How to use baking soda for stomach pain and cramps? What are some good recipes using baking soda? How much baking soda can be drunk daily? What are the side effects? And finally what are the other natural remedies for stomach cramps and its pains?
I. Brief Reminder on Stomach Cramps and Pain
During a heavy meal or even several hours after, you may feel discomfort in your abdomen.
Stomach cramps are a pain in the upper abdomen. It is unpleasant and restrictive and can be disabling enough to prevent you from carrying out your activities.
Eating is the number one cause of stomach cramps. It is often a sign of a poor eating routine or particular stress. Sometimes stomach cramps are the result of both.
Any product that can increase the acidity of your stomach is a likely source of stomach cramps. Even coffee, if taken on an empty stomach, can cause this kind of discomfort.
Stomach pain can also be caused by bacteria, viruses, or inflammation.
II. Baking soda for stomach Pain and Cramps
1. Benefits of Baking Soda for Stomach Pain and Cramps
The consumption of baking soda is what is commonly called a grandmother’s remedy for stomach cramps.
It is a compound long known for its virtues on digestive health. Bicarbonate improves the digestive capacities of the human body.
On heartburn, for example, it relieves pain. This is due to its pain-relieving properties.
Gastroesophageal reflux is a rise of hydrochloric acid from the stomach to the esophagus. Taking bicarbonate acts on this excess acidity, which it neutralizes and transforms into sodium chloride.
It can also be used after a very heavy meal to help digestion.
2. How to Use Baking Soda for Stomach Pain and Cramps
Against stomach cramps, the use of baking soda is quite simple.
If you feel bloated, just dilute a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water.
Drink the mixture slowly.
The same treatment can be applied if you experience heartburn.
However, avoid drinking bicarbonate water if you are on a low-sodium diet. Or if you have high blood pressure.
Do not drink this liquid more than twice a day.
3. Baking Soda Lemon and Apple Cider Vinegar for Stomach Pain and Cramps (Recipe)
Baking soda and apple cider vinegar are natural products that allow you to significantly reduce the level of acidity in your body.
It should be noted that stomach pain and cramps can occur after eating too acidic a meal.
Thus, mixing these two ingredients in a recipe can help relieve your stomach pain and cramps.
To do this, you need to have at your disposal: 3 glasses of water (600 ml), 1 teaspoon of baking soda for consumption, and 6 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (60 ml).
Thus, the mixture of these two ingredients, for the realization of a recipe, can allow you to relieve your stomach aches and cramps.
You can replace the apple cider vinegar with lime juice to obtain a balanced pH.
You must mix these ingredients until the baking soda is dissolved. After that, you are advised to divide the quantity into three parts.
You can drink this mixture hot, warm, or cold. It is recommended that you take this natural remedy before your next meal.
4. How Much Baking Soda is Safe to Drink Daily
Baking soda is a product that should be drunk in moderation to avoid any problems. If possible, consult your doctor before taking it.
It should be noted that people between the ages of 5 and 60 can take up to 3 glasses of baking soda per day. While people over 60 years old should limit themselves to 2 doses per day.
In general, it is recommended that you take one glass, well before brushing your teeth, at sunrise. Do this at least half an hour before breakfast.
Half an hour before lunch, you can have another drink. This way, you can have the last drink half an hour before dinner.
III. Other Baking Soda Benefits for Stomach and Digestive System
1. Good for Digestion
Baking soda is excellent for digestion. Indeed, it is a product that is used for its antacid properties and thus helps to relieve pyrosis, i.e. heartburn.
Once absorbed in liquid form (associated with a glass of water), it releases CO2 bubbles when in contact with food acid.
2. Baking Soda for Acid Reflux
According to health care providers, in general, baking soda is useful for providing occasional temporary relief for acid reflux.
Therefore, in a large glass of water, mix half a teaspoon of baking soda powder.
This, two hours after a meal, neutralizes acidity that, in the case of reflux, is particularly painful.
3. Baking Soda and Heartburn
Baking soda relieves heartburn quickly and effectively. It is then recommended that you dilute a teaspoon of baking soda, about 5 grams, in a glass of cold water. Afterward, you should drink this mixture slowly.
This is a natural remedy that can also be consumed when you suffer from heavy digestion.
