# How to temporarily treat heartburn in the early morning **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 18, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200 "2015-01-18T19:14:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200/1 "2015-01-18T19:14:29Z")
For the past week or so, I have had a nasty stomach bug. I haven’t actually thrown up, but I’ve been tired, nauseous, had gas, stomach pain, a fever, etc. I’m finally feeling better and relatively normal, except for the past two mornings around 5 AM I’ve woken up with really, really bad heartburn/acid reflux, bad enough to prevent me from sleeping or even staying in any one position comfortably. Normally, I almost never get heartburn in any situation, and I wake up around 7 or 8. I’m 27 years old with no other health conditions, in good shape, etc. Both days, I ate a small breakfast of eggs and toast at 5 AM, and it quickly went away and I was able to go back to sleep. I didn’t eat anything unusual the night before. I’d prefer not to have to deal with this tomorrow, I have a busy week at work and I don’t need to be missing sleep. I assume my stomach is still irritated in some manner from whatever illness I got, and that this will go away with time, but in the meantime, is there any OTC medication I can buy that will reduce these symptoms enough for me to get a good night of uninterrupted sleep? I will see a doctor about it if it doesn’t go away in a few more days, but at the moment I don’t think it’s warranted. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200/2 "2015-01-18T19:20:19Z")
Baking soda has always worked for me when I need quick temporary relief from acid reflux, A teaspoon of baking soda in a shot of warm water, wait 5 minutes and repeat if necessary (rarely need to repeat). ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200/3 "2015-01-18T21:03:29Z")
Drinking a large glass of water often takes care of heartburn for me. Barring that, something like Tums or Rolaids might help if you don’t like zoid’s baking soda recommendation. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200/4 "2015-01-18T21:20:21Z")
Tums if it happens, sleep on incline and on your left side to help prevent it from happening (I am not a doctor but I’ve had GERD my entire life). ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200/5 "2015-01-18T22:14:48Z")
If you aren’t the type to get too groggy, take a Unisom (Doxylamine) before bed. Seriously. It was recommended for me, for morning sickness/reflux, and really worked…but it made me want to go back to sleep by 11 AM. YMMV Also keeping a juice box and saltines or Ritz crackers on the nightstand, for waking up early with heartburn, can help quickly. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200/6 "2015-01-19T00:06:28Z")
If eating works, keep Saltines or oyster crackers on hand to eat when you wake up. They have baking soda in them to soak Up the acid and fill your tummy a bit. I wouldn’t recommend Ritz…they are too greasy. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200/7 "2015-01-19T00:43:01Z")
I looked up yoga for indigestion, picked out 2 easy poses, and just do those now when I feel like that. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200/8 "2015-01-19T00:50:11Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Baking soda has always worked for me when I need quick temporary relief from acid reflux, A teaspoon of baking soda in a shot of warm water, wait 5 minutes and repeat if necessary (rarely need to repeat). I was going to post this. A little bicarb will get rid of the excess acid, and baking soda is cheap, besides. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-temporarily-treat-heartburn-in-the-early-morning/710200/9 "2015-01-19T00:54:07Z")
Nexium works better for me than anything else ever has, but it’s not a quick acting fix, it has to build up in your system for a few days before you start to get relief. But, for me at least, it’s pretty much “cured” me, as I haven’t gotten heartburn symptoms while taking it. My mom’s been using it for years (since back when it was prescription only) and her heartburn is a lot worse than mine, but it also helps her better than anything (she takes a higher dose than me, though). For short term, ranitidine probably helped me the best, but sometimes even that didn’t work. Downing a handful of extra strength Tums was a last resort when that happened. Sometimes it helped, sometimes nothing did.