Heartburn is a condition in which there is a burning sensation and pain behind the breastbone. Everyone has encountered such symptoms at least once in their life. Even simple overeating can lead to a one-time disruption of the gastrointestinal tract.
Other physiological causes of heartburn include:
- a hearty dinner before bed;
- sudden lifting of weights;
- excess salty and fried foods in the diet;
- drinking dry wine;
- pregnancy.
In such cases, there is no need to take pills - the stomach is healthy, it just needs a little help. Decoctions and infusions of herbs will do an excellent job of this. In cases where the situation is more serious and the cause of heartburn is a disease - inflammation of the stomach, duodenum or other organ of the digestive system, the treatment prescribed by the gastroenterologist can be supplemented with decoctions of medicinal plants. Now we’ll figure out what herbs help with heartburn. But first, briefly about why heartburn occurs.
Table of contents
- Causes of heartburn with gastritis
- Herbs for heartburn and belching with gastritis with high acidity Complex collection with celandine
- Herbal mixture with licorice
- Licorice infusion with orange peel
- Melissa
- Complex herbal collection
- chamomile herb
Causes of heartburn with gastritis
Most often, heartburn worries patients who are diagnosed with:
- stomach and (or) duodenal ulcer;
- gastritis with high acidity.
Excessive production of gastric juice in combination with dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract (a person may experience reflux esophagitis, when, due to the weakness of the gastric sphincter, its contents move into the esophagus) leads to unpleasant sensations. The environment in the esophagus is neutral, in the stomach it is acidic, and when gastric juice enters the esophagus, it irritates its walls, causing an unpleasant sensation in the area of the esophagus, behind the sternum, a burning sensation.
Sometimes heartburn occurs when there is insufficient production of saliva and mucus by the esophagus, and the natural clearance (cleaning) of the walls of the hollow organ is disrupted.
With bile reflux esophagitis, the contents of the duodenum are refluxed into the stomach, and from there into the esophagus. Bile has an irritating effect on the mucous membrane.
If heartburn is felt frequently, regardless of the nature of what you eat, and especially when other symptoms are associated (pain in the epigastric region, belching, nausea, loss of appetite), you need to visit a specialist and find out what disease is causing it.
The underlying disease - the cause of heartburn - will need to be treated, and the unpleasant burning sensation will go away as you recover. To relieve symptoms, your doctor may additionally prescribe herbal tea for heartburn. Medicinal plants will also help with single attacks of heartburn caused by physiological reasons.
What can you eat for heartburn and belching?
Buckwheat
Buckwheat will help relieve the unpleasant symptoms of overeating or eating too fatty, sour or smoked foods. First, the cereal must be fried, ground to powder in a coffee grinder, then used three times a day before meals with plenty of water. Even a small amount of powder will quickly relieve unpleasant symptoms. The remedy is used regardless of the reason, and eating buckwheat in soups or as a side dish, especially for breakfast, has a beneficial effect on digestion in general and prevents discomfort.
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Herbs for heartburn and belching
It is very convenient to brew teas based on medicinal plants at home. Herbal tea should be consumed for a long time, at least 2 weeks, because plants do not give an immediate effect, unlike tablets.
Significant help in the treatment of heartburn is provided by:
- yarrow;
- St. John's wort;
- licorice;
- chamomile;
- mint;
- Melissa;
- calamus root.
Some herbs work best when used together, while others work best when brewed individually.
Several recipes for preparing herbal infusions for heartburn with high acidity.
It is important!
To prepare herbal infusions for heartburn, use glass or enamel containers. Aluminum and stainless steel containers are not suitable for this purpose.
Complex collection with celandine
It is necessary to mix in one container:
- celandine;
- yarrow;
- St. John's wort;
- liquorice root;
- chamomile flowers.
All plants should be taken in approximately equal shares, so that you end up with 2-3 tablespoons of this mixture. Pour boiling water over the herb and let it brew for about half an hour. Then strain and top up to a full glass. You can take a glass a day, divided into 2 equal parts, 20 minutes before meals. If you feel an improvement, you can increase the dosage - drink a glass twice a day.
Herbal mixture with licorice
You can also prepare this herbal infusion for heartburn.
Stock up on plants:
- licorice root;
- chamomile flowers;
- calendula;
- centaury.
All herbs should be taken in equal proportions. Scoop up 1 heaping tablespoon of this mixture. Pour a glass of boiling water. You can just wait until the herbs are infused, or you can put the mixture on low heat and simmer for a few minutes. Then strain, cool, drink in three doses during the day.
Important! The course of treatment must last 3 weeks for the therapeutic effect to appear.
