Acid blockers are among the most frequently prescribed medicines. Short-term use usually has no consequences, but if you take them for a longer period of time, this can lead to considerable side effects, as you can no longer stop taking them without consequences after a longer period of time. But are there natural alternatives without side effects that you can take instead of acid blockers? This is the question we want to explore in this blog post.
Natural alternatives for acid blockers
Most of the time, acid blockers are prescribed without any mention of natural alternatives, let alone side effects of the medication. However, acid blockers can have massive side effects - especially if you take them for weeks or even months. Some of these side effects are irreversible. In this context, osteoporosis, kidney damage and intolerance are mentioned as long-term consequences. But this usually does not happen at all, because it is often difficult to stop taking acid blockers without the previous complaints coming right back.
But before starting to treat the problem, it should be checked whether there is a stomach acid deficiency. This is because a stomach acid deficiency manifests itself with similar symptoms as an excess of stomach acid and is a frequent cause of stomach complaints, especially in people over 50. If such a stomach acid deficiency is present, the administration of acid blockers is all the worse. You can learn more about this issue here.
However, if a stomach acid deficiency can be ruled out, here are some tips on how to naturally manage without acid blockers in the long term.
How to get along without acid blockers in the long term:
- Avoid anything that was not tolerated before taking the acid blockers, such as chocolate, smoked foods, pizza.
- Choose a light diet of steamed vegetables and drink only non-carbonated water, herbal teas (e.g. camomile tea)or diluted vegetable juices.
- A plant-based diet of fruits, vegetables, cereal products and nuts can work better in the long term than acute treatment with chemical acid blockers. Drinking alkaline water can also be helpful.
- Eat many small meals throughout the day rather than few large meals.
- If heartburn still occurs, try treatment with healing clay, soaked flaxseed or potato juice.
Ultimately, however, the search for the actual causes should be in the foreground.
More and more doctors and experts now advise against medicinal inhibition of stomach acid production, as this is not the underlying cause. Although sufferers find the rising acid unpleasant, this is not the problem with heartburn. Rather, the problem is that the acid does not stay where it belongs, but instead travels up the oesophagus. However, this has nothing to do with the amount of stomach acid. If you look at acid blockers from this perspective, further treatment with stomach acid blockers does not seem to be effective.
