by BJ Armstrong

Dear Readers:

You mean so much the whole year through that's why this comes to say ....
How many warm and special thoughts are there with you today. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're into our second month of 2004. The shortest month of the year. It's a "heart" month or "love" month with Valentine's Day being the holiday. Everyone starts to get sentimental and mushy near the 14th with ... roses, candy, valentine cards and hearts, hearts, hearts everywhere.

So what can we do with that burning sensation right under your rib cage and it won't go away? This is the inferno of that after-dinner bother (sorry to change on you right in mid-stream) but I'm talking about Heartburn!

The cause of this post-dinner fire is not "will you be my valentine," but a muscle that relaxes to let food pass into the stomach, then quickly closes. But when it doesn't close properly then it's ... "hello, Heartburn!"

The main causes of heartburn are:
1. Obesity
2. Stress
3. Wrong diet.

If you have heartburn daily or several times a week, see a doctor. If you think you have heartburn and its accompanied by chest pains or pain radiating into the neck and shoulder .. it could be a heart attack. See your doctor!

Lover Boy, watch what you eat. Coffee, alcohol, spicy foods and citrus foods often bring on the blaze. You might forget the onions. Bad for the breath anyway. Sweetheart. Drink water with your meals. This

helps to wash stomach acids back into your stomach. And darling, your after-dinner habits may be causing your heartburn. Avoid drinking, smoking, napping and lifting right after dinner. So, please don't take out the garbage for a couple of hours, honey.

Pretty Baby .. place the head of your bed on six inch blocks. This seems to reduce heartburn at nighttime. Also, if you're in the habit of lying on your right side, try sleeping on your left side instead. In that position stomach acid is less likely to make its way up into your esophagus. Although exercise is great for physical fitness, running can cause "runner's reflux." If that's the problem, try other forms of exercise that do not jostle the body so much.

Won't you be my valentine and get relief with antacids? But timing is important! Dr. Dennis Deckter, Ph,D for Digestive Research says, "use antacids after you eat but before heartburn occurs. Food and drink wash them away."

Oh yes, Sweeties, don't forget Ground-Hog day, February 2nd. If the sun is shining and the ground-hog can see his shadow, he goes back to sleep for a while and winter is not over. If the ground-hog cannot see his shadow, he begins his springtime activities. Only superstitious people believe this story.

The February sunshine steeps your boughs,
And tints the buds and swells the leaves within.
  --- William Cullen Bryant