Is your heartburn medication making you sicker?
Is your heartburn medication making you sicker?
If you suffer from heartburn, chances are your doctor has prescribed you a medication (such as Zantac or a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) like Prilosec) to help control it. Heartburn medications work by decreasing the amount of stomach acid you have. Stomach acid is an important part of digestion. Without it, you aren’t able to fully break down and digest your food which can leave you malnourished due to a lack of nutrient breakdown and absorption, and can cause other digestive complaints such as gas and bloating. This is a problem because you need that acid to break down your food and allow your body to pull out the nutrients and actually digest it.
Stomach acid also helps keep you safe by killing any bacteria that may get in so that they can’t enter your digestive tract and the rest of your body leading to infection. Without enough stomach acid, you are leaving yourself more susceptible to infection, including bacterial food poisoning and imbalances in your digestive bacteria. It can also lead to SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) due to an increased number of bacteria entering the small intestine because they were not fully eradicated in your stomach by your stomach acid.
Heartburn is typically caused by a lack of stomach acid, NOT too much stomach acid. When you don’t have enough stomach acid, your body can’t break down the food in your stomach and send it through to the rest of your digestive tract so it sits in your stomach longer than it should leaving you susceptible to heart burn/acid reflux. This means that you are getting the negative side effects of decreased stomach acid without getting to the cause of your heartburn.
Check the label and fine print on your heartburn medication. Did you know that most of them say to not use regularly for more than 2-4 weeks? 2-4 weeks, that’s it! But many people are kept on them for weeks to months to even years at a time with no break. This leaves you susceptible to poor digestion and malnourishment in the long run.
The side effects of these medications are real. Long term use of PPI’s, like Prilosec, can lead to:
Magnesium malabsorption which can lead to muscle cramps and weakness.
Calcium malabsorption which can lead to decreased bone density and a potential increased risk for fractures of the hip, wrist, and spine.
Vitamin B12 malabsorption which can lead to fatigue.
Iron malabsorption which can cause anemia and its associated symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath.
Side effects also include changes to the lining of your stomach and kidney disease and has even been linked to SLE (lupus), dementia, and pneumonia.
The best way to treat your heartburn is with lifestyle and dietary changes and nutritional supplements to get to the root cause of your heartburn. This will help restore your stomach acid and heal your digestive tract rather than just decreasing your stomach acid which only helps your symptoms temporarily and leads to side effects.
Eat small meals frequently. This prevents your stomach from getting overfull which leaves you more susceptible to heartburn. Eating small meals frequently can also help keep your blood sugar balanced.
Avoid trigger foods. Caffeine, tomatoes and acidic foods, and spicy foods are common heartburn triggers. Heavy foods that take longer to digest such as fried foods also fall into this category. Keep an eye out for your trigger foods, and avoid them as best as you can, especially at night before bed.
Avoid eating before lying down to go to bed at night. Larger meals before bed can aggravate heartburn since laying horizontally allows gravity to let food from your stomach into your esophagus more easily. Sleeping with an extra pillow under your head can help this too.
Avoid your food sensitivities which can trigger heartburn or make it worse. Eating foods that your body is reacting to can create increased inflammation, slower digestion and affect your gut microbiome negatively.
Manage stress. Stress has a large affect on our digestive tract and can really exacerbate heartburn. Make sure you are doing what you can to manage your stress to decrease your heartburn.
Supplement with probiotics and digestive enzymes. Probiotics help keep your gut microbiome balanced and make sure that you have enough good bacteria to digest your food. Digestive enzymes are an essential part of your digestion and needed to be able to break down the food you eat and extract nutrients from it. If your digestive tract is lacking digestive enzymes (which come from the stomach and pancreas), then you can’t properly break down your food and you’re at higher risk for heartburn.
Contact Dr. Sahni today to get an individualized treatment plan to get rid of your heartburn, for good!