Thanksgiving!!  Food, family, football and more food! 🙂  And for some, heartburn comes along for the holiday celebration too!  Heartburn is that painfully burning feeling you can get in your stomach, throat and chest.  There are many issues that can cause heartburn- so if you suffer regularly, it is best to get it checked out!  If you get heartburn just occasionally, here is a little review of over the counter (OTC) options to help treat occasional indigestion/heartburn.

I have heartburn NOW –what do I use??  In my experience for occasional heartburn –antacids are not enough and proton pump inhibitors are too much (and don’t work immediately!)  I recommend H2 antagonist (like Zantac or Pepcid generics).

If you are SUPER uncomfortable, I usually recommend taking a couple of Tums (or some antacid) and a H2 antagonist (Zantac or Pepcid generic). The Tums start working and hopefully give some relief while you wait for the Zantac to kick in!

ANTACIDS:

Examples:

Milk of Magnesia (magnesium hydroxide)

Tums (calcium carbonate)

Maalox (aluminum hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide)

Alka-Seltzer (sodium bicarbonate)

How do they work?  Antacids react with stomach acid and neutralize it.

When will it start working and how long will it last?  It can take up to 30 minutes for it to start working.  And depending on how much food is in the stomach, relief will last 1-3 hours.  So, if it was a rough day of over-indulging, expect to have to re-dose!

What else? Antacids can interact with your other medications.  It is best to separate by 2 hours, if possible.  If you are taking a fluoroquinolone (like levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin) separate by 4-6 hours.

Which one should I take?  They all work about the same –so this is a personal decision.  Has one worked for you in the past?  Can you stand the flavor?  One thing to take into consideration, if you tend toward constipation it is best to use one with magnesium or magnesium-aluminum.  If you tend to have diarrhea more often, it is best to use an antacid with aluminum only.

H2- RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS

Examples

Zantac (ranitidine)

Pepcid (famotidine)

Axid (nitazidine)

Tagamet (cimetidine)

How do they work?  H2 antagonists work by decreasing stomach acid secretion.

When will it start working and how long will it last? It will take about 1 hour to start working and lasts about 6-12 hours.

Which one should I take?  These all work similarly –so once again, it is up to you!  However, cimetidine is usually avoided because it interacts with a multitude of medications and has weird possible side effects (like impotence and male breast growth).

PROTON PUMP INHIBITORS:

Examples

Prilosec (omeprazole)

Prevacid (lansoprazole)

Nexium (esomeprazole)

How do they work?  Decrease stomach acid secretion (stronger than H2 antagonists)

When will they start working and how long do they last?  These can take 24 hours to start really working –not for immediate relief.  They typically last 24 hours.

Which one should I take?  For occasional heartburn, NONE!  These don’t work fast enough.

Here are a couple of articles about PPI, including why long term use is not good and which PPI is best.

If you want to learn how to avoid and treat heartburn naturally, here is an article for you! Natural Remedies for Heartburn.

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