The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Apple Cider Vinegar, Orange Peel, Aloe
Posted by Crazydogjack (New Castle, Pa, USA) on 11/13/2009
★★★★★
Okay. Here's my advice to acid reflux. If you take the "medication" traditionally given for reflux, what happens is that it depletes the acid in your stomach and then you don't digest your food properly. I was on medication for 11 years and decided there was a better way. There are a slew of side effects from taking those suggested meds. This is what I came up with on my search for something better to cure this problem. I was very skeptical that it would work but I thought what the heck I'll try it and it worked.
In the begininning I used a combination of orange peel extract every other day, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and water daily and organic Aloe Vera juice as needed. After two months I became symptom free. I drink the Apple Cider Vinegar and water everyday because of the health benefits. I also keep aloe vera juice on hand and I keep the orange peel extract on hand just in case I have a flare up. I have been symptom free for over a year and I feel great! Best of luck to you! I am sure this will work for you too!
Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips
Posted by Lukki7 (Ajax, Ontario) on 11/12/2009
★★★★★
Yep I have tried salt and vinegar potato chips and they worked quite nicely
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Posted by Liz (Seattle, Wa.) on 11/05/2009
★★★★★
Am 70 and have acid reflux for years. Got herbs from the Chinese doc and things are better. If you think that you might have ulcers, cranberry juice is great. I drink it with soda water to make it more palatable - no sugar. Find that sugar really starts the acid reflux. As long as I avoid it, I'm good. Also Health food stores have some good digestion teas that help.
Magnesium Chloride
Posted by Diane (Boston, Ma) on 10/26/2009
★★★★★
Hi - I had to post about this remedy that I discovered - Magnesium Chloride (in liquid form) 2 teaspoons 3 times a day completely gets rid of all my acid reflux symptoms. It's amazing! I actually started taking magnesium chloride at my naturopath's recommendation for sleep (and it does help me to have a good night's sleep and makes me feel more relaxed as well).
Please try the Magnesium Chloride! It works wonders!!
Banana
Posted by Selena (Chula, Ga) on 10/16/2009
My husband had the same problem before we married. I put him on a yeast free diet and within a month he was 90% better (the remaining 10% is diet and bad habit related that could be fixed by eliminating things from his diet but so much better he can put up with it not to have to give up those things.) Google yeast free diet. I had a book but can't remember the name or author. Basically you have to eliminate all refined sugars, white flour products, refined vinegar products (mustard, mayo. ketchup.) all fungus foods (mushrooms, alcohol), and dairy. He stuck to this diet Mon-Fri and splurged on the weekends and still had great results. He now treats his heartburn with baking soda and water when it occurs. It works wonders for him and does the job. Good luck and congratulations on deciding to take your health into your own hands and fix the problem instead of cover it up.
Banana
Posted by Sean (Seattle, Wa) on 10/15/2009
How much water do/have you been drinking? The one thing that I have noticed about people with acid reflux...Not enough water and not enough fibrous foods. Cut out bleached white flower products and bleached white sugar/corn syrup products. They can easily account for 1/2 of your caloric intake if you don't wage a war on them. I feel that we are in the midst of a nutritional holocaust. Stick to natural foods. I know a lot of people that don't like water! They even go YEARS without getting enough. -Just a thought
Banana
Posted by Patient (Union, Nj) on 10/14/2009
i've been taking nexium for 7 years. First signs of burning 12 years ago, first reflux 8-9 yrs ago. 7 years ago diagnosed with hiatal hernia. Nexium helped from day one. First several times a week, then every other day, then every day 40mg. A few years ago started reading about danger of proton pump inhibitors and antacids. Switched to 40-20mg alternating every other day. Now stopped nexium completely a few days ago and i'm on fire non-stop. Headaches, nausea, constant feeling of hunger, chest and throat pain. Eating any kind of food helps relieve burning for a while. Tried organic 1 table spoon ACV 1 tbl spoon honey mixed in warm water 6-8oz cup. It helps for about 30 minutes. Tried 1/2 tea spoon of baking soda mixed with 6oz cup water and could not drink it because of bad taste. Added 1 tea spoon of ACV (for tolerable taste) and it helped for 1 hour.
Apples help just like any non-acidic food for about 10-20 minutes. Bananas - for me 100x worse, almost immediate burning. 1 spoon of honey may be "soothing" the esophagus but it doesn't do anything for me.
Still searching for alternatives to dangerous pills and irreversible surgery.
