Than neutralize the acid? Instructions

Increasing the level of acidity of the stomach is a frequent and rather unpleasant problem. In order to cope with it, symptomatic treatment will help , but to completely get rid of an unpleasant phenomenon, one must understand the causes of this pathology and the mechanism of getting rid of it. Then the question of how to neutralize acid, may be irrelevant.

Causes of increased acidity

The organism is a well-coordinated system in which malfunctions in the work of one body can cause disturbances in the functioning of another. But when it comes to high acidity of the stomach, it is worth considering external factors, that is, human nutrition.

Acid in the stomach is necessary in order to prepare food for its digestion in the intestine. It follows that if the acid is so high that the question arises of how to neutralize the acid, there is reason to assume that the person consumes too much food. The stomach, unable to cope with the load, is forced to increase the level of acidity in order to speed up the digestion process, without reducing its quality, that is, the food mass enters the intestines in the required form.

The same goes for the situation when a person uses ordinary amounts of food, but all the foods in the diet are heavy and rough for digestion. Thus, the stomach gets used to work only in such conditions, and even if a person for any reason stops overloading the body with food, the level of acid will remain high, and this will be felt in the form of heartburn, pain, nausea.

Other reasons

In addition to overeating, the catalyst for increasing the level of acid in the stomach can be:

• Infection;
• smoking;
• Chronic stress;
• Taking certain medications.

It becomes clear that the best way to neutralize the action of the acid is to eat properly, to monitor the quality of the products. It is not necessary to exclude from the diet of spices at all - it is enough to follow your feelings after using various products.

You also need to give up bad habits and eat small portions about 5-6 times a day.

What is dangerous high acidity?

Normally, the acid in the digestive tract is neutralized in such a way that it does not cause any danger to man. But if it is too much, it can damage the gastric mucosa. Erosions will begin to form on it, and later - even ulcers. It is known that diseases such as gastritis, ulceration, erosion, are often preceded by a chronic elevated level of gastric acidity.

A high level of acid reduces the amount of alkali in the stomach, which means that the food can not be digested properly. This affects the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and the state of the person as a whole, because nutrition - the intake of vitamins, nutrients and nutrients, that is, the basis of life.

Hence it follows that it is necessary to know how to recognize such a problem and how to neutralize the acid.

Symptoms

There are signs that a person can recognize that the acidity of his stomach is increased.

1. Heartburn - sharp burning in the esophagus. This occurs as a result of the release of gastric juice into the esophagus.
2. Belching - it usually occurs when a person ate too much food, but if it has a sour or bitter aftertaste, you can unequivocally talk about increasing acidity.
3. Pain in the area of the stomach, which is dulled during meals. After the food enters the stomach and digestion begins, the acid concentration begins to increase, and it falls on the previously damaged areas of the gastric mucosa.
4. The remaining symptoms of increased acidity are less specific. That is, they indicate the presence of some pathology in the body, but without other, more characteristic signs, it is impossible to recognize the disease. These symptoms include bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation.

If these signs are found, it is worth immediately contacting the doctor to prescribe the treatment and explaining how to neutralize the acid and how to prevent its increase.

Diet treatment

The simplest and safest way to treat high acidity of the stomach is to normalize the diet. There are necessary small portions, about five times a day.

First of all, in order to normalize acidity, the following products must be completely excluded:

• Acute snacks, smoked dishes, canned food;
• Fatty meat dishes;
• Fatty fermented milk products;
• coffee;
• carbonated drinks;
• Pickled vegetables;
• Sweets on an empty stomach;
• Sharp root crops.

The list can be supplemented with any dishes, on which there are unpleasant sensations in the stomach. It is necessary to make your own individual list and strictly adhere to it.

The basis of the diet should be products that lower the level of acidity in gastric juice:

• Low-fat yoghurts;
• Porridge on milk (especially buckwheat);
• Ordinary drinking water (several sips);
• Casseroles of cottage cheese and fruit;
• Vegetable juices (carrot, beet, potato) on an empty stomach;
• honey.

A properly designed menu often allows you to get rid of the problem without medication.

Folk remedies

1. Herbal decoctions, for example from mint or chamomile, not only normalize the activity of the gastric glands, but also soothe the nervous system.
2. Decoction of flax seeds helps digestion.
3. Tincture of dill normalizes the work of the digestive tract.
4. Activated carbon and other sorbents are a simple option for neutralizing acid.

To use such recipes is necessary together with a diet, not forgetting about the systematic and regularity of their use.

Soda

How to eliminate excess acid in the stomach? The most popular way is to use ordinary baking soda. It neutralizes acid, and this fact is clear to everyone familiar with the laws of chemistry. Soda is alkali, and it is an acid antagonist.

Thus, knowing that soda neutralizes acid, many people regularly use it for signs of heartburn or stomach pain. Indeed, soda has a short-term effect of reducing acidity. And if you do not have other means at your fingertips to reduce acidity, you can use the soda solution.

But it is important to know about the process inside the body when taking soda. It acts as an acid-soaking antacid, so right after it is taken, the amount of acid really goes down. But the interaction of soda and acid becomes a catalyst for the production of carbon dioxide. The gas, in turn, has a stimulating effect on the cells of the stomach, which produce acid, and the amount of acid rises again, and it becomes larger than before drinking dissolved in water soda.

Therefore, people who are convinced that soda neutralizes acid and is the best way to treat the problem of increased acidity of the stomach, are forced to constantly resort to this method.

