What are some good ways to get rid of heartburn?

First--What is "heartburn"?

"Heartburn" is the sensation of uncomfortable burning one gets in the esophagus. The esophagus passes from the back of your throat, behind your actual heart and attaches to your stomach about 8-inches down from where you swallow. 

There is a kind of valve consisting of a ring of muscles at the bottom of your esophagus as it leads into the top of your stomach. It is supposed to act as a tight circular valve that prevents stomach contents from splashing or erupting back into the esophagus, but when the stomach has been filled full or has been acted on by an irritant; or if this gastro esophageal valve has been relaxed, this sphincter valve can fail to do its intended job and material from the stomach can be pushed back up into the lower part of the esophagus. This is generally known as "reflux." Because this material contains stomach acids, it irritates the esophagus--which is not adapted to being hit with acid. Since the lower part of the esophagus sits just about at the same level as the heart, people gave it the name "heartburn."

Such heartburn can be exacerbated by such things as:

·         Stress: Stress can cause hyperacidity in the stomach and lead to irritations that result in reflux.

·         Over-eating: Filling the stomach too full can result in reflux.

·         Irritating foods: Some people react negatively to certain highly spiced or highly acidic foods.

·         Alcohol: Alcohol both irritates the stomach lining and relaxes the gastro esophageal sphincter--thus increasing the incidence of reflux.

·         Caffeine: Caffeine can over stimulate acid production and peristaltic contractions in the stomach and is thought to also cause spasms in the gastro-esophageal sphincter.

·         Chocolate: Chocolate acts in similar ways to caffeine (in fact, many kinds of chocolate contain caffeine and derivatives of caffeine) in addition to the bromine and can cause either irritation to the stomach or the gastro esophageal sphincter.

Now, you can see if you can figure out the way to "cure" heartburn.

The "cure" is not to get it in the first place. Anything else is simply a treatment of the condition.

Look over the list of "causes" or irritants above and see what you can do to stop heartburn from starting.

Simple heartburn can be treated with any number of over the counter antacids that immediately reduce the acidity of the upper digestive system (esophagus and stomach). Antacids relying on calcium carbonate will quickly reduce the acidity, but unfortunately, also cause a kind of rebound reaction whereby in a short period of time, the stomach secretary cells begin to make even more acid as a response. The alternatives that use magnesium or aluminum compounds do not cause this rebound. Once can also prevent the over-production of stomach acid by partially shutting down the acid-making systems.

One class of acid blockers are the H2 inhibitors that block the histamine H2 receptors, thus reducing the production of stomach acid by shutting down the "We need acid" signal in stomach secretory cells. Another group are the Proton Pump Inhibitors that block the formation & release of H+ in the cellular pathway that makes Hydrogen ions available to Chloride ions, for instance, that make HCl--or hydrochloric acid--in your stomach.