Aloe Vera
Posted by Camillems (Las Cruces, Nm, Usa) on 10/07/2009
★★★★★
Hey Kimberly from Mineral VA, try aloe vera juice for your acid reflux. I have had chronic heart burn and acid reflux and the past week it has gotten out of control and keeping me up at night. The gal at the pharmacy told me to buy a gallon of aloe vera juice.. and guess what my acid reflux is gone!! I was taking antacids, and baking soda, even ACV nothing was working but the cooling and gentle effect of aloe vera juice has done the trick... i hear its good for weight loss too...hmmmm looking forward to what I'll find. Good luck.
Antibiotics
Posted by Skinlady (Ridgefield, Wa) on 09/25/2009
This is in comment to Bill from the Philipines...
My late husband developed stomach cancer as the result of the pylori ulcer. He had indigestion and heartburn for almost a year, being given all kinds of anti-acids products to no avail...no antibiotics were given, however. After he demanded that they put a tube down in his stomach and see what was going on, did he get an answer. And of course it wasnt a good one......cancer. He was gone within 5 months! My advice... if you have heartburn or any kind of continuing indigestion, get on it immediately!@!! (his general practioner apologized to me later for letting him slip through his fingers).
Ginger
Posted by Darijan (Zagreb, Hr, Croatia) on 09/23/2009
★★★★★
I would like to add Yes for GINGER.
I suffered from Acid reflux for nine months, tried almost everything, was on NEXIUM too, I did not have chest pain but throat pain, and ginger tea was the most spectacular discovery! Now I drink several glasses of ginger tea daily and the pain is now much much weaker. Nothing I tried before ever made so much difference.
Therefore, strongly recommend ginger.
I buy a fresh one, peel it off, cut it in small pieces and just spill hot water over it, just like I would do with any other tea.
Anyway, that worked out for me. Pain is not completely gone yet (I drink it for three days only) but life became much more bearable since I started.
Good luck to all of you!
Aloe Vera
Posted by Janise (Los Angeles, Ca) on 09/23/2009
I bought the most expensive Aloe Vera at Whole Foods and didn't notice a difference from the cheaper one I get at Trader Joes. But fresh aloe plant is the best. I talked to the people at Whole Foods and they found a company that delivers fresh juiced Aloe vera and said they would order it for me if I wanted. I haven't done it yet but plan to. It is very jelly like so it is best to water it down in the blender.
Aloe Vera
Posted by New To All This (Los Angeles, Ca) on 09/10/2009
I looked for aloe vera in Whole Foods and found so many versions I didn't know what to get. One brand has several formulas, including one that indicates it's for acid reflux but contains peppermint, which is supposed to be avoided for acid reflux. What should--or should not--be in the ingredients? I didn't see George's.
Aloe Vera
Posted by Michele (Los Angeles, California, Usa) on 09/09/2009
Response to Linda. I have LPR as well, and yours was the first post I have seen linking aloe vera as a cure for LPR. Thank you so much! I am going to get some on my way home tonight and give it a try.
Apples
Posted by Erin (Rockingham, North Carolina) on 09/05/2009
★★★★★
When my acid reflux got so bad that it came back every morning even without eating any trigger foods, I decided I couldn't keep taking antacids every day. I tried ACV first, but it upset my stomach and gave me gas. So next I tried eating an apple when the acid reflux came on. It worked immediately and has worked every single time since then, over several months. Plus, the acid reflux doesn't come back later in the day or the next day either!
Apples
Posted by Dm (Dublin, Ireland) on 09/01/2009
★★★★★
My wife read about the Apple Cure for Reflux. I gave it a try. Its now 1 week since taking a Purple Pill and substituting it with a Green Apple in the evening. At this stage I would normally expect to be in agony. Good news, total relief. So, I am now baffled, I have been taking the PP for 7 years and warned of the long term oncsequences if I stopped. But if after 1 week I feel this good, then I am pushing on! Ill keep you posted....
Turmeric
Posted by Stefanida Leelannee (Sussex, Nj) on 08/30/2009
★★★★☆
I have had an acid reflux problem for several months. I posted a couple of months ago about my success with the water cure. I started slacking off on this because (a) it really worked, so I kept forgetting to do it; and (b) I had to take it at least 4 times per day, so sometimes that was inconvenient.
A couple of weeks ago I started taking 1 tsp of turmeric (just the powdered spice) in a small glass of water twice a day (for liver function), and without taking the water cure, my acid reflux seems to have subsided. I now just take the turmeric once a day, because taking it late in the evening seemed to be keeping me up at night.
