Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Heartburn, referred to as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) if occurring frequently, is well treated using naturopathic medicine. Heartburn is a common condition that if occurring occasionally it does not warrant concern, but if occurring frequently can be serious.
Frequent heartburn is the result of weakness in your lower esophageal sphincter (LES), which may be caused by a hiatal hernia. When your LES is weakened, it allows stomach acid to flow “back” up your esophagus. Complications of GERD include irritation and inflammation of your esophagus (esophagitis), narrowing of your esophagus (stricture) and an increased risk of esophageal cancer.
Professional healthcare should be sought out if you experience heartburn more than once weekly, have difficulty swallowing during heartburn episodes or have no improvement of symptoms using over-the-counter medications.
Seek emergency medical care if you have severe chest pain, especially when combined with difficulty breathing or jaw or arm pain.
Symptoms of Heartburn
Possible symptoms of heartburn include:
• Burning pain felt in your chest, under your breastbone, after eating or at night
• Pain worsening with lying down or bending forward
Treatment of heartburn at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of heartburn treatment are to reduce pain intensity of heartburn episodes, soothe and heal esophageal tissue, identify and address triggers of heartburn to prevent recurrence, and manage associated health conditions and side effects of conventional heartburn medications.
Conventional treatment for heartburn may include a variety of medications, including antacids (e.g., Maalox®, Mylanta®, Rolaids®, Tums®), H-2 receptor blockers (e.g., Tagamet HB, Pepcid AC®, Zantac 75®) and proton pump inhibitors (e.g., prilosec) . These medications may have short- or long-term side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your heartburn symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, a typical approach to treating heartburn may be to first identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., diet high in fatty, spicy or other heartburn aggravating foods, eating habits that aggravate heartburn, tobacco use, sedative or antidepressant use) or general health (e.g., pregnancy, obesity, asthma, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure) that may be contributing to your heartburn symptoms, identifying and eliminating trigger foods, soothing and healing the tissue of the esophagus using botanical (herbal) medicines and using Bowen therapy to correct physiological causes heartburn (e.g., hiatal hernia).
Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
• Diet therapy
• Lifestyle counseling
• Nutritional supplements
• Botanical (herbal) medicines
• Acupuncture
• Homeopathic medicines
• Relaxation techniques
• Bowen therapy
References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Heartburn [Online]. [cited 2010 Mar 23]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heartburn-gerd/DS00095 .