How to Use Herbs to Treat Heartburn

Heartburn has never brought anyone any pleasure. For that matter, some medications intended to treat heartburn may also present certain risks, such as high sodium content or interaction with other prescribed drugs. Fortunately, Mother Nature can help. So, if you're looking for a safe and natural way to douse the burn, learn how to use herbs to treat heartburn.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Treat heartburn with that common weed in your yard: dandelion. Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a common heartburn remedy in Native American medicine, as well as in traditional Chinese medicine. Typically, dandelion is administered as an alcohol-based extract. While generally recognized as safe, dandelion can sometimes cause unpleasant side effects. For example, some people may experience stomach upset when they use it.
2. Be aware that milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is a suitable substitute for dandelion if using the latter is not well tolerated. Both herbs contain a significant amount of the compound silymarin.
3. Look to certain herbs that help to decrease the amount of acid being produced in the stomach, such as chamomile and meadowsweet. Chamomile is particularly effective and is readily available as a tea in health food stores and in most supermarkets.
4. Use herbs to absorb excess stomach acid. Herbs up to this task include flax, fenugreek (seeds) and slippery elm.
5. Smother the flames of heartburn with a mixture of herbs prepared as a tea that has long been used to soothe colic in babies: chamomile, lemon balm, catnip, fennel and slippery elm.
6. Improve the function of your stomach lining and intestinal tract by strengthening their walls with licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) to reduce stomach acid. In fact, licorice has a place in treating ulcers as well as heartburn. Note, however, that the active constituent of licorice, glycyrrhetinic acid, can elevate blood pressure. For this reason, look for deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL).
7. Check for any known drug-herb interactions online with MedlinePlus if you are taking a prescription or even over-the-counter medications of any kind (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Don't operate under the false assumption that herbs are not medicine just because they are all-natural. In truth, nearly 70 percent of today's pharmaceuticals are derived from plants. Therefore, mixing herbs with other medications to treat heartburn (or anything else) can be a dangerous combination.
• Always tell your doctor what herbs you are using to treat your heartburn. However, if your doctor finds your interest in complimentary medicine amusing or even offensive, then you may want to consider finding another doctor.

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