Home Remedies for Heartburn

Heartburn can have different causes. Those affected usually take acid blockers – and the problem seems to be banned for a short time. But as soon as the medication is stopped, the heartburn comes back. We show holistic solutions that can help with heartburn in the long term.

Natural home remedies help with heartburn

Heartburn can only appear after meals that are particularly difficult to digest – or on a regular basis. The usual medications usually only help in the short term or as long as you are taking them. They do not lead to healing. Natural home remedies and measures are much more helpful here, because they ensure in the long term that you will be able to do without any remedies in the foreseeable future, i.e. you will no longer suffer from heartburn at all or only very rarely.

Stomach acid is not the problem

Stomach acid is usually blamed for heartburn. Stomach acid is an essential part of our immune system. It is the first instance responsible for destroying any harmful bacteria and parasites that may arrive with the food.

Stomach acid is also an extremely important factor in the digestive process. It ensures that the chyme is broken down further and that proteins are prepared for digestion. As a result, the digestive enzymes can process the food better and nutrients and vital substances can be optimally absorbed.

Some digestive enzymes are also only activated by the stomach acid – such as pepsin, which digests protein. Without the “treatment” of the food with stomach acid, the risk of infections would increase on the one hand and the risk of insufficient digestion and thus a lack of nutrients and vital substances on the other.

Stomach acid is therefore very important for humans, not only for the health of their digestive system, but for the health of their entire organism. So why would stomach acid suddenly be a problem?

She’s not the problem. The problem is usually completely different causes and factors. Stomach acid is just what ends up hurting as it rises up the esophagus. Therefore, the usual therapy also aims to block or neutralize gastric acid wherever possible.

Antacids and PPIs are usually used for heartburn

For heartburn, most people first get an over-the-counter so-called antacid – alkaline salts that neutralize the stomach acid directly in the stomach.

If the problem becomes annoying, you go to the doctor and are usually prescribed a proton pump inhibitor. These are acid blockers with the active ingredients omeprazole, pantoprazole or similar.  Proton pump inhibitors (also called PPIs for proton pump inhibitors) have a completely different effect than the usual antacids. Acid blockers are drugs that target the parietal cells in the lining of the stomach. These cells produce stomach acid. If they are blocked now, little or no gastric acid is formed.

Unlike the antacids, the antacids do not work immediately when swallowed. After all, they first have to be resorbed in the intestine and then via the bloodstream to the gastric mucosa and from there to the parietal cells.

Acid blockers – the billion dollar business with heartburn

Acid blockers are a billion dollar business. They are among the most commonly used drugs around the world. Although the number of gastric removals due to gastric and duodenal ulcers can be reduced by the PPI, at the same time more and more – also long-term – side effects are being discussed that can be observed after PPI intake.

Many of these side effects are the logical consequences of an artificially induced lack of stomach acid. Because PPIs can rarely be dosed correctly so that only the (suspected) excess gastric acid is broken down, but the amount of gastric acid required for the person concerned can still be formed. See the link below for antacid alternatives.

Heartburn: The Side Effects of Acid Blockers

If PPIs are now swallowed for heartburn (and possibly in the long term), the following side effects must be expected:

