How To Treat Acidity?

Posted on Wed, 16 Jan 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 Answered on

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : what to do to reduce acidity(when you skip food)

Answered by Dr. Om Lakhani (37 minutes later)

Hi XXXXXXX,

Acidity as patients often describe it is caused by three major things
1. A Ulcer in the stomach
2. Reflux of acid contents from stomach to your food pipe
3. increase sensitivity of your stomach lining to acid secretion.

For both the things the idea is to reduce the acid content in your stomach. This can be done by simply taking antacids, but the problem with antacids is that they have a short duration of action. The better and more modern solution is to reduce the acid contents by reducing over a longer period of time by using drugs called Proton pump inhibitors. A doctor close to your home can prescribe the same. I suggest you take it for alteast 2-4 months to have a good long term effect. You can take simple antacids (like those advertised on television) along with the Proton pump inhibitors to give you additional short term relief.

Hope I have answered your query. If you have any further questions I will be happy to help

Regards
Dr. Om Lakhani
Consultant Physician
(Former XXXXXXX Registrar- Asian Institute of Gastroenterology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar