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January 17, 2010

Keeping A Stomach Heartburn Journal

It might not seem like the greatest idea for a book, but if you have stomach heartburn, than keeping a journal about your attacks can prove to be the best thing you ever wrote.  Stomach heartburn is a complex condition with a variety of triggers.  If you can spot these triggers, then you can avoid painful heartburn attacks by just avoiding the triggers.  A stomach heartburn journal can also greatly help your doctor trying to get the bed treatment for you.
A Borrowed Idea
Keeping a journal or written record of your heartburn attacks is an idea borrowed from other medical conditions with very complex triggers.  Keeping a journal is also recommended for migraineurs (those who suffer from migraines) or chronic headaches (different from migraines).  Keeping a food journal is considered a helpful method for dieting.  Keeping any kind of journal about yourself is highly recommended for any psychological disorders.
The Nitty Gritty
Your stomach heartburn journal doesn’t have to be fancy.  It doesn’t even have to be hand-written.  It could also be a computer program consisting of a template where you fill in the blanks.  There are many such forms available for headache and migraine sufferers on the Internet.  With a couple of word changes, you can alter those ready-made forms for your stomach heartburn records.
The National Heart Burn Alliance also has a downloadable form for stomach heartburn sufferers on their website at http://www.heartburnalliance.org/reflux_record.php.  You need to have Abode Acrobat PDF reader in order to access these forms.  If you have Microsoft Word XP or higher, than you already have Abode Acrobat installed in your computer.
All you need to do is note a few things about your attacks.  You need the date, the time of the attack (even just day or night will do), what you ate or drank last and any other factors that you think may have contributed to the attack.  These factors could include bending over from the waist, wearing tight clothing or severe emotional upset.  You could also note if any medicines seem to bring some relief.
You need to keep up with your stomach heartburn journal for a couple of weeks at least before you start to see patterns emerging.  This is a long-term form of treatment instead of just taking a heartburn tablet and getting some instant relief.  If you forget to make a record of an attack, don’t worry about it.  Do the best you can do.

It might not seem like the greatest idea for a book, but if you have stomach heartburn, than keeping a journal about your attacks can prove to be the best thing you ever wrote.  Stomach heartburn is a complex condition with a variety of triggers.  If you can spot these triggers, then you can avoid painful heartburn attacks by just avoiding the triggers.  A stomach heartburn journal can also greatly help your doctor trying to get the bed treatment for you.

A Borrowed Idea

Keeping a journal or written record of your heartburn attacks is an idea borrowed from other medical conditions with very complex triggers.  Keeping a journal is also recommended for migraineurs (those who suffer from migraines) or chronic headaches (different from migraines).  Keeping a food journal is considered a helpful method for dieting.  Keeping any kind of journal about yourself is highly recommended for any psychological disorders.

The Nitty Gritty

Your stomach heartburn journal doesn’t have to be fancy.  It doesn’t even have to be hand-written.  It could also be a computer program consisting of a template where you fill in the blanks.  There are many such forms available for headache and migraine sufferers on the Internet.  With a couple of word changes, you can alter those ready-made forms for your stomach heartburn records.

The National Heart Burn Alliance also has a downloadable form for stomach heartburn sufferers on their website at http://www.heartburnalliance.org/reflux_record.php.  You need to have Abode Acrobat PDF reader in order to access these forms.  If you have Microsoft Word XP or higher, than you already have Abode Acrobat installed in your computer.

All you need to do is note a few things about your attacks.  You need the date, the time of the attack (even just day or night will do), what you ate or drank last and any other factors that you think may have contributed to the attack.  These factors could include bending over from the waist, wearing tight clothing or severe emotional upset.  You could also note if any medicines seem to bring some relief.

You need to keep up with your stomach heartburn journal for a couple of weeks at least before you start to see patterns emerging.  This is a long-term form of treatment instead of just taking a heartburn tablet and getting some instant relief.  If you forget to make a record of an attack, don’t worry about it.  Do the best you can do.

