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Sleeping With Heartburn

For some people, suffering from chronic heartburn is about as close to hell on earth as it gets. In addtion to being in pain, the suffer often gets little or no sleep. When an individual who is suffering from acid reflux heartburn gets tired they try not to think about going to bed. They procrastinate, doing everything they can to delay laying down. When the inevitable time comes they pop the required antaicds and slowly lay down, knowing what is coming. Each night they pray that night heartburn will not return.

There really is a simple trick that will reduce night time acid reflux related heartburn. Simply lifting the head of the bed a mere 3 inches may keep the acid from flowing into the esophagus. This is easily done with a couple of books or blocks of wood. This effectively keeps your chest and the esophagus higher than your stomach. This will inhibit the flow of acid into your throat by making it flow uphill. It will also help if you can sleep on your left side. Again this will place the esophageal sphincter muscle, a valve at the base of the esophagus higher than the stomach also reducing the chance that acid will flow into the esophagus.

You already know that you should not eat anything for at least 4 hours prior to going to bed. Avoid all caffiene, not just because it may keep you awake but because it can iniate acid reflux by causing your stomach to produce more acid. This puts more pressure on your esophageal sphincter muscle. If is weak it may leak acid into your esophagus.

Lets face it if you can get a good nights sleep on a regular basis, life suddenly looks a lot brighter. Granted this is temporarily fix. You do need to make an appointment with your doctor right away. A proper diagnosis is necessary to make sure symptoms are not related to a more serious condition such as GERD or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease or even cancer. A good diagnosis will also assist your physician in applying the best treatment that will remedy your heartburn.

There are several good medication that can address serious chronic heartburn. Your doctor will know which ones to intially prescribe to address your problem. You may have to try different medications until you find the one that best addresses your problem. You can solve your night heartburn problems for good. Search your local library or the Internet for more information on your condition. This will help you in deciding the best course of action in finding a cure.

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