1. Paradoxically, one of the most common side effects of PPIs is gastrointestinal discomfort. So one stomach problem (heartburn) went away with PPI, but only to make way for the next stomach problem (e.g. nausea).
2. Headaches, trouble sleeping, fatigue and dizziness can also be some of the side effects of PPIs.
3. The liver often does not respond well to PPIs, which can be reflected in poor liver values in the blood analysis .
4. PPIs can promote the development of food allergies. If too little gastric acid is formed, the food is also broken down less intensively. This in turn increases the risk of undigested protein particles (which can act like allergens) entering the bloodstream through the intestinal mucosa. However, since they do not belong there, the organism forms antibodies against them. If the allergens arrive again (i.e. if such an undigested particle gets into the blood again), an allergic reaction occurs.
5. PPIs are also said to be able to inhibit iron, magnesium and calcium absorption and in this way can lead to anemia or reduced bone density and thus to osteoporosis (and all other effects of a corresponding mineral deficiency). .
6. If the acid production of the stomach is reduced by medication, then this leads – as mentioned at the beginning – to a deficient immune situation in the stomach. As a result, it is no longer surprising that people who take PPIs are much more susceptible to bacterial infections in the gut (e.g. salmonella infections) than people who do not take PPIs and have healthy stomach acid levels.
7. Since the parietal cells also produce the intrinsic factor for the absorption of vitamin B12, it stands to reason that suppression of the parietal cells by PPIs can also lead to an intrinsic factor deficiency and consequently to deficient vitamin B12 absorption.
8. If PPIs are taken regularly and over a long period of time, this can result in a real PPI dependency, since the parietal cells produce significantly more acid after stopping the PPI than they ever did before and you then have heartburn more than ever has fight. At some point you don’t want to stop taking the medication – for fear of heartburn.
9. Studies from 2009 even found that PPIs, when administered to healthy people, can actually lead to the symptoms they were originally designed to treat. In concrete terms: out of 120 healthy people who never suffered from belching, heartburn or stomach discomfort and who were now receiving PPIs for eight weeks, 44 percent subsequently complained of belching, heartburn or stomach discomfort, while this was only rarely the case in the placebo group.

The causes of heartburn

Heartburn can have various causes:

1. Hasty eating (or stress in general)
2. Inadequate chewing
3. Meals high in sugar or fat
4. Processed foods
5. Mismatched meals
6. Infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori
7. Chronic hyperacidity: An overall unhealthy diet and lifestyle can also lead to hyperacidity in tissues and body fluids. This latent hyperacidity can then lead to hyperacidity in the stomach – as follows:

Chronic hyperacidity can lead to heartburn

Parallel to the hydrochloric acid, the gastric mucosa cells always produce sodium bicarbonate at the same time. This is a basic substance that acts as the body’s own acid buffer. Some of the sodium bicarbonate protects the gastric mucosa from being burned by the strong gastric acid. Another part gets into the bloodstream and serves as a buffer substance in the tissue and organs, which neutralizes the acids that are produced in the cells during metabolic processes.

The gastric mucosa always produces as much sodium bicarbonate as the body needs at the moment. If there is a chronic hyperacidity in the organism (i.e. in the tissue and not (yet) in the stomach!), then the buffer requirement is particularly high and the gastric mucosa cells produce a lot of sodium bicarbonate.

But if a lot of sodium hydrogen carbonate is formed in the stomach, then of course a lot of acid is also formed – although this may not be needed at the moment because there is nothing to digest. And so, chronic hyperacidity of the tissue can lead to acidification of the stomach, heartburn and, in the long term, possibly also to inflammation of the gastric mucosa or a stomach ulcer.

Heartburn can occur due to lack of stomach acid

In the case of heartburn, it is usually assumed that the parietal cells produce too much acid. In the meantime, however, it is suspected that the exact opposite could often be the case. And so many people with heartburn may actually be suffering from a LACK of stomach acid. Admittedly, that sounds very illogical at first glance, but not at all at second glance.

An acid-poor stomach has to work particularly hard to mix the chyme as effectively as possible with the small amount of acid that is present. To do this, he needs two things: time and vigorous mixing movements.

The chyme remains in the stomach for a long time, which promotes fermentation processes. Acids are formed during these fermentation processes. At the same time, the stomach tries to mix the chyme with the small amount of stomach acid with the help of disproportionately strong muscle contractions. As a result, it happens again and again – so it is said – that parts of the chyme, which now contains plenty of acids, are pushed into the esophagus and leave a burning sensation there.

