Ending Heartburn and Reflux

Several years ago, I was presenting at a workshop and a man came up on the stage to “demonstrate” how Chinese medicine works. I asked him if he had any symptoms to tell me about. He said no, he was “just fine”. When I felt his pulse I felt like his digestion was off, so I commented on that. He said, oh yeah, “I have heartburn every day, I take TUMS all the time.” He was so used to suffering with the heartburn, that he didn’t even think of it as a problem.

Are you one of the people who just thinks it’s “normal” to have heartburn? In stressful times, many factors can contribute to increased heartburn. Up to 25% of the US population deals with Heartburn or GERD (Gastro-esophageal-reflux-disease) at some point!!

This has been a difficult issue for so many of my clients, I wanted to share some information and tips with you so that you can better combat it.

Living with these symptoms doesn’t have to be a daily or life-long thing.

The medications we use to “help” our reflux can provide temporary relief but in the long term, they may not address the root cause of the problem. They can also cause problems with absorption of nutrients, so you wouldn’t want to be taking them long term.

There are several reasons reflux or heartburn occur, and only one of them is about too much stomach acid. When you find the root cause of the problem, there is a solution that will help you heal it. Below are four common causes that I work with (and this is just a partial list):

  • Liver Imbalance
  • Too Little Stomach Acid
  • H. pylori
  • Hormone imbalances

Liver Imbalance

I blend Chinese and Western medicine so if we look at reflux from the Chinese perspective, one possible cause is a liver imbalance. The liver is the organ that regulates the smooth flow of energy throughout your whole body. It can cause irritation of your stomach lining or digestive system when the energy of the liver is not flowing smoothly.

When the liver is out of balance, you can use Chinese herbs or acupuncture to help heal. You can also focus on eating a lot of greens and ingesting enzymes that support the liver in doing its job.

Stomach Acid (Not enough of it!)

A common cause of reflux is not having too much stomach acid but actually having too little of it. Many people don’t realize that as we get older, we have less and less stomach acid. When we don’t have enough stomach acid, we’ll get heartburn more often because food is just sitting in our stomachs not being digested due to low stomach acid. Even if you feel relief when you take acid blocking medications, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have too much acid.

One thing you can do to in order to fix this is to take a supplement called Betaine Hydrochloride. It is a supplement that helps to increase your levels of stomach acid and allow your body to process and break down food more easily. There are several other supplements that help raise our natural production of stomach acid – such as DGL Licorice, and organic apple cider vinegar. I recommend only doing this under the supervision and recommendation of a practitioner who knows what to do in this situation.

H. Pylori

H. Pylori is the bacteria that causes ulcers. Some people may not have an ulcer, they may just suffer from irritation of their stomach on an ongoing basis. I have seen many people who have struggled with reflux for years and this was the underlying cause. Once we treated the bacteria, the symptoms got better and they didn’t need medication any longer.

Hormone Shifts

Hormonal shifts during peri-menopause, pregnancy or PMS can also cause issues with heartburn. When your hormones are out of balance you can get more heartburn and reflux symptoms because they change how your digestive system functions. By balancing out your hormones, you can in-turn rid yourself of reflux.

All of these situations are treatable. Some of my clients have struggled with reflux for years, and we have been able to help them heal it

Don’t ever give up on yourself and keep looking for ways to heal.

Ask me anything!

Hopefully this has helped to shed some light on heartburn and reflux. Let me know if you have any questions that I can help you with and be sure to join me for my next live Q&A on Facebook! It will be this Thursday the 28th at 7:30pm

If you have a more urgent issue or question, call my office at: 707.524.9640

Go to my Instagram or Facebook and comment or message me if you have any questions about detoxing!

Inexplicable ailments, chronic pain and other mystery issues with your body do not have to be a forever thing. You can heal! Pick up a copy of my book – Healing When It Seems Impossible: 7 Keys To Defy The Odds.

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Shiroko Sokitch, MD
May 27, 2020 at 12:09PM

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