Yesterday I didn't take the turmeric, and by evening I had severe reflux. Too late to take turmeric so I took 1/2 teaspoon of unrefined sea salt and a large glass of water, and that gave me relief almost instantly.
Although the spice is a little bitter, there is no aftertaste or repeating (burping). So it may sound unpleasant, but it's really not bad. I take a small spoonful of honey afterward, or a sip of tea.
I have read that turmeric is more effective when taken with black pepper, so I try to shake a bit into my drink. I also just read that it's much more effective when warmed up in something containing fat--like food! or even milk or coconut milk. Apparently in India it is taken as a tea with milk. You can find many recipes online.
Green Tea
Posted by Rich Shepherd (Miami Beach, Florida) on 08/21/2009
★★★★★
I tried the baking soda with ACV with little or no success.
Then I remembered a little Chinese waitress who told me, if you want to have great sex eat no meat or after dinner drink several cups of green tea it neutralizes stomach acid.
After every meal I have had at least 3 cups of green tea as dark as possible.
I have also programmed my body for acid to be where God intended it to be. Told my acid: "You must stay where you should and no where else"
I sleep nicely and acid is no longer a problem. I keep a bottle with strong green tea on my night table.
Kombucha Tea
Posted by Shelley (Hamilton, NJ) on 07/22/2009
★★★★★
I started taking bottled Kombucha tea (not the teabag stuff) as an alternative to drinking Apple Cider Vinegar for acid reflux. The Kombucha brewing process is very similar (in fact, you can brew vinegar from it) and it has a similar concentration of acetic acids and probiotic organisms. I have found that, since I started drinking it regularly, my acid reflux has all but disappeared!
I find that I must drink at least 8 oz (1 cup) of Kombucha, twice a week, preferable on an mostly empty stomach. Depending on the severity of acid reflux, results may be noticeable immediately or within a few days.
Tomato Juice, Apple Cider Vinegar, Cayenne
Posted by Adam (Anchorage, Alaska) on 07/19/2009
★★★★★
Ok, I had suffered from acid reflux and heart burn for years all due to what I was eating and drinking ie: white flour,alcohol and many other bad things. I was taking otc antacids daily and was still waking up in the middle of the night with acid coming up and out of my mouth and nose ick not fun at all,.. well I stopped eating all the white flour and cut way back on drinking but the one thing that really helped the most was my little mix of 2oz ACV 4 oz low sodium ______ [tomato juice] and 1tsp cayenne has cleared up all the acid reflux and heart burn. Just mix shake and drink it down it's actually not that bad. Just one hint make sure you inhale before you drink it down because you really don't want your first breath after drinking that to be inward.
Water and Sea Salt
Posted by Leelannee (Vernon, NJ) on 07/12/2009
★★★★★
WATER AND SEA SALT (WATER CURE)
has worked wonders for my acid reflux.
I had been coughing for weeks, then the burning started...No matter what I ate, even just water and raw fruit all day, the reflux would start about 1/2 hour after I ate. I've also been taking probiotics every day for years. Within 3 days of starting the water cure, my coughing was gone and my reflux started getting better.
I take 1/4 teaspoon of UNREFINED SEA SALT with 1 quart of water at least 4 times per day (I just keep a bowl of salt in the kitchen with a measuring spoon in it, and whenever I think about it, I just chuck the salt in my mouth then wash it down with a bottle of water, rather than drinking salty water). Although for my weight, I should be taking 8 doses, I usually only manage 4. If I skip it due to running around & not being home, I might be all right that day but will suffer the next, and it takes about a day to re-normalize.
Other benefits that I have noticed: I don't have to urinate as often--I can hold it like a "normal" person! This may also be due to not coughing as much, which was causing some incontinence.
It has also helped with insomnia. I was taking several natural remedies to help me fall asleep, and would have vivid, disturbing nightmares if I skipped these (especially a powdered magnesium drink). Within a week on the watercure, I started falling asleep more easily and while I still have weird dreams, they aren't as vivid & I barely remember them in the morning.
I have difficulty taking ACV because of the flavor, and while taking baking soda helps I am reluctant to do so because you NEED acid to digest certain foods. It's also easier & cheaper than many of the other supplements I was taking! I've read some success stories about weight loss... haven't had any luck in that department yet (started June 11th, today is July 12th), but am still hoping it will help!
