If you are suffering from chronic heartburn, it might be due to your diet. Check and see if you have been overindulging night after night on food like pizza and tomato sauce casseroles. Have you been eating a lot of grapefruit or oranges? Citrus fruits cause heartburn in some individuals.

Have you been drinking more than your usual cups of coffee? Have you been going straight to bed after dinner? Many people get heartburn if they lay down immediately after a meal.

Changing and cutting back on the foods you have been eating and not sleeping immediately afterwards may be the key to helping you get rid of your chronic heartburn.

Eating smaller meals may also be the solution you have been looking for. Many find that eating a number of smaller meals instead of three large drastically help their heartburn.

Avoid ‘trigger foods’ including spices, peppermint, chocolate, sodas, citrus fruits and fried food. Cut back on caffeine, nicotine and alcohol.

Lose weight if you are overweight. The added pressure you are putting on your esophagus may be the cause of your continuous heartburn. If you frequently take aspirin or other kinds of pain relievers, it is time to cut back on these as well.

Although many times that is all you need to do, lifestyle and diet changes may not be enough for curing chronic heartburn for some individuals. It might be time for you to find the perfect heartburn herbal remedy that work best for you. However, let's first discuss medications that are available for heartburn.

Some over the counter antacids that offer temporary relief include Tums, Rolaids and Maalox. Antacids contain aluminum, magnesium or calcium which neutralize your stomach acid. These may provide some relief for temporary sufferers but for chronic heartburn, over-the-counter meds may only add to the problem. There can be side effects that are not good for the body's overall health.

You might be more successful getting acid blockers for acid reflux and heartburn. These work by inhibiting the amounts of stomach acid your body produces. Unlike fast-acting antacids, blockers last a lot longer and are effective for keeping you heartburn-free for hours.

You can find over-the-counter acid blocking medications such as Zantac, Tagamet, Pepcid and Axid. Ask your doctor for prescription strength versions if the over-the-counter forms just don’t cut it.

Another alternative is to use drugs called PPI’s or proton pump inhibitor options which turn off the small proton pump in your stomach, dramatically reducing your acid. These are used when other drugs just don’t give you relief.

These are also used when you have had erosion in your esophagus and if you have GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease. You can get a proton pump inhibitor called Prilosec which is now an over-the-counter drug.

Other drugs are called Prilosec, Prevacid, Protonix, Nexium and Aciphex which you will need a prescription for. These meds are best taken one hour before a meal.

Reglan is another kind of medication that helps empty your stomach more rapidly, and thus not giving your body the chance to have chronic heartburn.

Unfortunately as stated earlier, when taking the above medications you will find they only offer temporary relief without actually curing your problem. They also contain chemicals that can produce unwanted side effects, some of them very serious.

For the best results without only adding to your chronic heartburn problem you should at least try some of the herbal remedies found on our website. In most cases they help tremdously, but if they only give the same relief as the medications you are currently taking you can have peace of mind knowing you are dealing with your heartburn naturally.