This collection helps with uncomplicated gastritis with high acidity, reflux esophagitis.
Another recipe for a complex collection of herbs allows you to prepare a medicinal composition that relieves the symptomatic manifestations of gastritis, including heartburn and belching.
To alleviate your condition at home (unless, of course, there is severe pain and nausea that interfere with your normal lifestyle), it is not necessary to immediately “get hooked” on pills or try to relieve heartburn with soda. If heartburn is the only symptom that does not occur often, you can try to help yourself before going to the doctor by preparing an infusion of orange peels.
Licorice infusion with orange peel
Take 10 g of licorice and 6 g of orange peels (this is literally a couple of small pieces), pour 0.4 liters of water. The water must be hot. When the mixture has cooled a little, you need to add 60 g of honey. The drink should be drunk in 3 doses within one day. The entire course of treatment takes 1 month.
Melissa
A very good herb for heartburn and high stomach acidity is lemon balm. It is found in many recipes and helps treat gastritis with both high and low acidity.
The following ingredients should be mixed:
- St. John's wort (one part);
- nettle (2 parts);
- oregano (2 parts);
- lemon balm (4 parts).
To this you need to add a plantain leaf. Grind everything thoroughly and mix, and then pour a glass of boiling water.
You can drink 2-3 tablespoons throughout the day. You can drink grass for longer if there is a good effect and the body willingly “accepts” such help.
A good herbal mixture for heartburn is lemon balm and mint. Many people simply put mint in tea - green or black, and sometimes mix it with lemon balm.
Traditional medicine recipes
Herbal treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and heartburn involves the preliminary extraction of beneficial substances from fresh or dried raw materials. For recipes, simple processing of plants is suitable, which does not destroy natural components - infusions, decoctions, extracts. You can also benefit from plants by drinking herbal tea.
Traditional medicine recipes help cope with the symptoms of heartburn, such as: burning sensation, heaviness in the stomach, bitterness in the mouth. At the same time, they improve the condition of the mucous membrane of the digestive tract, reduce the inflammatory process, stimulate the regeneration of the mucous membrane, normalize the acidity of gastric juice, and have an analgesic effect.
Herbal medicines are drunk before main meals. This prevents heartburn after eating. Sometimes they need to be taken for a long time to obtain a lasting effect.
Herbal infusions
Decoctions and infusions against heartburn, prepared at home from herbal infusions, help to quickly and effectively improve your well-being. The effect is achieved by combining herbs that complement each other. Herbal infusions can be used for long-term treatment or to reduce the symptoms of the disease one-time. Plants often used in collections:
- calamus;
- acacia;
- aloe;
- gentian;
- angelica;
- centaury;
- blooming Sally;
- calendula;
- plantain;
- motherwort;
- chamomile
Herbal remedies for heartburn can be purchased ready-made at the pharmacy.
Infusions
Herbal infusions are another way to provide quick relief to the stomach. Both decoctions and infusions are recommended to be consumed fresh on the day of preparation.
Infusions based on one or more herbs will help relieve heartburn in the stomach:
- Dried angelica roots are first ground into powder. For cooking, take 1 tbsp. plants and pour boiling water (200 ml) over it. Leave for 40 minutes. Drink half an hour before meals 3 times a day. To improve the taste, you can add honey to the drink.
- For the infusion, you will need to make a mixture of chamomile, St. John's wort, and plantain. Plants should be in equal proportions: 1 tbsp. The raw materials are mixed and brewed with 1 glass of boiling water. Infuse for half an hour and drink before main meals 3 times a day.
- Infused plantain seeds have a good effect. To prepare the product you will need to grind 2 tbsp. dried seeds. Then they are poured with boiling water (1 glass). You need to insist for about an hour. The resulting solution is drunk before meals 4 times a day.
- To collect, you will need to mix linden flowers, flaxseed, fennel, and licorice root in equal parts. The raw materials are mixed, pour 200 ml of boiling water. Let it brew for half an hour. Drink 100 ml 2 times a day before main meals or half an hour after them.
- The collection includes: sage, horsetail, yarrow, arnica, licorice root in equal quantities. 1 tbsp. the mixture is poured with 200 ml of boiling water. Leave for about half an hour. Drink half a glass before meals or half an hour after it.
- For nighttime heartburn, flaxseed infusion helps. To prepare it, 2 tbsp. raw materials are poured with 200 ml of boiled water. They insist for half an hour. Drink half a glass immediately before bed.
Infusions should be consumed fresh, immediately after brewing.