January 14, 2010

Alcohol Heartburn: Yet Another Reason To Give Up Drinking

Alcohol and heartburn go together like Bud and Wiser.  If you only drink one glass a year, then you probably will not have to worry much about alcohol heartburn.  But if you drink everyday, then you are putting yourself in a very painful position.  Alcohol not only relaxes the muscles in your stomach and esophagus that holds your stomach acid in place, but it can also burn the lining of your esophagus.
In this article, we won’t talk about alcoholism and alcoholics. That’s a disease in and of itself, with stomach heartburn being the least of an alcoholic’s problems.  This is more aimed at the occasional and social drinkers.  Please don’t use this article on alcohol heartburn in the place of your doctor’s advice.
For The Occasional Drinker
If you only consume a few drinks a year and have been diagnosed with acid indigestion of acid reflux disease, then you are better off staying away from alcohol entirely, unless you can be sure it’s really watered down and that you don’t fall asleep right away.  It’s much easier for the occasional drinker to cut out alcohol altogether than for a steady drinker (someone who drinks at least twice a week).  Alcohol heartburn will then be something you can avoid.
For The Steady Drinker
If you don’t already have a problem with alcohol heartburn, you soon will if you don’t cut out the booze entirely or only have it very occasionally.  This is especially important if you smoke.  Smoking will irritate your stomach and esophagus and putting alcohol on top of it is like pouring paraffin onto a fire (which is not recommended unless you really want a big fire).  Many studies show that quitting alcohol is easier than quitting cigarettes, so take it vice at a time.
Clinical studies have shown that when you drink just 12 ounces of red wine with a meal, you will have a much higher percentage of acid in your esophagus than someone who drank a non-alcoholic beverage with a meal.  These studies have been repeated using different alcoholic beverages such as white wine, whiskey, beer and vodka, and the results were the same.
The National Heart Burn Alliance recommends that those who drink socially always eat with their drinks in order to help avoid alcohol heartburn.  You also should never drink at least two hours before going to bed.  But it would be best to cut alcohol out of your diet altogether.  They did not condemn drinking wine at Christian or Judaic religious ceremonies, as you are usually only expected to have a small mouthful.

Alcohol and heartburn go together like Bud and Wiser.  If you only drink one glass a year, then you probably will not have to worry much about alcohol heartburn.  But if you drink everyday, then you are putting yourself in a very painful position.  Alcohol not only relaxes the muscles in your stomach and esophagus that holds your stomach acid in place, but it can also burn the lining of your esophagus.

In this article, we won’t talk about alcoholism and alcoholics. That’s a disease in and of itself, with stomach heartburn being the least of an alcoholic’s problems.  This is more aimed at the occasional and social drinkers.  Please don’t use this article on alcohol heartburn in the place of your doctor’s advice.

For The Occasional Drinker

If you only consume a few drinks a year and have been diagnosed with acid indigestion of acid reflux disease, then you are better off staying away from alcohol entirely, unless you can be sure it’s really watered down and that you don’t fall asleep right away.  It’s much easier for the occasional drinker to cut out alcohol altogether than for a steady drinker (someone who drinks at least twice a week).  Alcohol heartburn will then be something you can avoid.

For The Steady Drinker

If you don’t already have a problem with alcohol heartburn, you soon will if you don’t cut out the booze entirely or only have it very occasionally.  This is especially important if you smoke.  Smoking will irritate your stomach and esophagus and putting alcohol on top of it is like pouring paraffin onto a fire (which is not recommended unless you really want a big fire).  Many studies show that quitting alcohol is easier than quitting cigarettes, so take it vice at a time.

Clinical studies have shown that when you drink just 12 ounces of red wine with a meal, you will have a much higher percentage of acid in your esophagus than someone who drank a non-alcoholic beverage with a meal.  These studies have been repeated using different alcoholic beverages such as white wine, whiskey, beer and vodka, and the results were the same.

The National Heart Burn Alliance recommends that those who drink socially always eat with their drinks in order to help avoid alcohol heartburn.  You also should never drink at least two hours before going to bed.  But it would be best to cut alcohol out of your diet altogether.  They did not condemn drinking wine at Christian or Judaic religious ceremonies, as you are usually only expected to have a small mouthful.

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