4. Baking Soda for Diarrhea
Baking soda is known as an excellent antibacterial. This product will help you get rid of your diarrhea if it is caused by bacteria or parasites.
In addition, baking soda will help you rehydrate your body, which is essential in cases of diarrhea.
5. Baking Soda for Stomach Ulcer Pain
Baking soda also relieves the pain of stomach ulcers. Specifically, it should be noted that regardless of the cause of the ulcer, antacid treatments based on magnesium salts, aluminum, calcium carbonate, or baking soda are very often useful as a supplement for a few days, to reduce pain.
6. Baking Soda for Gas
This product is also effective against gas. Indeed, it can be indicated to improve flatulence.
To do this, dilute a teaspoon in a large glass of water to drink slowly and whole, even if the taste of saltwater is not very pleasant. It is a very useful product.
IV. Other Natural Remedies for Stomach Cramps and Pain
1) Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is known to stimulate the production of gastric juices. As a result, it not only promotes intestinal motility but also gastric emptying. The food does not stagnate in the stomach and does not go up towards the esophagus.
To take advantage of its benefits, simply mix a tablespoon of cider vinegar in warm water every morning on an empty stomach for 15 days.
2) Activated Charcoal
Activated charcoal is a natural remedy to fight against bloating, and even gastroenteritis and intestinal infections.
Obtained from the calcination of willow, aspen, poplar, or lime wood, activated charcoal absorbs toxins.
Once a day, dilute a teaspoon of activated charcoal in a glass of water and drink. Do this for 4 to 5 days, and your symptoms will disappear.
If you are already taking medication, avoid activated charcoal. It may interfere with the effects of the medication.
3) Ginger
Ginger, a good tonic, can also be used in case of stomach pains and especially burns. Moreover, it favors digestion and the disappearance of intestinal gases.
To do this, consume at will fresh and grated in your small dishes. To make an herbal tea, you need to mix 0.5 g of ginger powder in a cup of hot water and drink gently, 2 to 3 times a day.
4) Cabbage Juice
Drinking cabbage juice is another way to naturally soothe stomach pain and heal intestinal sores.
It is possible to buy it in the shops already made. But you can also, due to a juicer, prepare your own cabbage juice. Drink one glass of cabbage juice a day until your symptoms disappear completely.
Eating cabbage with your meals will also help you enjoy the benefits of this food.
5) Peppermint
Peppermint because of its invigorating and stimulating properties allows you to cure heartburn and cramps.
Boil 150 ml of water with 1 tablespoon of dried peppermint leaves and simmer for about 10 minutes. You are advised to drink 3 to 4 cups a day after or between meals to prevent or fight digestive disorders.
6) Chamomile tea
To fight your stomach cramps, in a liter of simmering water, add 4 tablespoons of dried chamomile leaves. After the beverage has steeped for 10 minutes, strain it.
Take one cup before and after each meal.
Chamomile is an antispasmodic and digestive. It acts on stomach pain, bloating, or diverticulitis.
7) Heating Pad
Heat is known to be effective against cramps and other stomach disorders. This is scientifically proven.
The heating pad produces pleasant heat where you place it. So if you have stomach cramps, it is recommended that you place your heating pad on your stomach.
8) Fennel Essential Oil
Fennel oil, because of its carminative and antispasmodic properties, is recommended for stomach cramps and pain.
To do this, dilute one drop of this oil into four drops of vegetable oil, then apply and massage the affected area.
For digestive disorders, dilute in vegetable oil, and massage the abdomen.
V. Potential Side Effects of Baking Soda
Sodium bicarbonate can reduce the blood concentration of certain drugs such as salicylates, phenobarbital, or lithium.
You are therefore advised to inform your doctor if you use sodium bicarbonate when you have to take the above-mentioned drugs.
VI. Can Baking Soda Make Ulcers Worse?
Baking soda does not, in principle, aggravate ulcers, but rather, it helps to relieve ulcers.
You should not simply abuse this natural product when using it to soothe your ulcers.
It is even recommended that you get the advice of your doctor before using this natural remedy.
Useful Links:
Evaluation of Acute Abdominal Pain in Adults
How to Calm an Anxious Stomach: The Brain-Gut Connection
How to Treat Plantar Warts with Baking Soda?
Baking Soda for Muscle Cramps [Use & Benefits]
Baking soda for oral lichen planus [Use & Benefits]