At the first sign of symptoms heartburn sufferers reach for their favorite relief.
This is usually an antacid or something that will neutralize stomach acid.
Does it work? That depends, that depends on the type of heartburn you have.
This important to understand because the treatment is no the same.
A second type of heartburn is caused by a lack of stomach acid.
This is a condition more common among older people.
It simply happens that as the body ages it may begin to make less acid.
Although, it's not limited to just older people.
I've known folks in their 40's afflicted by this.
It's not pleasant to be reduced to eating very small plates of bland, easy to digest vegetarian meals.
There are ways to improve the situation, however.
How Heartburn Symptoms Differ - While the general symptoms are the same for both types there is a clue or two that can help you identify which is which.
General symptoms are chest pain, hoarse cough, urge to regurgitate, bloating, belching and a bad taste in the mouth.
The bad taste is a good clue.
With acid heartburn, the taste will be sour.
With acid deficiency, the taste will be bitter.
Excessive belching can also be a clue of low acid stomach.
What's The Remedy? - In both cases the stomach can't handle the job of digesting food.
With an over acidic stomach the answer is to give the stomach what it can handle.
This means eating less per meal, eating less dense protein and eating more salad.
The other heartburn - With an acid deficient diet it may become a matter of eating only one or two things per meal until you can identify the acceptable and unacceptable foods.
Pay attention to seasonings as well.
For example, mashed potatoes may work but not with butter.
It may be that meat is the problem or it may be vegetable protein as well.
Aside from reworking your diet there are ways to make up for the missing acid.
Papaya and papaya juice have enzymes that breaks down meat, similar to stomach acid.
Pineapple, which contains an enzyme that reduces protein, can also be useful here, for some people.
If meals have become a tense time for you, try starting off with a cup of chamomile tea which contains a relaxant as well as healing compounds.
Treating stomach problems with food and herbs has certain natural advantages but if they don't seem to work well enough for you then HCL may be the answer.
Hydrochloric acid is the stomach's tool for digesting food.
Also an enzyme called pepsin, both are normally triggered when food enters the stomach.
Supplements of both these products are available in stores.