A pregnant woman has hailed a strange 25p product as being the perfect cure for her heartburn - and she now swears by it more than Gaviscon.
Liverpool Echo reporter Abigail Nicholson said she felt "really lucky" with her pregnancy after she went through the first 14 weeks without morning sickness or cravings that kept her up at night. But when her second trimester hit, she suddenly began getting a "heavy feeling" in her chest and "what felt like a puddle of acid" in her throat when she slept.
Turning to the trusty medicine Gaviscon to try and ease her heartburn, Abigail found she couldn't keep it down thanks to the way pregnancy had made her gag reflex "super sensitive", so she took to the internet to find a better solution. Here's her account of what she tried, and the miracle 25p cure she found.
Abigail recalled: "I did what any woman in her 20s would do - I put a picture on my Instagram story with a picture of a bottle of Gaviscon and a banana with the caption: 'I thought I was safe from the heartburn ... I was not'. When I woke up the next morning I had a number of messages from friends giving me tips for my issue.
"From medication to ask for from my midwife to food and drink options such as blue top milk. But I was intrigued when a friend I went to school with, who has two little ones herself, said 'girl, apparently Love Heart sweets are meant to help'.
"With Halloween having been and gone just days before, I had a tiny packet of Swizzels Love Hearts in the cupboard and decided I would test the theory after having lunch. I had just three of the sweets and it wasn't until a few hours later that I noticed the heavy feeling in my chest was no longer there. I couldn't believe it.
"I tested the theory out for the next few days just to check it wasn't a one-off, and sure enough one week later I was still going strong with no heartburn symptoms. The real test came when one of my work colleagues said they were suffering from heartburn while on shift.
"I laughed and told her now was the moment to see if the Love Hearts were a load of nonsense. But once again when I asked her how her heartburn was an hour later she smiled and said it was gone. The best thing of all is Love Hearts cost just 25p in Tesco, or you can buy 24 packs on Amazon for £12.70. It's safe to say I will never use Gaviscon again."
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