# Need help with horrible heartburn



## collieradomtman (Nov 10, 2013)

I have real bad acid reflux its unbearable at times. I take two prilosec a day and if I forget I vomit most of the next day. Is there a natural remedy that would help. I know that prilosec is making me sick and its getting to become expensive.


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## PricklyThistle (Feb 6, 2014)

Sometimes heartburn is caused by too much stomach acid and sometimes it's a insufficiency in acid or delayed digestion. I had acid reflux that nothing could stop until I stopped eating wheat, which I could not digest. B complex ad salt help to make sufficient stomach acid if you are deficient. Apple cider vinegar works to assist the acid in digestion too (but, be warned, it can burn a raw throat in a way that brings tears to your eyes).


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## hickerbillywife (Feb 28, 2014)

I just received my new book Dr Mark Stenglers Natural Healing Library.
He says start with a 600 milligram aloe vera capsule taken 20 minutes before meals three times daily. You can also use 4 tsps. of extract. Do this for a week and if still no relief add nux vomica to your regimen. Take two tablets of 30C potency twice daily until symptoms are gone. Then as needed. If still no relief after 3 weeks add deglycyrrhizinatede licorice root DGL. Chew two 400mg tablets 20 min before meals three times a day. There is much more info but this should get you started. I assume you already know to avoid foods that trigger it and don't eat before bed. Hope this helps.


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## farmrbrown (Jun 25, 2012)

Others can advise you on diet, I'm blessed with being able to eat what I want, but I used to have bad heartburn, what's now called acid reflux. Sometimes it would wake me choking on my own vomit, gross I know. I kept Tums in the black in annual sales, lol.

I haven't had any in years now.
My solution?
A 2 x 4.

Actually, I didn't have to even buy that, because the floors in this old house aren't level.
If your builder used a level, buy a 2 x 4, put it under the legs of your head board of your bed.
That's it. I know, to simple, right?
Try it it works.


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## collieradomtman (Nov 10, 2013)

hickerbillywife said:


> I assume you already know to avoid foods that trigger it and don't eat before bed. Hope this helps.


Yes I do but I was raised in New Mexico and I love chilli. Red, green, hot, mild all kinds lol. My grandpa fed me jalapenos when I could eat solid food. I embrace the suck and know its going to hurt after when chilli is in front of me. As long as I remember to take my prilosic im good though.


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## collieradomtman (Nov 10, 2013)

Farmrbrown im going to try that for sure


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## PricklyThistle (Feb 6, 2014)

Chili bothered me too, though it was the beans, not the sauce. Beans were too much like grain (a seed) to my messed up stomach.


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## collieradomtman (Nov 10, 2013)

PricklyThistle said:


> Chili bothered me too, though it was the beans, not the sauce. Beans were too much like grain (a seed) to my messed up stomach.


I dont count anything with beans in it as chilli lol


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## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

Slippery elm tea worked really well for me.


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## PricklyThistle (Feb 6, 2014)

collieradomtman said:


> I dont count anything with beans in it as chilli lol


Haha ok. I must only know the adulterated version of chilli. Never had any without beans.


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## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

I mix a little apple cider vinegar with slug or two of apple juice (so I can choke it down) and learned to avoid the foods that trigger reflux. I no longer have issues. Quite a few of us here at HT have used vinegar with great success... I guess a lack of acid is far more common than you might think.


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## rickpaul (Jan 10, 2013)

Raw Goats milk has always helped me, besides, its delicious...........


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## Pat-wcWI (Oct 28, 2012)

I also have acid reflux...GERD. My Dr. prescribed Prevacid although I don't like to take it as it thins your bones.
I have been sleeping on the recliner and that has cut the heartburn down at night. Most of the time I can't sleep there all night as I want to sleep on my side so when I wake up I go to bed.
I am trying to convince DH to raise the head of the bed. I tried stacked pillows, but they didn't stay in place.
I would like to find something natural to take that works.


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## collieradomtman (Nov 10, 2013)

rickpaul said:


> Raw Goats milk has always helped me, besides, its delicious...........


I have been trying to talk my wife into letting me get goats, this may be the argument I need.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

Apple cider vinegar, kefir, candied ginger (not all at the same time) help me.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I find that lettuce helps reduce heartburn at night.

