It is True: Heartburn and Headaches Have Much in Common

 People who suffer from frequent headaches may find another common ailment creeping up on them: acidity. What do, heartburn and headaches have in common? When you look at the details of these two frustrating ailments common elements becomes evident.

Heartburn and headaches affect everyone at one time or another, but when headaches are a common problem, heartburn can be close behind due to some of the methods we use to treat headaches. This is especially true in people who suffer from a problem of acid reflux known as GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) or peptic ulcers.

To understand how can cause headaches heartburn, we must first understand acid reflux. Acid reflux is a process in which gastric acid in the stomach up into the esophagus, causing irritation and pain (acidity). Acid reflux or GERD when it becomes chronic, is usually connected with food, pressure or gastric inflammation caused by the h pylori bacteria.

In addition, they may develop peptic ulcers (small holes in the lining of the stomach or duodenum) as washed acid in stomach on the mucosa of the stomach. Peptic ulcers are usually related to a bacterial infection of bacteria, H. pylori in the stomach.

Now that we know what commonly cause acidity, we can explore how heartburn and headaches may be related.

Heartburn and headache medications
Drugs, over-the-counter and recipes for headaches chronic including ibuprofen, aspirin, naproxen, and many migraine medications are "NSAIDs". NSAID means non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. As its name suggests, these types of drugs are great to relieve headaches to reduce the amount of swelling around the blood vessels that lead to the fare of a headache.

Unfortunately, these drugs are also big eat tiny holes in the lining of the stomach and cause peptic ulcers. (H pylori bacteria are not always a component of this type of development of ulcer, although bacteria may be present as well.) Peptic ulcers may promote acid reflux and cause heartburn.

Medications for headaches and heartburn are two symptoms that usually develop over a long period of time. The risk of developing ulcers and acidity increases when NSAIDs are used for a prolonged period of time.

Heartburn and headache home therapies are conflict
If you have a headache of hangover (from a night of drinking too much alcohol, perhaps) is a common practice to drink plenty of water, the cause of the headache can be dehydration.

Unfortunately, alcohol relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and this is the muscle that keeps the acid reflux come into the esophagus and cause heartburn. When you drink water, you can dilute acids but they do climb closer to the esophagus.

Many people with other conditions that weaken the report LES acidity of the water without drinking alcohol, too. Given that the them is relaxed, there is nothing stopping the form of acids entering the tube. The best way to avoid this problem is simple: eat something first. The general rule is "to give stomach acid something to do", which is why eating biscuits or a friendly food of heartburn before drinking water can help.

If you ever have a big headache and no medicine on hand, someone may have suggested that consume a caffeinate drinks, such as coffee, increase blood flow and minimize swelling. Caffeine is another agent to the relaxes LES. More caffeine drinks are carbonated, too. Carbonation is another trigger of heartburn.

Headache and heartburn share common food triggers
Acidity is commonly triggered by an offensive food or as part of a medical condition in which certain foods not tolerated by the body or the immune system. These foods can also trigger headaches.

For example, MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a very common condiment in packaged food that causes people to experience headaches. Spicy foods cause heartburn, too, and people who are intolerant to buttocks also experience heartburn. Buttocks in general can cause headaches in people who are sensitive to the substance.

There is a common link more note-worthy between heartburn and headaches: food shortages. Skip a meal makes some people get a headache; It also causes heartburn and acid reflux. In others, headache and heartburn will happen within a couple of hours on an empty stomach.

The solutions here are our resources of acidity and eat smaller, more frequent meals.

Keeping Your Baby Protected From Acid Reflux!

Acid reflux, which is also termed as gastroesophageal reflux, is one of the most frequent problems among infants. Babies with acid reflux often suffer from a range of conditions, from a mild degree to a severe one, such as recurrent spitting up, abdominal pain, and night waking. This discussion would be more comprehensive with the understanding of the physiological or the mechanical aspect of the condition.

The body has a band of muscle in a circular structure that is called the lower esophageal sphincter. This muscle detaches the esophagus from the stomach. When food comes into the stomach, it closes so as to prevent the stomach acids and contents from backing up into the esophagus or regurgitating. But in the case of some babies, the lower esophageal sphincter has grown immature. As such, the partially digested food and digestive acids are allowed to be refluxed.

This condition causes irritation in the esophagus lining which results to inflammation that is also commonly called as heartburn. Acid reflux among babies usually develops when they are between two to four weeks old. Doctors usually prescribe medicines that minimize the production of digestive acids. Within six to nine months, the acid reflux starts to naturally subside. At this time period, the babies spend most of their time in an upright position. This is to apply the law of gravity on the food taken in; that is, the food stays down more naturally and reduces possible regurgitation.

The following are helpful pointers on feeding and positioning of babies to lessen acid reflux: Prepare smaller feedings recurrently. It makes sense to feed your baby more than usual but less than the accustomed. If lesser volume of milk goes into the stomach, the digestion will be faster and there will be fewer amounts of contents available for regurgitation. Maintain the baby in an upright position after feeding. As discussed earlier, gravity helps to keep the digestive contents down.

Position your baby seated in your lap while his head rests on your chest. Keep this position for at least half an hour after feeding. Breastfeeding helps a lot. Breast milk is well-known to have many advantages over other commercial formula, mainly for babies with acid reflux. Breast milk can be digested faster, which of course lessens spitting up, and it has special enzymes that assists digestion. In addition to that, breast milk does not trigger allergy to babies compared to other milks available in the market. But for those who are formula-feeding, it is advisable to use milk with a hypoallergenic formula as advised by a doctor.

Aside from having higher tolerance with sensitive intestines, hypoallergenic milk can also be digested faster by the stomach so as to minimize acid reflux. Set your baby in a comfortable position when asleep. Since when a baby lies flat when sleeping, gravity cannot help in keeping the food down in this set-up. As a result, a baby with acid reflux often has to endure a sore night waking.

If a baby can sleep soundly, then there will be no need to call for a change in his habit. But some babies become restless, which can be noted by abdominal pain, acid breath, and wet burps. In this case, it is recommended to elevate the baby’s crib to about 30 degrees. This will be enough to reduce the regurgitation. You may also try to train him to sleep on his left side.

It is in this position where the inlet of the stomach is higher than the exit. This will also help to keep the food down.