Hi! My name is Heather Caruso. I am a Homeopath from Guelph Ontario, Canada, and I am an author of a new book called ‘Your Drug-Free Guide to Digestive Health' and as a compendium or a handbook of natural remedies, diet and homeopathic medicines for common digestive illness. I wanted to talk a little about acid reflux and heartburn. Acid reflux is related to an incompetent esophageal sphincter, which means the esophagus doesn’t close properly and the esophagus is a pipe that goes down to the stomach and there is a sphincter or a valve that opens and closes when food goes down.
So this valve doesn’t close properly. So food and acid can actually rise up from the stomach into the throat area, because that valve opens up and allows food and gas acid, bile that kind of thing to get up there. So some symptoms of acid reflux and heartburn are gas, or appetite, a burning sensation behind the sternum and, a sour taste in the mouth, vomiting, shortness of breathe, foul taste, and as well some people are actually diagnosed with asthma when in fact they really just have reflux.
Some of the causes of acid reflux are eating too much, and too frequently. If you eat too much that valve can be pushed open and then contents from the stomach can get the esophagus into the throat. Often in pregnancy, women will have acid reflux and with a big belly and the baby pushing up in the stomach it pushes the contents of the stomach upwards and the valve opens as well.
The same affect can be from wearing too tight clothes around the abdomen. The main cause of acid reflux is eating poor diet, having too much fried foods, fatty foods, eating very spicy fruits, or a lot of citrus fruits and tomatoes, eating too much bread, alcohol, chocolate and sweets, those kinds of things, all cause heartburn. Also drugs like imuran, iron supplements, aspirin and antibiotics they all cause heartburn too. Certain bad bacteria like H Pylori can cause heartburn. It actually is the bacteria that causes ulcers.
A lot of people who have H Pylori don’t have any symptoms though. Another bacteria or a fungal form is called Candida. Candida overgrows when people eat too many sweets, refined carbohydrates, and that sort of thing, that can also cause heartburn and acid reflex.
Improper chewing, believe it or not your saliva has enzymes in it that help breakdown starches. So while you are chewing any kind of starchy food is already being partially digested by your saliva. So it’s a good idea that you chew your food really well before it gets to the stomach, and it’s a lot less work on the stomach and intestinal track when something is already partially digested.
Also people who are highly stressed and have more acid reflux, stress increases your acid production and during stressful times many people notice that their digestion is a little off.
Some people actually have lower stomach acid, and it’s a sign of -- it can show signs or symptoms of heartburn when in actual fact they are low acid. They might not have enough hydrochloric acid in their stomach to breakdown proteins, where their enzymes are low or not enough bile they are making to breakdown fats, what you can do to check and see if you are low acid is to take a couple of table spoons of apple cider vinegar, when you have heartburn. If you heartburn goes away it’s a sign that yes you are low acid, and you are probably need to take something like apple cider vinegar or some kind of hydrocholoric acid to help breakdown food.
If its worse, it means you are high acid and just drink some water to dilute that and then you'll know you are high acid. A lot of people are put on in acid needlessly. You can treat yourself naturally, but you don’t want to have stay on acid for the rest of your life.
Some general supplements I want to talk about for heartburn, acid reflux. I just want to mention before I get into that, that if you have any underlying condition or you are taking medication you should check with your doctor, or talk to your homeopath or natural practitioner about whether you should be taking certain supplements with your medication and with your particular disorder.
I'll just go through quickly a few supplements that are very good heartburn, Aloe Vera juice or gel. Aloe Vera is very healing for the stomach. It coats the lining of the stomach so it’s very good for healing, protects the stomach from acid and that sort of thing.
DGL licorice is very soothing as well. DGL is deglycerized licorice. Garlic, garlic helps to kill off Candida, so it is actually good for heartburn, if you have an overgrowth Candida, and as well probiotics are very good for any kind of digestive disorder. Probiotics are things like lactobacillus and acidophilus. Lactobacillus and acidophilus are good flora. There is a always a balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut. So you want to, increase your good bacteria to replace that back.
Some homeopathic remedies are very good like Chelidonium is a very popular one, Lycopodium, Natrum Phos, but they have to be suited to your symptoms. So it’s better to get your remedy figured out by a practitioner for you. You can try them safely. Usually people take the 12 or 30 ch potency, but you should really get your symptoms checked out to see that they actually match.
For more detailed information on remedies and how to help yourself using diet and natural methods, you can get a copy of my new book called ‘Your Drug-Free Guide to Digestive Health.’ You can find it on my website at www.carusohomeopathy.com and as well we are offering three free e-books along with your purchase just for limited time. It’s very time consuming to email the three e-books. So if you want them you should act now. They are valued at 88.75 and they are free with your purchase. One is on anti-agent, how to live to be a 100, another one is on homeopathic first aid, and then homeopathic and natural remedies for childhood disorders.
Also online when you go to my website, I have a free email newsletter if you are interested you can sign up, it’s a monthly newsletter on different interesting health topics. It comes right to your Inbox.
For those of you who live in the area of the Guelph Ontario area, if you’d like, I do offer, it’s called a free health pass, and I am willing to offer this to you if you say that you’ve seen my video on acid reflux and heartburn. It is a free 15-minute session, it’s value to $25 and what it does is it's an assessment of energy and balances that can block health, and you can also ask questions about natural remedies at that time and see, if natural healing is for you.
It’s for those who live in the area, so if you wanted to call the office and book that please say that you saw the video, and you wanted to book your free health pass. My number is on my website at www.carusohomeopathy.com and all the information is to follow.
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