Why do I Get Heartburn so Often?..and natural Heartburn Relief!
When you were young you could eat anything.
You could drink all the coffee to stay awake during the work week, satisfy your sugar cravings with chocolate, enjoy some spicy thai food and enjoy a couple drinks on the weekend without paying for it.
But now as you get older the damn heartburn just seems to be getting worse!
All that pressure and pain building in your chest makes it feel difficult to swallow and gets worse at night so now you’re not sleeping well.
Sounds familiar?
You’re not alone. You could be part of the 15% of North Americans suffering from acid reflux or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)¹.
When I had H.pylori I experienced daily heartburn and for the first time I understood how uncomfortable and painful heartburn can really be!
I thought “how on earth do people just live with this burn??” It was so uncomfortable and I was super motivated to understand why I was experiencing heartburn so I could get rid of my heartburn for good and avoid taking medication.
I’m here to tell you that heartburn is NOT NORMAL.
It’s a signal form your body that something is wrong and needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, the approach our conventional medical system takes doesn’t actually fix the issue and oftentimes the medication that’s prescribed makes heartburn much worse in the long run.
If you’ve been told by your doctor to just take an antacid or acid blocker the rest of your life, are tired of dealing with constant burning in your chest then you’ll want to read this blog.
Heartburn and GERD is a condition that’s looked at very differently in the holistic and alternative medicine world. In this blog you’ll learn the root cause of why you’re experiencing heartburn in the first place (usually due to low stomach acid, not too much!), which foods to eliminate to minimize symptoms and natural heartburn relief that won’t have negative consequences on your digestive system.
What Causes Acid Reflux?
One question I always get asked as Nutritionist is “what is normal or is this normal?”
It is normal for everyone to experience a bit of heartburn now and again, which can be a result of increased pressure on the abdomen from physical activity after eating, laying down after a meal or over eating. So if you only get heartburn around the holidays you don’t really need to worry.
However, what’s not normal is to experience heartburn regularly (a few times a week) or daily. If this is you, you’ll want to pay attention here.
Heartburn can be a result of one or a combination of the below contributing factors:
Mechanical Issue with the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES):
The LES is the sphincter between your esophagus and stomach. It controls movement of food down into the stomach when you swallow and closes afterwards to keep the stomach acid from creeping back up into your esophagus. Various things like acid increasing foods (discussed below), medications, hormones and nicotine can over-relax the sphincter, allowing it to open and acid flowing in the upward direction.
H.Pylori Infection:
This is a specific type of bacteria that burrows into the stomach lining and is often associated with stomach ulcers. The bacteria increases stomach acid by irritating the stomach lining, leading to inflammation and increased secretion of acid as well as reducing the amount of mucus secretion (which provides protection against stomach acid). You can test for H.Pylori through a breath test, stool test, blood test or endoscopy and can get rid of it with antibiotics or herbal antimicrobials (which is preferable since 3 antibiotics are required to successfully kill H.pylori bacteria, significantly impacting your gut microbiome).
Food Allergies or Sensitivities:
Many people have sensitivities to foods that they’re unaware of, making this difficult to identify. Eating food’s you’re sensitive to or being exposed to allergens can result in heartburn, upper abdominal pain or difficulty swallowing. An elimination diet or food sensitivity testing can be done with a nutritionist to help you determine if you have underlying food sensitivities.
Low Stomach Acid:
This is often the underlying issue of heartburn for many people and is opposite of what standard conventional practice is for treating GERD & reflux.
Stomach acid is critical for sterilizing the stomach (more on the importance of stomach acid in the next section). With low stomach acid, it’s easier for microbes like bacteria and yeasts to grow in the stomach, where they prematurely digest and ferment carbohydrates (this step should occur in the intestines).
This fermentation releases acids and gasses, which can create the sensation of bloating and as the gas moves upwards, it pulls the acids upwards into the esophagus which feels like heartburn.
Therefore, in order to fix the issue, stomach acid needs to be increased either with digestive bitters or hydrochloric acid to improve overall digestive function and reduce symptoms.
