Heartburn Home Remedy
Need a Natural Home Remedy for Heartburn? - Look No Further Than Your Kitchen Cabinets
The increasing prices of Prilosec and other Protonics has forced many to find a natural home remedy for heartburn. With some over-the-counter options costing anywhere from $20 to $40 a month or more, many have been researching options that they can find right in their own kitchen.
One of the oldest and most used home remedy for heartburn is a teaspoon of baking soda in a half cup of water. Water is always available, and baking soda is a very common product to keep around. Many keep it in their refrigerator to keep it fresh, and some keep a box in the cabinet just in case they need it for cleaning or brushing their teeth. Baking soda has been great to use for heartburn because it works as an antacid, and works quickly. Baking soda neutralizes the acid in your stomach, but it’s best that you use this home remedy sparingly. When too much of the stomach acid is neutralized, then it can cause more acid to develop and make the pain worse.
Another simple home remedy for heartburn is to elevate your head and chest so that the acids can’t roll back into the esophagus. When laying flat, it allows the stomach acids to flow back up to your esophagus, and may even produce a burning feeling in your throat. You can elevate your head by propping up your pillows under your head, or even elevating the head of your bed itself. There are wedge pillows that you can buy that many people use to elevate their legs at night, but you can certainly use this wedge just the same to elevate your head too.
Milk has been a favorite for centuries, and one tall glass usually does the trick for your heartburn. Buttermilk is usually preferred over regular milk, because regular milk can create more acid. Buttermilk is lower in fat than regular milk because the fat has been removed in order to make butter. Buttermilk is digested much faster than regular milk so this is also more helpful, leaving less contents in the stomach to make acid.
Chamomile tea is a great heartburn remedy too, but the flavor is not for everyone. Soothing chamomile is known for its relaxing properties and its benefits for healthier skin, but it’s a soothing tea you can drink after a meal to help with digestion. Organic chamomile is best, in its loose leaf form. Loose leaf tea is in its raw form so you get the greatest benefit from it. Tea bags are generally bleached, and when you pour hot water over the tea bags the chemicals get released into your water. You may not taste them, but they are there and it prevents you from getting the full infusion from the tea leaves.
The most natural home remedy for heartburn is water. The key with using water is that you have to catch the heartburn quickly. Drinking a tall glass from the onset of your symptoms will help to stop it dead in its tracks. Drinking water with ice or without ice will make no difference, but room temperature is usually best. Don’t add anything to your water like lemon, because you want to minimize the acid not produce more. If you can, try to drink filtered water, or clean bottled water. Water that has high lime content or chlorine will actually irritate your heartburn making it worse. Bottled water is not guaranteed to be perfect, but it is usually better than what you get from the tap. Clean, filtered water is definitely a huge help with heartburn and simply confirms that water is a great natural healer.