well). I also mentioned my love of onions, peppers and other veggies that can enhance different foods. He mentioned that all these things are a problem but that especially red sauce type products (pasta, pizza, etc) can and do cause acid reflux to flair up. Well for a poor college student that was not the best of news, but I then new I could keep things under control.

There is, for me, one other issue. I need to have something in my stomach at all time. Its strange but true. I have noticed that if I only eat during breakfast, lunch and dinner my reflux flairs up bad. And if I don't eat before bed I get it during the night. So my solution has been to eat breakfast in the morning, and starting about 9:30 in the morning to eat my lunch all day (till about 3pm). This way I have something in my stomach all day long, and I really don't eat any extra food than I would normally.

Nighttime is a different story, I eat way to much. I'm not terribly overweight, but heaver than I would like to be. So I usually eat dinner and then after the kids go to bed and nice snack. This seems to work for me, however, I could have a lower weight and less fat if I could eliminate the night time snacking.

Basically there are many things that we can do to prevent or get rid of acid refulx. I would rather work on the prevention. In the USA, we are FAT! That is not helping anything, except to make doctors rich because of our associated health problems. Chose what you think will work for you and stick to it.