Here are some other common symptoms of low stomach acid:
Fatigue
Iron deficiency
Multiple food allergies
Acne or dry skin
Undigested food in stools
Indigestion, diarrhea and/or constipation
Heartburn
Gas – bloating, burping or farting
Yeast overgrowth
Weak fingernails (cracker or peeling)
Autoimmune conditions
An assessment from a holistic practitioner like a holistic nutritionist or naturopath will help you determine if you have low stomach acid.
Hiatal Hernia:
This is a structural issue where part of the stomach pushes up through the diaphragm where the opening is for the esophagus. Heartburn is a main symptom of hiatal hernia. Physical therapy or manipulation like an osteopath or chiropractor would be beneficial for helping correct this.
Medication side effects:
Some medications can trigger heartburn. Take some time to think about when your heartburn started and if it started after starting a medication. If it is, have a discussion with your doctor about possible alternatives.
Medications that can contribute to heartburn³:
Bronchodilators
Beta-blockers
Diazepam
Nitrates
Demerol
Aspirin
NSAID’s
Iron Salts
Tetracycline
Potassium chloride tablets
Another important factor that can increase severity or freequency of heartburn is stress. Stress doesn’t necissarily cause heartburn but it can make it worse. This is because the digestive system is interconnected with and regulated by your nervous system. The digestive system actually has more nerves cells than the spinal cord or peripheral nervous system!²
Chronic stress is a big contributor to low stomach acid. In order for the digestive system to work properly, the body needs to be in a relaxed state while eating. Stress around meal time (think during work or rushing to work in the morning), impacts your ability to produces enough stomach acid and digestive enzymes, which over time can lead to heartburn.
If your interested in understanding the root cause of your heartburn or GERD, having a stomach acid assessment completed or request testing for food sensitivities or H.Pylori, you can book a free discovery call below to get started.
Why Your Heartburn Medication is Making your Digestion Worse
If you’ve been dealing with chronic heartburn for a while, I’m sure you’ve tried many doctor prescribed medications. While they may have a time and a place for use, heartburn medication is not meant to be taken long term. Unfortunately, doctors don’t address the root issue underlying your heartburn and you get stuck on these medications for months and even years which can have serious consequences to your digestive system!
As I mentioned above, having too low stomach acid is a common reason why people suffer from heartburn. Since the purpose of all heartburn medication (antacids, H2 blockers and Proton Pump Inhibitors) is to reduce the amount of stomach acid, you can see how reducing stomach acid when you actually need more is a big issue!
Stomach acid is a crucial first step in digestion and when stomach acid is low, there can be many negative consequences downstream. Sufficient stomach acid is needed to:
Ionize and absorb nutrients to avoid nutrient depletion
Especially important for iron, zinc, vitamin B12, folic acid, calcium and magnesium. Without sufficient levels of stomach acid, you may not be able to absorb very important nutrients which could lead to nutrient depletions and over time could make you more susceptible to developing diseases like SIBO, heart arrhythmias, intestinal infections, osteoporosis and other digestive disorders.
Create a barrier for pathogens into your body
Stomach acid is your first line of defense against bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. If it’s low, these pathogens can sneak through to your digestive tract where they may have the opportunity to multiply and disrupt the balance in your intestinal tract, making you more susceptible to developing digestive issues like bloating, gas, stomach pain, irregular bowel movements or turning into conditions like SIBO.
Overall digestion becomes compromised
Stomach acid plays a key role may digestive functions downstream. The acid activates pepsin, which is an enzyme that helps breakdown protein. If you have too low stomach acid, you can struggle to digest protein into smaller amino acids, which is the form your body needs to help with growth and repair, energy, neurotransmitters production and mental health, hormones, oxygen capacity, immune system function and acid-alkaline balance.
Stomach acid also mixes with food and reduces the pH of food in the stomach.
As the acidic food passes through into the small intestine, it triggers the release of hormones secretin and cholecystokinin, which triggers the liver and pancreas to release bile, bicarbonate and digestive enzymes to help breakdown food further as well as stimulate the movement of food through the intestinal tract.
With low stomach acid, these processes aren’t initiated, leading to reduced digestion and food sitting undigested in the digestive tract where it ferments, producing gas (think bloating, burping and farting!) and can feed bad bacteria creating an imbalance of microbes in the intestines which ultimately lead to issues like dysbiosis, leaky gut, allergies and immune compromised states.
