Heartburn and acid reflux - another of the health problems I encounter in my practice far too often. Everyone has experienced it at some point, most women certainly during pregnancy, and many of you even take long-term medication to suppress the symptoms. From the perspective of Western medicine, acid reflux is caused by a malfunctioning valve between the oesophagus and the stomach. The purpose of this valve is to allow food to pass into the stomach, but at the same time, it should prevent stomach juices and partially digested food from rising back into the oesophagus (after all, reflux translates as 'backflow'). It sees dietary errors as the cause of reflux. However, a so-called hiatal hernia can also be to blame. Treatment usually consists of administering drugs that block the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. In more severe cases, surgery is recommended, a so-called laparoscopic fundoplication, which is performed as a day-case surgery.

The most typical symptom is heartburn. Stomach acid erodes the lining of the oesophagus, and we feel a burning sensation in the area above the stomach and in the chest. The burning is often accompanied by very severe pain behind the breastbone. The pain can be so intense and sharp that a person might mistake it for angina pectoris or a heart attack. The burning most often occurs after overeating, or after consuming specific foods such as pastries, sweet or fried dishes, alcohol, and large amounts of coffee. In more severe cases, patients complain that they feel the burning even after drinking water.

Less well-known symptoms of reflux include bad breath, increased tooth decay, gum inflammation, hoarseness, or frequent coughing. I have already had several patients who were diagnosed with bronchial asthma, but we eventually discovered that the cause of their breathing difficulties was gastric reflux.

Chinese medicine always strives to get to the root cause of every illness, even if it can be a long and complex journey. To understand how reflux develops in the terms of Chinese medicine, I must first describe the activity of the Spleen system and its paired organ, the Stomach, which is responsible for digesting food and transforming it into Qi energy and blood. Qi and blood serve as fuel for our organism. The Spleen sends the 'pure' upwards and the Stomach sends the 'turbid' downwards, meaning that the Spleen governs ascent and the Stomach governs descent. Furthermore, I must mention that the Spleen loves everything warm and dislikes cold, whereas the Stomach is exactly the opposite. It heats up very easily.

If we look at the Stomach through the lens of the aforementioned theses, we see that if it is weakened, instead of its descending function, it begins to rise and even heat up. And as we know, heat has a natural tendency to rise upwards. You see, we are getting closer... It only remains to explain how unwanted heat in the Stomach arises. To simplify it, there are three causes:

1) Foods of a hot nature

These bring fire directly into the Stomach. All hot, sharp, spicy, pungent, fried, roasted, fatty foods and, of course, alcohol. So, when you have a grilled steak in the evening and wash it down properly with alcohol, think about what your "poor Stomach" will have to say about it.

2) Compost in the intestines

The second cause is the accumulation of food in the digestive tract. We have said that the Spleen system is responsible for the digestive process. Not only for the transformation of food into Qi energy and blood, but also for its transport, for ensuring it moves continuously through the digestive tract. However, if the Spleen energy is weakened, it stops moving the food and it begins to accumulate. This creates a blockage that we perceive as bloating or the feeling of an inflated balloon. Belching is also often added.

If you have a compost heap in your garden, you probably know that its long-lying contents begin to heat up after a certain time. It is the same with accumulated food. It too is capable of creating heat, which rises upwards and heats the Stomach.

In essence, you do not even need to have weakened Spleen energy for food accumulation to occur. A large barbecue party with a large amount of roasted and fatty meat, which even a strong Spleen cannot process quickly enough, is enough. And the heat is born – heat from the grilled meat and heat from the slow processing of excess food.

3) The eternal enemy: stress

The third cause is stress. One of the five systems into which Chinese medicine divides our organism is the Liver. And the Liver is a system extremely sensitive to emotions, to strong emotions, suppressed emotions, and to stressful situations. The Liver is already overflowing with energy in itself, and every stressful energy increases this overflow. Our "cauldron of emotions" then has a tendency to overheat and looks for a way to release its excess pressure. Most often into the head (the cause of migraines associated with vomiting), into the entire body system (the cause of hypertension), or towards the Stomach (thus another source of its heating).

Now you know that there are multiple reasons why our Stomach overheats. All this fiery energy rises - it rises into the oesophagus, into the throat, into the lungs, into the oral cavity, anywhere in the upper half of the body. Besides reflux, there are more manifestations of heat in the Stomach such as: flushed skin on the face, inflammation in the eyes, sleep problems, etc.

We are responsible for the fire in the Stomach ourselves. In 99% of cases, a poor lifestyle is to blame. Even in cases where there is a mechanical problem with the "valve" between the oesophagus and the stomach, the cause is usually incorrect dietetics.

If we want to prevent problems with fire in the Stomach, we must strengthen the Qi energy of the Spleen. Simply put, we must eat regularly, healthily and with variety, not overeat (Chinese medicine says, eat until you are 80% full) and eliminate foods that contain fire. Learn to control emotions - do not suppress them, nor stress unnecessarily.

One of the great helpers in clearing heat from the Stomach is the medicinal mushroom Hericium. You may know it by its English name Lion’s Mane or its Latin name Hericium erinaceus. Like other mushrooms, Hericium can strengthen our immune system. This is excellent, especially if certain pathogens overgrow in the digestive tract. A typical example is Helicobacter pylori. In recent years, Hericium has been increasingly used for various neurological problems, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, neuropathy, or neurasthenia. Scientists have discovered that Hericium is capable of stimulating the production of NGF (Nerve Growth Factor). NGF is a protein that stimulates the growth of nerve cells and helps not only to protect nerves but also to repair them if they are damaged. According to the latest research, supporting NGF also improves the survival of people after a heart attack. It reduces the risk of heart failure. For this reason, students also love Hericium, as they have found that it helps them concentrate better and remember more information.

However, what interests us most is the ability of Hericium to cool the Stomach. We could easily use herbs as well (e.g., Coptis chinensis - Huang Lian). These can clear stomach heat very drastically, but rapid and strong cooling with herbs can cause weakness of the Spleen (and thus the entire digestion). Hericium has the advantage that it clears heat in a mild and slower way.

For most health problems, I recommend vital mushrooms in extract form. However, if I need to clear heat from the Stomach, it is better to use Hericium in powder form. Dried Hericium is ground on special machines using the shellbroken method into a very fine powder, which disrupts the chitin shell of the mushroom cell, allowing our body to utilise all the active substances contained within the mushroom cell. Mix one teaspoon of the powder in water 2–3 times a day and drink. A second option is to boil the dried Hericium in water for approximately 30 minutes. The slow cooling method requires patience and time. It usually takes 2–3 months before you feel relief. Sometimes, however, it is a matter of days.

Hericium is a good helper. However, do not forget that the problems associated with fire in the Stomach are in most cases caused by how we live. And that is what we must change first and foremost. If you do not do that, you will be drinking the Hericium drink for the rest of your life and the difficulties associated with fire in the Stomach will keep coming back. Try to find a compromise, pamper your Stomach and resolve the cause of the difficulties once and for all. Then you will never suffer from heartburn again.