Decoctions
There are several useful and effective decoctions:
- Mix dried herbs: 20 g plantain, 20 g St. John's wort, 5 g chamomile. 400 ml of hot water is poured into the resulting mixture and placed on the stove. Bring to a boil over low heat. The resulting solution is left to cool, after which it is filtered. Drink 50 ml 4 times a day.
- The collection includes: St. John's wort, yarrow, marsh grass. Plants are taken in equal proportions. To prepare the product, take 3 tbsp. collection per glass of water. The mixture is poured with boiling water and placed in a water bath for 20 minutes. The resulting solution is filtered after cooling. Drink 100 ml before meals. For preventive purposes, it is taken in the morning on an empty stomach and in the evening before bed for several days.
- To prepare this product you will need a mixture prepared from 1 tbsp. licorice root, 1 tbsp. centaury, 3 tbsp. calendula, 4 tbsp medicinal chamomile. 1 tbsp. the mixture is poured with 150 ml of boiled water. Place on fire and bring to a boil over low heat. Drink before main meals 3-4 times a day.
- To prepare the decoction you will need to take motherwort, plantain seeds, and St. John's wort in equal quantities. 1 tbsp. The mixture is poured with 1 glass of water and put on fire. The solution is brought to a boil and simmered over low heat for 15 minutes. The broth is allowed to cool, after which it is filtered. Drink 50 ml 4 times a day before meals.
Herbal teas for gastritis with low acidity
What herbs for heartburn with gastritis can be taken if examination shows that the acidity of gastric juice is below normal? In these cases, plants that have an anti-inflammatory effect and stimulate the production of gastric juice are suitable.
Complex herbal collection
The following mixture of medicinal herbs has proven itself well.
You will need:
- plantain leaf;
- marshmallow root;
- cumin (fruit);
- oregano;
- St. John's wort.
All plants are taken one part at a time, dried and crushed. Pour boiling water over it, leave for a quarter of an hour, and then drink 2-3 tablespoons before meals. Before sitting down to a meal, you will need to wait 15 minutes so that the medicinal herbs have time to have a positive effect.
Melissa can be brewed together with plantain - both plants stimulate the stomach and help produce secretions in the required quantity.
Sagebrush
An excellent remedy for heartburn, if the gastric juice is not formed in sufficient volume, is wormwood.
A separate medical work can be devoted to wormwood. This unpretentious plant contains:
- flavonoids;
- tannins;
- resinous substances;
- carotene;
- essential oils.
Wormwood eliminates heartburn, and in addition, it has valuable “additional” properties: it fights inflammatory processes and helps restore damaged gastric mucosa. It increases appetite, which is often reduced in patients with hypoacid gastritis.
Wormwood with yarrow
Wormwood can be safely used in combination with other herbs, for example, yarrow. Taking 2 parts of yarrow and 8 parts of wormwood, pour boiling water (2 cups) over the herbs and wait half an hour until the infusion becomes saturated. The infusion must be strained and then drunk a quarter glass three times a day.
You can make an infusion of wormwood alone by pouring a tablespoon of dry herb into a glass of boiling water. Drink a quarter glass before meals.
Simple infusions for treating heartburn
There are also easier recipes that can relieve the symptoms of gastritis, including a burning sensation behind the sternum, in a short time. Treatment of heartburn with herbs, of course, cannot be carried out without the use of medications recommended by a doctor, however, you can add herbal teas to the prescribed medications. Then the result of the treatment will be noticeable faster.
chamomile herb
An excellent remedy is chamomile. The plant treats many diseases, from acute respiratory viral infections to otitis media and problems with the genitourinary system. It has a good effect on the body in case of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, accompanied by a burning sensation in the chest and pain.
Chamomile:
- relieves pain;
- accelerates tissue regeneration;
- relieves inflammation;
- acts as an antiseptic.
It contains many substances necessary for the body: organic acids, bitterness, tannins, healthy sugars.
In order to quickly say goodbye to heartburn attacks, you need to brew chamomile in the following proportions: a tablespoon of herb per 200 ml of boiling water. Drink 3-4 tablespoons. For taste, you can add honey to this infusion.
Air
Everyone knows chamomile, but calamus is not familiar to everyone. Meanwhile, the rhizome of this plant makes it possible to forget about heartburn for a long time after a few days of treatment.
The root should be ground, then take just a little (literally on the tip of a knife), chew and drink a few sips of water. If you are concerned about hypoacid gastritis, then you need to take the medicine before meals. If it is hyperacidic, then this is how you should end the meal.