And this, in turn, leads to alkalization of blood. The person who has encountered this phenomenon is familiar with the whole list of unpleasant symptoms: loss of appetite, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, muscle cramps. Also, a large amount of soda, and therefore sodium, which it contains, leads to increased pressure, problems with the kidneys, swelling.

The most harmless consequence of regular consumption of soda is rumbling in the intestines and diarrhea.

Thus, although soda (alkali) neutralizes acid, excessive use of it is unsafe for a healthy person. And pregnant and lactating women, people with high blood pressure and chronic gastrointestinal diseases, and absolutely strictly contraindicated such treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to look for other ways of neutralizing the acid in the body.

Acids

Before considering ways to reduce acidity, it is important to understand what kind of acid it is and what acids are.

The acid produced by the human stomach is called "saline". It is able to break down food falling into the stomach, but at normal concentration it does not do any harm to the walls of the stomach. Moreover, it is excellently neutralized by the composition of the gastric juice.

If a person consumes a large amount of protein food, then the acid in his body begins to produce more. Over time, the acid continues to be produced in the same volume, even if a person has reduced the consumption of proteins or stopped eating them at all. The stomach needs time to rebuild, but for now the person is forced to look for effective and safe ways than to neutralize hydrochloric acid.

It is important to know that there are no other acids in our stomach, and if they get there in any way, this can lead to the most terrible consequences, up to the death of a person. Therefore, advice on what to neutralize sulfuric acid in the stomach, do not make any sense. Sulfuric acid is used for dehydration of gases or as an additive to fertilizers, in the digestive organs it is not and should not be.

The same goes for the intentions to neutralize orthophosphoric acid in the stomach, which can not be there in any way, unless a person decides to add rust remedy to his dinner. Therefore, when you meet such information in recipes or packages of dietary supplements, you should know that you should stay away from such drugs.

But acetic acid in the form of an aqueous solution may well get into our stomach from the outside and not bring any harm while observing a reasonable dosage. Refills for salads or marinades for meat are often made from table vinegar. In its pure form, acetic acid is deadly, but even table vinegar can be badly poisoned. In this case, it is necessary to think not about how to neutralize acetic acid, but to quickly call an ambulance and self-wash the stomach, take any vegetable oil or a mixture of eggs and milk. It is strictly forbidden to give affected soda.

Preparations

Thus, it becomes obvious that the best way to cope with high acidity is proper nutrition. But if you consider symptomatic treatment, then you can use medication to solve the problem. Despite the fact that alkali neutralizes acid and soda seems to be the only logically justified method of reducing the amount in the stomach, it must be remembered that the modern pharmaceutical industry copes with the task perfectly, creating products whose effectiveness directly correlates with their safety.

In order to reduce the production of excess acid in the stomach, drugs are traditionally used:

• "Pantoprazole";
• "Esomeprazole";
• "Omeprazole."

To neutralize the already present increased acidity, two groups of drugs are used: antacids and alginates. In order to understand which drug to choose, it is necessary to consider both groups of agents. But in any case, the prescriber should be appointed by the attending physician, and this information will contribute to an understanding of the processes and the importance of adherence to treatment.

So, the work of the stomach is as follows:

• Cells of the stomach secrete hydrochloric acid, which processes food and disinfects it;
• Other cells make pepsin, which processes proteins of the food mass;
• Glands stimulate motor function and control the process of acid release;
• Excess of acids is neutralized by the mucus produced.

If the amount of acid in the stomach is increased, therefore, some of the described mechanisms go wrong.

Antacids

Antacids - drugs that neutralize the acid in the stomach by increasing the amount of mucus produced. Mucus protects the walls of the stomach, reduces acidity, and a person instantly feels relieved. In addition, antacids are able to absorb all harmful substances.

Antacids can be divided into two groups: "absorbed" and "nonabsorbable" - this term indicates whether the drug will get from the stomach into the bloodstream or not. Of course, the process of absorption of the antacid in the stomach is highly undesirable. Therefore, use of such drugs is necessary, as well as soda, only in case of emergency. Examples of such examples are:

• Rennie;
• "Tams";
• "Vikain";
• "Vikair".

Non-absorbing antacids - more modern and safe drugs. They quickly and gently reduce the level of acidity in the stomach and are excreted from the body with feces, without subsequently causing an even more pronounced acid rise, as often happens after taking soda.

These drugs include:

• "Relzer";
• "Gastratsid";
• "Gaviscon";
• Maalox;
• "Rutocide";
• Almagel;
• Magalphil;
• "Fosfalugel";
• "Topalcan".

Alginates

Alginates are polysaccharides, which after use form a film on the surface of the gastric juice that does not allow the acid to enter the esophagus and cause a feeling of heartburn. Like antacids, they act quickly and, among other things, have no contraindications.

In addition, they are ways to absorb acid, thus reducing its concentration in the stomach. A special composition of alginates has a beneficial effect on the gastric mucosa, protecting it from erosion - an almost inevitable phenomenon for a stomach with an increased level of acidity. Thanks to this local improvement in immunity, the body can cope with the problem until acidity is normalized by proper nutrition or elimination of the factors that cause it.

Find the alginates (drugs that neutralize the stomach acid) in the pharmacy can be under the following names:

• "Gaviscon";
• Laminal.

Thus, the best way to get rid of the increased level of gastric acidity is to eliminate the cause of the pathology and apply the correctly chosen symptomatic therapy in the form of a medical product with proven efficacy and safety.