When people with this problem take antacids or even PPIs, the devil is actually cast out with the Beelzebub. The drugs can indeed alleviate the symptoms in the short term, but they do not cure them, on the contrary, they make the problem worse and worse in the long term.

Symptoms of gastric acid deficiency

Unfortunately, a chronic lack of gastric acid has similar symptoms to an excess of gastric acid. After meals, you may experience bloating, gas, and belching, with or without heartburn. The long-term consequences and symptoms of a lack of gastric acid are again those that were partially listed above under the side effects of PPIs, e.g. B.

1. (Food) allergies
2. Susceptibility to bacteria, fungi and parasites
3. Mineral and trace element deficiencies (calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, etc.)
4. The possible mineral and trace element deficiency can then in turn lead to hair loss, bad skin (including acne in adulthood) and brittle fingernails.
5. Underweight or problems with weight gain because the utilization of nutrients and vital substances is disturbed. Also read: Gain weight healthily if you are underweight
6. Chronic diarrhea and/or chronic constipation

Chronic hyperacidity can lead to gastric acid deficiency

Gastric acid production is said to drop sharply in people around the age of 50 at the latest. Officially, it is said that this is due to “completely normal” aging. However, another explanation for this could also be as follows:

Decades of chronic acidification of the body tissue can lead not only to excess gastric acid, but also to a lack of gastric acid. The latent hyperacidity exhausts the parietal cells, which all this time have had to produce plenty of sodium bicarbonate as a buffer substance, to such an extent that at some point they are only able to function to a limited extent and consequently can only produce little gastric acid.

However, a lack of stomach acid can not only be observed in people over 50. Also, many younger people — including those who often thought they were suffering from excess stomach acid because of heartburn — may actually be suffering from low stomach acid.

Type A gastritis can also lead to a lack of stomach acid.

Acid tablets: Not a good solution for heartburn

Some alternative practitioners therefore now prescribe hydrochloric acid tablets, which are taken with meals, if there is a suspicion of a lack of stomach acid. If the suspicion is confirmed, the usual complaints of the patient do not recur after a meal accompanied by acid tablets.

However, hydrochloric acid tablets are of course just as little a solution in the long run as antacids. It would be ideal if the organism could find its way back to healthy and balanced gastric acid production. However, this can only be achieved with the help of holistic measures (see below), i.e. not if the previous diet and lifestyle habits are maintained.

Heartburn due to reflux disease

Another cause of heartburn is often called reflux disease (GERD = gastroesophageal reflux disease). “Reflux” means reflux, which means the backflow of acidic chyme from the stomach into the esophagus. The problem is said to be the sphincter (a sphincter muscle between the esophagus and the stomach). It is said that it no longer closes properly.

Since the mucous membrane of the esophagus is not equipped for constant acid visits, it can become inflamed sooner or later depending on the intensity and frequency of the heartburn, which is then called reflux esophagitis.

But why does the circular muscle no longer close properly? We explained above how heartburn can develop when there is a lack of stomach acid: due to the strong contractions and mixing movements of the stomach wall. These excessively strong gastric wall contractions could now be so great that the sphincter muscle is being squeezed open again and again, so that reflux disease in some people may be the result of a prolonged lack of stomach acid.

Constipation as a possible cause of reflux

Another reason for the frequently diagnosed reflux disease and the insufficiently closing circular muscle is the hiatal hernia. This is a diaphragmatic hernia that causes the stomach to move up into the chest, forcing the sphincter to partially open, allowing acidic chyme to enter the esophagus, causing heartburn.

A hiatal hernia is relatively common, but it doesn’t just happen that way, it has a cause: diaphragmatic hernias can occur as a result of overloading the diaphragm, for example if you lift too heavy, if you cough heavily when you have a persistent cough or during pregnancy.

Another rather unknown, but not uncommon cause of a hiatal hernia and thus heartburn is chronic constipation. It is now assumed that bowel movements that take place too infrequently and too little stool mass – due to constipation, a lack of fibre, incorrect posture when having a bowel movement and a disturbed intestinal flora – are related to a large number of health disorders.