Caraway
You can brew cumin. Taking a couple of tablespoons of seeds, pour 200 ml of hot water and leave for 15-20 minutes. You need to drink the infusion 3 tablespoons 5-6 times a day, before meals. Cumin helps well with gastrointestinal diseases accompanied by symptoms such as pain, heartburn, and flatulence.
centaury
You can brew centaury separately in the following proportions: a tablespoon per glass of hot water. After waiting 15 minutes, you can drink the medicine, guided by the principle: a third of a glass half an hour before meals.
Beans
You can prepare a healing infusion from ordinary beans. Taking 3 tablespoons of beans, chop them, then mix them with half a liter of hot water. Let it brew, and then you can drink - a third of the resulting volume a third of an hour before meals.
Blackberry
One of the “delicious” ways to combat heartburn is to brew blackberry leaves (a tablespoon of leaves per glass of boiling water).
It’s even easier for those who have their own dacha: you can make yourself fragrant mint tea by adding a little currant. It’s both pleasant and healthy to drink!
Tinctures
To prepare herbal medicine, it is not necessary to boil or boil it. Simply add hot water and let it brew.
An effective recipe for reducing stomach discomfort: fennel, anise and dill. Everything is taken in equal quantities and poured with boiling water. Drink 3 times a day.
Another useful, effective folk recipe: cumin, dill, wormwood, anise. Take 1 tsp. mixture of herbs and pour a glass of hot liquid. Let it sit for a day. It is necessary to take the medicine until the heartburn disappears completely.
If the first signs of heartburn and pain appear, it is permissible to drink tea made from mint and lemon balm. It helps to calm the body, which means that spasmodic phenomena will begin to subside.
If you use only medicinal herbs, the treatment effect seems to be short-lived. You will have to change your diet, reconsider your diet. Heartburn can be avoided by following a diet and eating regimen.
Source
Pills
If the case is very simple, and the doctor has not found any signs of gastrointestinal disease, you can get rid of heartburn using herbs alone. If the disease is still present, and heartburn bothers you often, the doctor will prescribe pills to relieve attacks. These may be medications such as Rennie (tablets) or Maalox (suspension). Both products contain peppermint.
If the heartburn is not too severe, you should try to get rid of it without the use of medications, using Pechaevsky tablets. This is a dietary supplement (herbal tablets) considered effective in treating pain and burning in the chest.
These tablets contain peppermint and berry flavors. Apply them one at a time after meals. If gastritis has low acidity, it is better to limit yourself to one tablet per day. If it is elevated, you should drink 2-3.
Storage conditions for medicinal herbs
Medicinal plants can retain their beneficial qualities for a long time if they are stored in suitable conditions.
Therefore, it is important to follow these rules:
- During storage, herbs should not be kept in a humid environment or in places where there are foreign odors.
- It is advisable to store dried plants in glass jars that are tightly closed with a lid.
- Don't keep the herbs for too long. Their shelf life is two years. Old plants lose their healing effect, so you shouldn’t expect much benefit from them.
When used correctly, medicinal herbs assist in the traditional treatment of gastritis, which is accompanied by increased levels of stomach acidity.
Self-help measures for heartburn and prevention
If heartburn takes you by surprise, you should not try to “put out the fire” with soda: this will only lead to increased attacks in the future. Instead, you can chew activated charcoal with water or pumpkin seeds.
It's good if you have dill at home. You can prepare an infusion of dill seeds and drink dill water from time to time.
There is also this recipe: drink cabbage juice - 2 tablespoons a day.
It is easier to prevent any disease than to cure it. To keep heartburn as rare as possible, take a number of measures:
- be sure to have lunch, not forgetting to eat the first liquid course;
- divide food into small portions and eat fractionally 5-6 times a day;
- try not to eat at night;
- add more stewed vegetables to your diet;
- exclude fatty and fried foods;
- Don't drink carbonated drinks.
You need to monitor your weight and try to avoid sudden fluctuations. You need to walk more often, move actively, do breathing exercises and, of course, look at life with optimism. Diseases love the dull and sad - so let's not give them a chance to interfere in our lives!
Other folk remedies for heartburn with high acidity
Simple foods and inexpensive pharmaceutical products will help eliminate high acidity:
- It is additionally necessary to include raisins and dried apricots in the diet, because these dried fruits contain a large amount of potassium and produce results within a month.
- White clay is used as a quick measure - diluted in water and the resulting solution is drunk.
- The burning sensation of the esophagus is eliminated by dill or caraway seeds, a small amount of which is chewed when discomfort occurs.
- When heartburn occurs, it is useful to eat one green apple and then put a pinch of salt under your tongue and suck it.
- Replace store-bought fruit juices with homemade vegetable juices made from potatoes, carrots or cabbage.