Heartburn

[donheld]

what's the best fast relief?

[Abelman]

1. Death

It stops the pain right away.

[mtnester]

2. Heartburn or reflux?

All I can recommend is for reflux (in the throat burning)...if you are not on a script for this, Zantac over the counter works pretty good.

Heartburn, I do not know.

[Kali]

3. tums, mylanta whatever

I use the cheap store brand chewable tabs for the occasional attack. You can eat them for the calcium too. (but they are awfully chalky)

[Fridays Child]

4. Four Tums.

[Carolinian]

5. If it is prolonged & recurring you need to get a prescription for

a pump inhibitor such as Aciphex. It's expensive ($130+ for 30 pills) but one pill a day does the trick.

Meanwhile, try to find out what triggers your reflux attacks and avoid those foods. Usually: Coffee, tea, chocolate, fatty meals, alcohol, onions, mints, tomatoes, citrus. Avoid late night snacks, eat smaller meals and avoid eating before bedtime. A word of warning though, my Dr. said he monitors all this closely on himself but still gets reflux. I take the medicine every day but I still cannot tolerate sausage. Antiacids such as Tums are used in emergencies.

Reflux is almost universal now and I'm wondering why. My reflux started shortly after major surgery so I blamed it on the antibiotics. My Dr. said that could be true for colon problems but not reflux.

But I'm still curious...WHY are we as a nation swamped with reflux problems? and the only real relief is a pill that costs more than $4.00 each? My Dr tells me almost every patient he has suffers from reflux. I find that very stange. Sounds like a magic situation for the drug companies to me.

[Minimus]

6. a big swig of Mylanta right out of the bottle

always works for me.

[chaska]

7. Ex-sufferer here, fully cured.

Regular exercise is a must. Apart from that stay away from carbs. Donuts and pasta are the ones that used to mess with me, but exercise can deal with even those.

[AlCzervik]

8. if it happens a lot you need to try and figure what foods are causing it

salad kills me, after i stopped with the raw veggies like got better.

[C.C.D.]

9. First, make sure it is just heartburn and not an inflammation (m)

of any area in your chest. If you can locate a more painful site by pressing on your mid-chest area with your thumb, you may have inflammation issues. Motrin and other anti-inflammatories work well and should be taken regularly to keep inflammation at bay.

HTH