If you suffer from severe heartburn, you may find that simple over the counter antacids don't always do the job well enough to provide real relief. And while any relief from heartburn is great to have, people generally want to be free of the pain of heartburn so they can enjoy themselves when eating.
For sufferers of severe or chronic heartburn, sometimes it's best to turn to the doctor for help and ask for some medicine for heartburn relief. You may be familiar with some of these types through commercials on television, so it helps to know what's really useful among these for you.
H2-Receptor Antagonists
The class of drugs known as H2-receptor antagonists work to block the actions of histamines, which stimulate the production of acid in the stomach. The development of these drugs started in the 1960s out of an effort to determine how to block the way histamines work in the stomach to produce acid, which provides relief for heartburn and other stomach remedies, such as ulcers and dyspepsia.
One of the advantages to using H2-receptor antagonists for heartburn relief is that the drug can be taken before meals, in anticipation of heartburn symptoms, which is a great benefit to those who suffer from chronic heartburn. The effects of the drugs also tend to last a long time, often more than six hours. This class of drugs includes such familiar names as Tagamet and Zantac, the latter of the two the most sold prescription drug by 1988.
Proton Pump Inhibitors
Replacing H2-receptor antagonists as tops in heartburn relief are the proton pump inhibitors, which do much the same job as the H2-receptor antagonists, but much more effectively. The way these drugs work is by blocking the entire enzyme production reaction in gastric cells, rather than just inhibiting the chemicals that help stimulate the reaction.
The drug is actually in an inactive form when taken, but reacts when it enters cells in the stomach to become active and do the job that it's meant to do. The result of this is an effective job of preventing the production of gastric acid entirely and for over two days, a big difference in the effect and duration. One familiar brand name for this class of heartburn relief drug is Prilosec.
Of the two main types of drugs for heartburn relief, the proton pump inhibitors have mostly replaced the H2-receptor antagonists because it works so much better for providing stomach relief. If you do suffer from severe or chronic heartburn, you should discuss the option of taking these drugs to help you get much-needed heartburn relief.
