I suffer from indigestion. It really, really sucks - especially because it didn’t have to be this way. I didn’t have to spend my days searching for indigestion remedies online or at pharmacies. I didn’t have to lay up nights trying to swallow back my bile as I waited for my Tums, or Pepcid, or whatever I had taken, to work.

When searching for indigestion remedies, then, it’s important first to understand what, exactly, indigestion is. Wikipedia defines it as the following:

Dyspepsia (from the Greek (Dys-)), popularly known as indigestion, meaning hard or difficult digestion, is a medical condition characterized by chronic or recurrent pain in the upper abdomen, upper abdominal fullness and feeling full earlier than expected when eating. It can be accompanied by bloating, belching, nausea or heartburn. Dyspepsia is a common problem, and is frequently due to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or gastritis, but in a small minority may be the first symptom of peptic ulcer disease (an ulcer of the stomach or duodenum) and occasionally cancer. Hence, unexplained newly-onset dyspepsia in people over 55 or the presence of other alarm symptoms may require further investigations.

So not all indigestion is the same. Indigestion rememdies and treatments, as recommended by wikipedia, are as follows:

A 2004 meta-analysis, pooling data from three double-blind placebo-controlled studies, found the multiple herbal extract Iberogast to be significantly more effective than placebo (p value = 0.001) at treating patients with functional dyspepsia through the targeting of multiple dyspeptic pathologies. This German-made phytopharmaceutical was found to be equivalent to cisapride and significantly superior to metoclopramide at reducing the symptoms of functional dyspepsia over a four week period. Retrospective surveillance of 40,961 children (12 years and under) found no serious side-effects.

So while traditional medicines have shown to be no better than placebos, there are certain indigestion remedies in the offing that have significant potential to help those of us who suffer from dyspepsia.

Personally, though, the best indigestion remedies are the ones that are common sense. Don’t eat late at night, or any time before you’re going to bed. Don’t eat processed food with a bunch of junk in it that your body’s not evolved to digest properly. Don’t take aspirin right before you go to bed. And if you know something gives you indigestion, avoid that food. For me that means no aged beef or milk chocolate. Sucks, but that’s life, isn’t it?

So just use your common sense and be diligent about tracking when you get indigestion and how long at lasts. A clearer picture of your health can only be beneficial when it comes to defeating indigestion.

Tags: indigestion remedies, dyspepsia, indigestion