I have been on over the counter pills for acid reflux and wanted to do something natural. If you follow their outline in using Gastro Ven you can fix you stomach. I did take two pills before every meal and also made a tea with 2-3 pills steeped and then chilled and drank the 16 oz bottle throughout the day. Had to do longer than 2 bottles but my acid reflux was bad. You then move on to take the HCL and HCL activator.