In addition to heart and gallbladder diseases, inflammatory changes in the intestinal mucosa , varicose veins and colon cancer, these also include hiatal hernia, so that heartburn is again the result of an overall unhealthy diet and lifestyle via this detour. (By the way, the correct posture on the toilet is the so -called squatting posture ).

Heartburn: Conventional medicine has no healing solution

In most cases, heartburn is therefore clearly a problem of modern diet and lifestyle, for which there is no really healing and no side-effect-free conventional medical solution.

At the same time, persistent heartburn can lead to a number of unpleasant secondary diseases such as B. a Barrett’s esophagus (here the mucosa of the esophagus converts into a gastric mucosa, which can represent a possible precancerous stage), esophageal cancer, a stomach ulcer, stomach cancer , an irritable stomach, etc.

Consequently, measures should be taken that can eliminate heartburn naturally and, above all, permanently. Practically speaking, if you implement our tips below, not only will heartburn disappear, but experience has shown that a number of other health problems will also disappear.

Holistic measures for heartburn

If you now read the following measures against heartburn, you might shake your head in disbelief at some points. And in fact it is often hard to believe that such simple measures can have such a resounding effect – not only with heartburn, but also with many other complaints of the gastrointestinal tract, including gastritis . So don’t underestimate the following tips! Try them first!

Take your time eating

Take your time and enjoy your meals!

Chew every bite thoroughly!

Whole meal rice, for example, only has the consistency to be swallowed after 50 to 60 chewing movements. Nuts also require a similar amount of chewing work. With a lettuce with herbs, there may be more chewing movements before swallowing.

Food with a soft or liquid consistency (soups, porridge, smoothies, etc.) should not be swallowed without extensive insalivation.

The better the food is chewed and salivated, the less work the stomach has to do and the better the food can be processed and utilized, the lower the risk of a micronutrient deficiency and the higher the chance that the stomach will regenerate. Practice chewing consistently. You will be really enthusiastic about the extremely pleasant feeling in the stomach and abdominal area that follows.

Only eat when you are hungry

and never out of boredom or because the schedule dictates it.

Don’t eat too hot or too cold!

The stomach can only process the food optimally when it is at body temperature.

Don’t drink anything with food

Drink an hour before you eat or an hour after you eat, as drinks would further dilute the already sparse stomach acid and digestive juices.

If you have heartburn, think about colon cleansing

Intestinal rehabilitation includes at least three components:

1. bentonite or zeolite
2. Psyllium Husk Powder
3. probiotic

All three are excellently suited to cleansing not only the intestines, but the entire digestive system and thus also the stomach, and also to regenerate the mucous membranes.

Bentonite and zeolite bind the excess gastric acid and absorb all kinds of toxins in the body (including the metabolic toxins of Helicobacter pylori) in order to excrete them with the stool.

Flea seed husk powder increases intestinal peristalsis and can therefore – if taken with a lot of liquid – relieve a possible constipation, which is known to be the cause of heartburn in the case of a hiatal hernia.

A high-quality probiotic (e.g. Combi Flora SymBio) together with a prebiotic (e.g. inulin ) can also regulate digestive activity and also has a very positive effect on all gastrointestinal complaints.

Mumijo can help with heartburn

Mumijo is an ancient Russian natural remedy with detoxifying and healing properties. Mumijo has a very healing effect on the digestive system in particular. The substance, which apparently can only be collected in a few places in the world, strengthens the gastric mucosa, heals gastric and duodenal ulcers and regenerates the intestinal mucosa.