If you’ve been on any type of pharmaceutical medication for heartburn or GERD for more than a couple of weeks, I highly recommend working with a holistic practitioner who can assess your stomach acid levels and help you improve them to reduce risk of developing further digestive issues. I’d be happy to help!
Natural Heartburn Relief
I’m sure by this point you’re just like “okay I really just want to know how do you make heartburn go away!?”
If you’re suffering from heart burn you know that some foods definitely impact the severity and freequency of your heartburn. It can be tricky to pinpoint all the foods so below we’ll look at the full list of foods that can make heartburn worse as well as natural remedies and supplements you can take for symptom relief while you’re correcting the underlying issue.
Heartburn Causing Foods:
Eating out can be one of a painful experience if you’re dealing with chronic heartburn.
When I had H.pylori, a dinner out was followed by pain and severe burning as soon as I lay down for bed, which meant very little sleep for me that night!
This happens because restaurants use inflammatory oils which are irritating to a sensitive and already inflamed digestive system.
I’d suggest starting out by reducing the amount that you eat out and eliminating all of the foods below that can make heartburn worse. As a refresher, the lower esophageal sphincter controls the movement of food or back flow of acid between the stomach and esophagus. Foods fall into 2 categories:
Esophageal sphincter weakeners: these foods weaken the valve, allowing it to open more easily so the acid flows upwards
Esophagus irritants: these foods irritate the esophagus
Instead, you want to focus on eating real whole foods like vegetables, fruits, grains, beans and pasture raised animal products is going to help provide your body with nutrients it needs to lower inflammation and improve digestive function so you can get back to eating normally without pain.
The key thing to remember here is that you want to eliminate these foods while you’re concurrently working on resolving your underlying root cause….otherwise you’d be eliminating these foods forever without seeing any improvement.
Depending on the severity of your heartburn and your underlying root cause, you may need a bit more help than just removing heartburn causing foods.
Natural Remedies for Heartburn
Luckily there are more natural alternatives that can help with heartburn without the negative consequences or side effects. Some remedies will work better than others depending on your body, the severity and underlying root cause of your heartburn.
Apple cider vinegar: when suffering from heartburn, try taking 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a cup of water. The vinegar supply’s the LES valve with the acidity it needs to close, stopping the flow of acids upwards.
3 cups of warm water. Dehydration can make GERD symptoms worse. Staying hydrated (appx. 10-12 cups/day) can help support mucus production to maintain stomach lining, minimizing symptoms.
Deglycyrrhizinated (DGL) licorice: licorice raises the concentration of prostaglandins, which promotes mucus secretion, stabilizes cell membranes and can lead to healing of ulcers³.
Turmeric: for more chronic pain, it’s best taken as a therapeutic dose in a supplement form. Turmeric acts as a mild irritant that stimulates the secretion of digestive juices like mucus, which can help protect the esophagus and stomach against acid³.
If your heartburn keeps gets worse when you lay down or go to bed and keeps you up at night, sleeping with your head raised on pillows can help keep acid from traveling upward (gravity for the win!). It can also be helpful to eat dinner 3 hours before bed to ensure the majority of digestion has occurred before laying down, minimizing the chance of reflex to occur.
It’s important to note that the heartburn relief outlined above helps minimize your symptoms, but DOES NOT resolve your root cause.
The best way to understand what your underlying root cause is and come up with an effective strategy to overcome it is to work with a knowledgeable holistic practitioner who specialized in digestive health.
Looking to take a natural, root cause approach to overcoming your heartburn or acid reflux for good?
Book a FREE discovery call below to get started 👇👇
By Krista Znebel, R.H.N.©
March 15, 2024
Sources:
1 Canadian Digestive Health Foundation. https://cdhf.ca/en/digestive-conditions/gerd/#:~:text=How%20many%20people%20have%20GERD,1%20in%206%20adult%20Canadians.
2. The University of British Columbia. https://neuroscience.ubc.ca/our-second-brain-more-than-a-gut-feeling/#:~:text=Comprised%20of%20100%20million%20neurons,spinal%20cord%20or%20peripheral%20nervous
3. Why Stomach Acid is Good for You. Jonathan Write & Lane Lenard. 2001.