Day Six: Natural Remedies for Heartburn

Today was a self-imposed snow day.  I debated till late last night, but my son's coughing fits waking me every hour on the hour helped support my decision not to take him out in -50 wind chills.  I thought it would be a great day for projects, but no.  We took down the Christmas tree and decorations, and I attempted to clean my living room.

Here's what it looked like mere minutes after vacuuming:

I attempted to entice the boy into a Sniper sandwich a la this pin, but he declined in favor of regular old PB & J. Then, my over-tired boy and me took a much needed nap. Until 5:00. Which I awoke from with the most irritating case of heartburn I've had since pregnancy. The kind the burns straight up your throat until you want to vomit.  Eh. And no Tums in the house. And still -50 wind chills. So, I sidestepped my usual friend, Google, in favor of the Pinterest search. At first I felt guilty - using Pinterest to find both a solution to my pesky problem AND a potential blog post project. But then it hit me - this is one of the questions I hope to answer - can using Pinterest help improve your life? In this case, rid me of the retched taste in the back of my mouth and the feeling I had a hole being burnt through my stomach.

What I settled on was this pin, with an array of choices, some of which I actually had on hand.

First, my arsenal:


And no, not all at once. My first attempt was the celery, because according to the section on apples, "Celery sticks and cabbage will also minimize stomach acid." It did seem to help a bit at first, but after the allotted half hour, the burning returned with a vengeance.

So, next came half a banana, which honestly didn't seem to help at all.  But still I waited the half hour.  I was hoping against hope that it would work, because third on my list was something I'd heard of prior to this experiment - the apple cider vinegar trick.

 

This concoction looks appealing, but oh boy, is it not. A mixture of 1/2 cup apple juice and 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar, which you are supposed to guzzle down to find Instant! relief. I managed to drink about half. And it did help. But nothing is worth the taste of that drink. NOTHING. And half an hour later, the heartburn was back. I didn't know what to do. Next on my list was the baking soda cure, which I was preparing myself for, when, as luck would have it, I remembered a stash of licorice tea given to me by my mom because she didn't like it. I had no idea if this licorice had the "form of licorice called DGL also provides heartburn-soothing effects," but it also had cinnamon (#7 on the list) and sounded wayyyy more palatable than a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water.

 

I drank my giant cup of licorice tea in a nice relaxing bubble bath, and tried to just chill out. And you know? It worked. I still have the vaguely unsettling feeling the heartburn is just itching to creep back up my throat, but so far it's held at bay. Now, this being about as far from a scientific experiment as one can get, I have to admit I have no idea what it was that actually helped. It could have just been the passing of time for all I know. But I've learned something. The next time I have heartburn, I'll give the tea a shot before reaching for the antacids. Maybe it will help, maybe not, but it's pleasant and relaxing and worth a try.

I also know I will not be indulging in any kind of vinegar cure for a very long time.

 


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Project Score:  Moderate success.

Cost: Nothing. I had everything on hand.  In fact I saved money by not having to run to the store for antacids

Frustration level:  Pretty frustrating, especially when I know two Tums would have knocked that heartburn right down.

Repeat?  Probably.
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Now for the irony add-on.  Just as I was finishing this post, my husband announced he was running to the store for antacids, as he had heartburn.