What Causes Indigestion and Stomach Pains...

Indigestion typically causes abdominal pain, in some cases the pain is worse than others, depending on the cause behind the pain. Often the solution for the indigestion stomach pain is to change your diet, so that meals are smaller or the amount of acidic foods eaten each day is reduced. In other cases, drinking alcohol may be the issue behind the indigestion stomach pain and you must get help to stop the drinking. Sometimes the cause behind the pain can be taking too much pain relief medication which is very hard on the lining of the stomach, such as aspirin or ibuprofen. In those cases the pain relief medication must be changed to something that is less damaging on the stomach.

Changing Habits

As mentioned previously, if indigestion stomach pain is caused by heartburn, there are several solutions to the problem. One solution is to eat smaller meals, which means that you will eat more meals during the day, but each meal will be a small portion of food so the stomach never gets over filled. In addition, the types of foods you eat should be monitored so that spicy foods are not eaten, at least not regularly, in addition to high fat foods, which can cause the indigestion. In some people, caffeine and carbonated beverages can also exacerbate the problem, as well as alcohol.

In addition to a diet change, a healthy exercise plan should be implemented to help to reduce indigestion stomach pain. There is a two-fold reason for this. First, it helps the individual to get down to or to maintain a healthy weight. When there's too much fat on the body, it pushes on the stomach area and causes the acid in the stomach to come up the esophagus after eating. In addition to maintaining a healthy weight, exercising also helps to reduce stress for individuals, which can also be the cause of indigestion. As with any change to a person's lifestyle, exercise and diet plans should be thoroughly discussed with the person's physician to make sure there are not any more serious issues to deal with and to ensure that the diet and exercise plan fits that person's needs.

If these changes do not help ease the indigestion stomach pain, then the doctor should be consulted again to check for some more serious issues such as gallstones, peptic ulcers or stomach cancer.

Chronic Heartburn

Chronic heartburn affects many individuals today due to the fast paced lifestyle that so many people lead, in addition to the lack of proper nutritional habits and stressors in individuals' lives. This constant heartburn issue affects the quality of life for these individuals, making mealtime an unpleasant experience, knowing that the pain and nausea are usually coming after every meal. Although there are many different over the counter medications that can help with chronic heartburn, many of these will cause long term problems for those who take them on a regular basis. For instance, many of the antacids contain high amounts of sodium which can lead to high blood pressure in some individuals. Other antacids contain calcium, which can be good in some cases, but for those who are prone to gallstones or kidney stones, these tablets can greatly exacerbate the problem.

Solutions for Chronic Heartburn

As with many different health issues, chronic heartburn can be helped through living a life of moderation and taking care of the body that the individual has been given. Heartburn is often caused by eating meals with a lot of fatty foods in it, or meals that have high acidic content, such as with spicy foods. Eating meals on a regular basis that are high in fat is not good for any individual, since it can lead to obesity, high cholesterol and heart conditions. Eating high fat or high acid meals in moderation is the key to helping to reduce chronic heartburn.

Another common cause of chronic heartburn is eating too large of a meal at a time. When this is the case, the acid from the stomach gets pushed up into the esophagus where it does not belong and causes irritation, pain and often nausea. Eating meals until individuals are 'stuffed' is never a good idea since, again, it can lead to obesity and other health issues. For those with chronic heartburn, it is important to reduce meal sizes so that a feeling of satisfaction is reached but never the 'stuffed' feeling. Eating small meals throughout the day is not only healthier, but it helps to boost the metabolism so more calories are burned and the person is less prone to obesity.

Chronic heartburn is also experienced by individuals who are already overweight since the excess fat presses into the stomach and pushes the acid up into the esophagus. This can be the same experience that pregnant women have since the baby puts similar pressure on the stomach. For obese individuals, losing the extra weight through a moderate diet and exercise plan is essential for eliminating chronic heartburn and living a longer and fuller life.