Among other things, Mumijo absorbs excess acid in the stomach and in this way protects the gastric mucosa from acid-related damage. According to a study in 2015, Iranian researchers therefore recommended taking Mumijo instead of PPI as stomach protection if stomach- damaging drugs such as painkillers, cortisone or similar should be required. Read more about Mumijo here: Mumijo – The black gold of the mountains

Eliminate Helicobacter pylori

If Helicobacter pylori has been found in you and should be eradicated, read on here: Treat stomach problems naturally

For heartburn and constipation

If you have heartburn and constipation at the same time , the first thing you should do is treat the constipation (remember the hiatal hernia above). You can find home remedies for constipation here.

However, constipation will usually be resolved by the above-mentioned intestinal cleansing, including a change in diet. If you don’t dare to change your diet or if you feel overwhelmed with it, the 4-week detox cure will help you, during which you will learn how to cook for yourself and your family healthy, wholesome, plant-based and also exceptionally delicious:  The 4- weekly detox

If there is excess stomach acid

If you suffer from excess stomach acid, take bentonite (as a capsule or powder) for acute symptoms. Bentonite not only neutralizes the excess acids – like antacids – but also improves the overall environment in the digestive system by binding toxins and discharging them through the intestines, as well as creating the best conditions for a healthy intestinal flora.

Remember to always drink plenty of water when taking bentonite!

If there is a lack of stomach acid

If you suffer from a lack of stomach acid, you can temporarily take acid tablets (ask your naturopath about it!). However, it is better to include the following foods in your diet in the long term. They support, promote and regulate healthy gastric acid production:

1. Bitter substances (e.g. dandelion root extract, dandelion leaf powder, herbal bitters (e.g. bitter star))
2. Liquid dandelion extract or dandelion juice or fresh dandelion as a salad
3. Lactic acid fermented juices (e.g. sauerkraut juice)
4. Fresh cabbage juice (please start with sips and slowly increase the daily amount)
5. Green smoothies

Stomach acid deficiency or excess gastric acid?

If you don’t know if you have low or excess stomach acid, take a concentrated bitter supplement (such as a herbal bitter). If this leads to heartburn, there is more likely to be excess stomach acid. If, on the other hand, you have a lack of stomach acid, then bitter substances have an extremely pleasant and soothing effect.

Of course, you could also carry out the test with a hydrochloric acid tablet, which would of course have a much more unpleasant effect than a bitter substance preparation in the event of excess stomach acid.

If you have heartburn, consider detoxing

As explained above, chronic hyperacidity can lead to heartburn. Even the right diet and intestinal cleansing will lead to a certain degree of deacidification and significantly reduce your symptoms, if not completely eliminate them.

If intestinal problems are of secondary importance to you, start with deacidification and carry out the intestinal cleansing later – if it is still necessary. Experience has shown that drinking alkaline water is particularly helpful for heartburn, as it also ensures that the body is deacidified. Information on this can be found here: Deacidification with base concentrates

Drinking the diluted base concentrates is also beneficial in the case of so-called silent reflux and is part of the holistic therapy of the same.

Perform abdominal massages

Abdominal self-massage is very easy to learn, costs nothing (except a few minutes) and has a tremendous effect on gastrointestinal health. Details on how to carry out the abdominal massage – which has an immediate effect on stomach health and stomach functions and thus also on heartburn – can be found here: Abdominal massage

Change your diet if you have heartburn!

Eating the right diet is key when it comes to heartburn. If the diet is right, you will hardly have heartburn anymore. Therefore, as one of the most effective measures, implement the following points as quickly as possible:

