My husband has suffered from awful acid reflux for years. It was actually an allergist that discovered that his constant coughing was largely caused by acid irritating his throat (combined with post nasal drip.) He had tried all of the over-the counter remedies like Tums, Rolaids, Zantac, Prilosec, Prevacid etc. Zantac took the edge off a little, but the only thing that really worked was prescription Nexium. With all of the OTC alternatives available, our insurance at the time refused to cover it. At $150 for 30 pills, he only took that for a month!!

Anyhoo, when I was pregnant with my son, I had horrible, horrible acid reflux that gave me new found sympathy for my husband. I have no idea how he ever lived with that. He has found that when he’s not as overweight, eating a healthier diet, exercising and avoiding alcohol (ha, like that happens) it isn’t as bad. Unfortunately for me, the only thing that “fixed” it was giving birth!

The acid isn’t quite as bad this time. With my son, I was trying to sleep sitting up, since the acid was too terrible if I was reclined, but then my neck ended up all scrunched up and I woke myself up snoring. As you recall, I went to an OB and gave birth to him in the hospital. The OB told me to take 150 mg of Zantac 2x daily preventatively, and it was combined with 40 mg of prescription Prilosec when that wasn’t enough towards the end. Even then, it wasn’t enough to make it go away; it was just enough to make me able to get through the day. Anything & everything exacerbated it, no matter what I did or didn’t eat or drink. I was absolutely assured that it was 100% safe, only to recently discover that Prilosec is associated with fetal heart defects (I saw that on one of those junky TV/internet class action lawsuit commercials, so I don’t know how valid it is.)

It’s not as constant this time, but at times I feel like (TMI) I have acid right in my throat that I will vomit at any moment. Heaven forbid I have to bend over to get something, I feel like I will leave a puddle of acid on the floor.

So as my hubby has watched me suffer, he keeps saying “I’m telling you, just use my trick and it will be gone.” His trick is about 1/2 of a tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in a little bit of water. He told me it was nasty, but you’d let out a big belch and feel all better within a few minutes. Uhm, no.

Eventually, I was having such a miserable, acid-filled evening, that I gave in. He was right, it was disgusting. I dissolved the baking soda in just enough water, downed it, and had another glass of water ready to chug. It tasted like a mouth full of ocean water. (note: given that a teaspoon of baking soda has 51% the RDA of sodium, I seriously doubt this is a good/healthy thing to be doing regularly, LOL.)

We sat down on the couch and every time I shifted, he looked at me expectantly. I told him that if I bubbled over like an elementary school volcano science experiment, it was his fault and he was cleaning it up! Eventually a burp snuck up on me and the acid was somewhat relieved, but it was by no means gone. I’ll not be doing that again, LOL.

Has anyone ever told you a bizarre or unusual home remedy (for heartburn or whatever else) that they swore by?

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