Self Care Strategies for Heartburn and GERD

GERD Self Care, Coping With Heartburn

Now that you have been diagnosed as having chronic heartburn or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), it is important to get treatment as soon as possible. There is a clear and present danger of the acid from your stomach destroying your esophagus to a point that it cannot protect itself from cancer cell growth.

You may think that getting cancer is too far-fetched an idea, but many people who have sought treatment late in the day now regret not starting treatment as soon as they found out about their condition.

There are option available for you as far as GERD treatment is concerned: You can start prescription medication right away and keep taking them regularly; if you do not like the idea of daily doses for the rest of your life, you can opt for surgery to fix your lower esophagus sphincter (LES) so that it does nor allow acid into the esophagus area; you can also take over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and couple it with some specific lifestyle changes; or you can do the prescription, OTC, and lifestyle changes altogether.

You will have to remember that doctors are not all in agreement that a lifestyle change is all that is needed. Some of them are against avoiding certain food and drinks, or sleeping in an angled position. For them, it does not matter as long as you are taking the necessary medication.

You will need to take a step back and start to experiment on what treatment will work for you. After all, the personalized approach is what is needed here. In fact, some of the food that are said to cause GERD may not have any such effect on you. Thus, there will be process of trial and error.

It is also going to be possible that a medication that works will start to be less effective after a year of two. This means you will need to either increase the dosage or shift to another brand.

Taking care of yourself and striving to lower the incidents of GERD and heartburn is only a matter of shifting gears. For instance, once you have determined what your trigger food and drinks are, then try to avoid it, or eat them only occasionally. What you can do is to avoid eating a combination of food not recommended for heartburn like chocolate and orange juice or smoking a cigarette and drinking beer.

It would also be a good idea to get used to smaller meals. If you want, you can have frequent snack-size meals instead of three heavy meals a day. Avoid tight clothes that could put undue pressure on your abdomen. These are just a few self-care tips you can start right away.