Raising the head of my bed made me feel like a chipmunk clinging to a roof and I was constantly climbing back to the top each night.


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## mjlitt (Apr 17, 2014)

I find ginger tea to be helpful. Also I avoid tomatoes and cinnamon.


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## TripleD (Feb 12, 2011)

I was on prilosec for 8yrs. I ran out of milk one weekend and had no heartburn at all. November will be 3yrs since I had milk or prilosec and I can eat anything with no heartburn.


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## thequeensblessing (Mar 30, 2003)

My husband had terrible reflux, and we started cutting out things from his diet, keeping a food journal and trying to see what the culprit was. He also has IBS and we were looking for a trigger for that. After about 6 months of taking one thing out of his diet for a few weeks and then adding it back in, we found the triggers for both of his issues. If he can avoid certain fats (peanut oil being one), he has no IBS at all. We cut out all fast food burgers, fries, etc. and he very, very rarely has a flare up of his IBS. The GERD was helped by the elimination of those fats, but not eliminated, so we kept looking. He cut out sugary soda for a few weeks, and voila, his GERD disappeared! Diet soda doesn't have the reflux affect on him, so we've come to the determination that its the HFCS in the sodas. So now he rarely to never is bothered by GERD or IBS. On the rare occasion that he does have GERD, he takes Gaviscon and its gone in a heartbeat. A side benefit was that his triglycerides dropped over 170 points!


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## Goats4Life (Apr 11, 2013)

I second RickPaul&#8230;. I had reflux for 15 years! It was so bad that a surgeon took out my gallbladder even though I didn't have stones. He said that it could be "sick" and causing an over production of acid. I will admit it did help SOME. But after a couple of years the reflux went crazy. I couldn't eat anything. I spent two years trying food elimination diets. I got to where I couldn't eat anything that was a meat, dairy, grain or fruit. Folks, that doesn't leave much&#8230;.. Then we decided to get goats. Many of us in our family are lactose intolerant. We didn't like any of the alternative milks. Goat milk was $4 a quart. YIKES! We also wanted to go raw. Both my husband and I were raised on raw milk. So we got a couple dairy goats. And would you know, as long as I had two servings of goats milk a day I didn't get ANY stomach issues. NONE! After the first year I no longer needed to have milk but a few times a week. I also started making kefir with the raw milk. It will cure diarrhea in a matter of hours. AMAZING stuff that goat milk! We also saw a huge decrease in our seasonal allergies. That means less drainage going into our tummies.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

.............Eliminate.......ALL.........Sources of Acid , Coffee , tomatoes , fruits ! You are taking double the normal dosage (2-20mg. pills) for daily consumption ! I take 1-20mg. pill each morning , and I don't waste money purchasing Prilosec..............The Wal Mart generic brand.........Equate contains the very SAME active ingredient.........Omeprazole that Prilosec uses . I pay $16.97 for 42 pills !, fordy:shrug:


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## copperhead46 (Jan 25, 2008)

Well, I'll put in my 2 cents worth. I suffered with heartburn and acid reflux, for more years than I care to remember. When the reflux would wake me up at night, with the acid in my throat, I mixed up honey and apple cider vinegar with some hot water and that would put out the fire. I finally decided to figure out what to do to stop it and not just treat it, (been taking Omprezerole for years) I cut out all gluten and dairy, and Cokes, all sugar, the change was almost immediate. I didn't have pain all day and afraid to lay down at night. It has made such a difference in my life. I used to have a cheese sandwich and wonder why I was so bloated and sick, I only used whole grain, "healthy" home made bread. The food I loved the most was trying to kill me, . I have some slight burn now and then, I take a on demand anti acid, like tums and that's all I need.


