Does drinking beer cause heartburn?
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at
12:50 pm
My husband gets severe heart burn at night. He eats a tiny bit all day long and then comes home, has 4 beers and a large meal. This is his routine. However, every other night his heart burn is so absurd, that he cant function and nearly throws up. Is it the beer? Its hard to change this routine because of his job, but maybe if he eliminates half of the beer? Hopefully, I can get some answers on here…thanks anyone who can help me.
Filed under: Heartburn Causes
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Drinking anything with any meal especially if either or both are acidic in compound, upsets and waters down, your digestive juices, for the meal It then takes longer to pass through the stomach and gets even more furmented, causing acid reflux in his stomach.
If he has to drink beer [acidic] then let it be at least one full hour 2 would be better], before he eats anything. And l mean anything. This may be enough without giving up the bear. If not cut down with the same format mentioned here. If not again, don’t mix the two together.
Also look at what he’s eating in food combinations. Protein and starch is hard for tummy protein and vegetables ok. Starch and vegetables ok. Also eat fruit by self one houre BEFORE your main meal ,not after as it digests in the upper intestine and not so much in the stomach and can’t get through, fermenting again causing acid reflux.
A walk after his meal will help also,
While heartburn can occur at any time, say after a meal, nighttime heartburn is particularly problematic and potentially more harmful. There are three reasons for this
i) it is much easier for the stomach acid, which causes heartburn, to flow back into the esophagus (gullet), because you are laying down and gravity is working against you.
ii) because you are lying horizontally, the stomach acid can remain in the esophagus much longer, causing greater aggravation and damage.
iii) while asleep you do not produce and swallow saliva, which, during the day would help to neutralise the stomach acid .
However, I am sure that you are much more interested in learning how to avoid the distress that nighttime causes and the good news is, there are several effective measures that you can take to help combat the problem. Unfortunately, however, two of the things you mention are particularly potent triggers for a heartburn attack – eating a large meal before going to bed and drinking alcohol.
The things you can do include
a) avoid eating those foods which are known to trigger heartburn. These include spicy foods, fatty and greasy foods, tomatoes, peppers, peppermint, chocolate, citrus fruits and drinks, coffee and alcohol
b) avoid eating a large meal within three hours of going to bed
c) try eating smaller meals more frequently during the day
d) it is best to avoid or limit the amount of alcohol you drink
e) place blocks under the head of the bed to elevate it by 4 – 6 inches. The head is then slightly higher than the stomach which helps gravity to retain the stomach acid where it belongs, in the stomach.
f) do not relax by lying down immediately after the final meal of the day.
g) chewing gum after your meal will promote the production of saliva which will help to neutralise excess stomach acid
h) STOP SMOKING and and avoid or limit alcohol intake
These are some of the recommended changes to diet and lifestyle that are known to effectively reduce the incidence of nighttime heartburn. However, you should always keep a supply of antacids readily available so that if an attack does occur, you can get fast relief and sleep is not overly disturbed.
I am sorry that your husband’s routine does include factors that are particularly powerful triggers for nighttime heartburn but I am sure that the relief that would be gained by making changes to his lifestyle will certainly be worth the effort.
One final point, all heartburn attacks are distressful and your husband may want to consider a new program of totally natural treatment for heartburn that is achieving amazing results, without the need for any drug based medication. For more information visit … http://howtogetridofheartburn.info