Potato Juice
Posted by Terezia (Dallas, Tx) on 07/04/2009
Remedy for Acid Reflux and Constipation is the raw potato juice. I juice 2 potatoes and one lemon in the morning and drink it at once. It instantly diminishes acids and hunger also. I suffered from acid reflux for a long time, nothing worked permanently. Potato juice did, and now I take it for it's great inner cleansing and healing properties.
Potato juice is also a great refresher of tired skin.
For a toxin-purging, sugar free tea, I simply blend a big piece of raw ginger in a bit of water, pour it into a big pitcher of hot water with lemon juice. It tastes like ginger tea, but it works like a miracle infusion. It instantly energizes and purges the body.
When I have stiffness in my bowels before going to bed, I do a iodine enema. I use two ___ bottles, one with a squirt of iodine in it, the other with a squirt of coconut oil with some essential oils. The coconut oil protects the the bowels, by conditioning. Does wonders.
The olive oil, lemon or grapefruit stone cleanse was also life changing to me. After pregnancy my body went down...thyroid, varicose veins... stones, pain and toxicity... inability to lose weight.... even though I was always athletic.
I had to go on a low sugar diet, with parasite and stone cleansings, doing yoga-like workouts instead of the fast paced ones and praying whenever fear is trying to get me. We can find ourselves restless for no appearant reasons, and fear always drives to the wrong direction, like overeating and organ dysfunctions.
Lemons
Posted by Lorraine (Youngsville, New York) on 07/03/2009
★★★★★
In lieu of lemonade you can just squeeze some fresh lemon in water. I even enjoy a slice of lemon sprinkled with a little sea salt. I have used lemon for years when I've had an upset stomach and it really works!
Reader Theories
Posted by Dave (Harrison, OH) on 06/30/2009
There is alot of mis-information regarding reflux. Most non-thinking MDs believe that it's because we are producing too much acid. That's ridiculous. Nothing starts to make MORE of what it's supposed to make the older we get. Instead, as we age, along with poor diet, alcohol, prescription drug use, etc., we begin to produce LESS acid and enzymes. As a result, the food that we used to process in a timely fashion now takes longer. The process slows, and as the food sits, it begins to ferment, giving off gas, which will bubble-up the acid that is still present. This gives the symptoms of reflux. The LAST thing one should do is take nexium/prilosec, or any other acid blocker. The answer is to add acid/enzymes to the mix, thereby bring the processing back up to speed. That's why you see suck great success with the vinegars, enzymes, pickle juice, et.al. If you continue down the wrong path (that which is prescribed by the idiots), you completely disrupt the lower bowel, leading to malabsorption syndromes, decreased immune function, dysbiosis, gas/bloat/irritable bowel, etc. Make sense to anyone else???
Orange Peel Extract
Posted by Leslie (New Castle, PA) on 06/17/2009
I took prescription medication for eleven years for acid reflux. I started to develop a twitch in my eye and noticed that it went away when I stopped taking the prescription. So I decided I had to find an alternative and I stumbled upon this website. It is the best thing that ever happened to me! After reading a ton of suggestions on how to get rid of my reflux problems, here's what I did to alleviate my acid reflux issues. At first my symptoms were horrible but hang in there it will get better. First I tried the ACV and baking soda and it helped a little bit but not enough. I then switched to 1,000mg. of orange peel extract and took it every other day for 20 days (I have some on hand in case it flares up). I noticed it is best to take the orange peel extract in the evening, otherwise you may find yourself burping alot throughout the day and it can be unpleasant. I noticed a big improvement but it still wasn't completely gone. I bought organic liquid aloe vera. I take it as directed everyday and things are going great! My reflux issues are minimal now.
Magnesium Chloride
Posted by Ted (Bangkok, Thailand) on 06/11/2009
★★★★★
There is a case where the Acid reflux remedy DOES NOT work using the baking soda remedy or any alkaline remedy, regardless of whether it is baking soda, sodium citrate, or potassium citrate. The remedy that works the best is simply the magnesium chloride. The dose I have found to be about 250-500 mg taken three times a day in one warm cup of water. The magnesium was designed to protect against the toxicity of the excitotoxins, which occur from monosodium glutamate, aspartame, aspartic acid, for example. It's effect in relieving the acid reflux is almost instant upon taking the first dose, but almost a complete stoppage of acid reflux may occur after three days to seven days. In event there is a vitamin B deficiency some additional stopping of acid reflux may occur with just once a week of B50 taken only a couple of times. This is one of the fastes acid reflux remedy I have found. An addition of clove oil one drop stirred in a 1/2 glass of water will also help in a few cases.
Ted