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## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

My husband has GERD. I asked his take on it. He said that he would get sick if he didn't spill the contents of the Prilosec to dissipate it in the stomach and would have to take it with food. One pill at a time, two is too many. It dissolving in one spot made a sore area in the stomach and nausea. Since Prilosec is for temporary use only he is now taking Equate acid reducer complete. It has famotidine and I asked if he has tried that alone and he hasn't so he is going to try that. He sleeps on a foam wedge also. He said that it may not necessarily be an acid overproduction problem but a lower esophageal sphincter problem allowing acid to go up thus causing serious irritation. Acid reducers squelch acid so that can heal. He also has a constipation problem and antacids have a lot of calcium that can cause constipation. He takes Miralax and psylium for that. He also would get bloating on and off , for several years, and a couple times he would really shut down and have to vomit. He hasn't had the bloating anymore, period, since I gave him a deworming protocol with albendazole for Liverfluke which I believe was causing bile duct inflammation. But this is unrelated to the acid reflux since he still has that problem but he's hoping what he is doing, which is working well now, will eventually heal the irritation in the esophagus. We have goats milk and it hasn't helped. He also eats too much sugar and I'd like him to go off of it.


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## Trapper (Jun 2, 2006)

I eat tums. Even that won't stop it. I've stopped eating after 5 pm, that helps. I will throw up during the middle of the night if I eat late, pizza, cookies, ice cream, white flour breads, greasy anything, cheese, fried things, spicy things, cured meat products, sauces, mac and cheese.

I can eat until 7 or 8 at night or even 9 at night if I eat: bananas, apples, oranges, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, raw tomato, carrot sticks, home made sauerkraut, a few sliced pickles, fruit salad no sugar, greens without bacon grease, green beans without butter, corn without butter. If I add a little bit of rice, potatoes, grains, I am fine, but just a little.

My wife brings herself the raw foods and unprocessed food on a plate at night, she shares it with me and it works for me.


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## Saffy (May 18, 2007)

My husband had very bad heartburn for years, I think I should have bought stocks in Tums and Prisolec (sp?) Than he stopped eating foods with hydrogenated oils and high fructose . Now he very, very rarely takes a tums. I'm not sure if it was a combination of both, or one or the other, because he stopped both at the same time. Maybe this will help you too!


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## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

http://chriskresser.com/more-eviden...y-that-gerd-is-caused-by-bacterial-overgrowth


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## Pat-wcWI (Oct 28, 2012)

I have now found out that probiotics works for me! I got it at GNC and it's called Multi Strain.

I got relief after the first day, but took them for 3 days. Then I found I could skip a day, take for a couple of days, skip, etc.

Probiotics from Walmart did not work for my husband who has GERD and IBS. He is going to try Aloe Vera.


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## Wylie Kyote (Dec 1, 2009)

When I get heartburn/acid reflux, generally in the middle of the night I take 2 to 3 drops of Angus Dura Bitters (sp) in half a glass of warm water. Fixed in 5 minutes.

Got the idea from a US web site about 2 years ago and found it works, my sister-in-law is taking it also. 

Wylie


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## topofmountain (Nov 1, 2013)

My wife has had good luck with Activated Charcoal. We buy it from Swanson's but I'm sure any health food stare has it.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Well, I will put my two cents worth in also. I would say nine to ten years ago, I also had gerd so bad I would choke on it at night. I would take Tums by the handfulls everyday. We then started milking Jersey cows again, and low and behold my gerd has gone away. All from drinking milk, and just a couple glasses a day. I have taken NO Tums in at least eight years, and nothing else. So for me it was good ole Fresh milk, straight from the cow. > Marc


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

You need to change the acidity of your body. Most likely, you have too much acid. My dh bought a Kangen water filter, which allows you to change the alkalinity of the water. I started drinking it, and even freeze it into ice cubes. It is the only thing I changed, and I never have heartburn anymore. I used to carry Tums everywhere I went, kept a large bottle full by the bed, etc. IF you can find a dealer near you, most of them will give you water to try out for awhile, for free. http://www.enagic.com/


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## Lupine (Oct 2, 2013)

Be careful with antacids. They really mess with the balance of your digestive system and make you more susceptible to horrible internal bacterial issues. Happened to my mom, who just had to have a bunch of her stomach/intestine removed. 

Particularly a big deal with folks in nursing homes, or other medical facilities. 

(Google C-Diff). 

See your doctor, because you could have something more serious than acid reflux. But don't immediately jump on the medication bandwagon....good advice about pro-biotics and reducing acidic foods. Yep, aloe helps, and switching to goat/sheep dairy helps too...kefir, yogurt, etc....drink more water. Eliminate cola and caffeine.


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## Seth (Dec 3, 2012)

Try mustard. Just about a half packet, couple drops at a time on your finger then lick it off. Works for me. Seth


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