1. The most important rule is: Do not eat any more ready-made products! Whenever possible, prepare your own meals using fresh ingredients. Finished products that you may not be able to avoid (e.g. bread, butter , oils, vinegar, etc.) should only be bought in high-quality organic products from health food stores.
2. The second most important rule: drastically reduce your carbohydrate consumption. Unfavorable carbohydrates are in particular baked goods and pasta made from white flour and all products that contain table sugar.
3. The third most important rule: keep your food as natural as possible. So avoid long cooking, frying and roasting at high temperatures. Just gently steam or stew your meals.
4. The fourth most important rule: Pay close attention to which foods you develop heartburn after and think about what could be causing it. Example: Nuts are generally well tolerated. However, if you roast nuts and serve them in a dish with fat, they seem to be a very quick cause of heartburn, at least for some people. Certain combinations also quickly cause heartburn. If the foods are eaten individually, they are tolerated. Critical combinations could be the following: milk products with cereals, cereal products with sugar, cereal products with protein, cereal products with fruit, etc
5. The fifth most important rule: stop with multi-course meals. Your stomach hates motley mixtures of many different foods, each of which is a disaster to eat on its own, such as: B. this popular menu: aperitif, ready-made salad with ready-made dressing, pizza, red wine, sundae, coffee. So eat easier, e.g. B. Steamed vegetables with herbs, sea salt and a little butter. In addition either potatoes, millet or quinoa OR high-quality organic meat or eggs. And eat superfoods like green smoothies more often. You can find information about this here: Green smoothies – the perfect meal
6. The sixth most important rule: get out of the habit of desserts of all kinds. Just taking this rule into account will improve your state of health by several degrees. If this is a problem for you, read this article: Breaking Sugar Addiction
7. The seventh most important rule: Reduce your alcohol and coffee consumption for the sake of your stomach.
8. But the most important rule of all is: Don’t just read this, do it! Only then will your heartburn really go away.

Stop PPI for heartburn?

Now it could be that you are already taking medication for your heartburn and stomach problems, namely PPIs – the proton pump inhibitors described in detail above, which prevent the parietal cells in the stomach lining from producing gastric acid.

And it may be because of this article that you may want to stop taking these drugs now rather than later. You should NOT do this! As explained above, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) lead to a kind of dependency, which consequently also leads to a kind of withdrawal symptom if the medication is stopped hastily.

When PPIs are taken, it is well known that gastric acid production is inhibited. However, the stomach still wants to produce a lot of gastric acid (with an original excess of gastric acid). If the stomach now determines that there is no gastric acid, certain cells at the entrance to the stomach release gastrin – a hormone that stimulates the parietal cells to produce gastric acid.

If PPIs are taken for many weeks or even months, then more and more gastrin will be released, since the parietal cells – due to the blocking effect of the PPI – can react little or not at all. If you suddenly omit the PPI, then – corresponding to the meanwhile large amount of gastrin – a large amount of stomach acid is also produced and you usually get extreme symptoms with reflux and heartburn.

This is why so many people often never get off their PPIs. At the same time, they have to increase the required dose every few years because the original dose is no longer effective. Now, of course, side effects are becoming more and more likely.

As a result, PPIs should only be tapered off slowly (the dose is continuously reduced), especially if they have been taken for a long time, which is often not that easy.

The “withdrawal” can last for several months. And it can only work if the above tips are largely implemented.

The following measures can be particularly helpful during PPI withdrawal

Light food

Do not eat anything that could have led to the stomach problems in the first place ( chocolate , smoked foods, pizza, cake with coffee, fast food, etc.). Instead, prefer light food: Lots of vegetables, millet, toast, soups, etc.

Lots of small meals

Eat many small meals throughout the day instead of fewer large ones!

Don’t eat anything in the evening

Eat your last meal at least three to four hours before bedtime.

Herbal Healing Teas

Drink chamomile tea and occasionally ginger tea.

Acute help for heartburn

If heartburn occurs, try out what helps: Healing clay or bentonite, soaked linseed or psyllium, potato juice, chew a few almonds to a pulp and swallow slowly, drink alkaline water (diluted * alkaline concentrate ) or take the Sango sea coral in water.

The Sango sea coral consists in particular of calcium and magnesium carbonate – two basic compounds that quickly provide relief, i.e. can neutralize excessive stomach acid.

Note:  This article contains information from empirical medicine. Empirical medicine always adheres to the supreme principle that no harm is caused by its use. However, it is not always possible to back up the statements that have been handed down with scientific studies.