Heartburn does not affect a person’s heart, despite its misleading name. Heartburn is actually a burning sensation that occurs in your lower chest, usually accompanied by a bitter or sour taste in your mouth. Most people will experience heartburn while lying down or after they have consumed a large meal. Heartburn can last as little as a few minutes or as long as many painful hours, and those that put up with heartburn can be miserable while they have it..
The food that you eat passes down an approximately ten inch long tube called the esophagus, on its journey to your stomach. To gain access to the stomach from the esophagus, the food needs to pass through an opening between the two. This opening then usually closes, but when it fails to do so, it can allow stomach acid to flow back through it and into the esophagus. This is known as acid reflux, and when the stomach acid irritates the walls of the esophagus, heartburn is the end result. A group of muscles called the lower esophageal sphincter has the job of closing off the esophagus after liquids or foods have made their way down, but sometimes it doesn’t close tightly enough. If you have a hiatal hernia, where the top section of the stomach projects up into the chest cavity, you will be more predisposed to heartburn. This condition generates a weaker lower esophageal sphincter, making it more likely to allow stomach acid through in the wrong direction.
There are many things that have the ability to make heartburn worse, including pregnancy, smoking, alcohol, eating tomato products or citrus fruits with their acidic make-up, fatty or spicy foods, onions, medications such as aspirin or ibuprofen, and carrying too much weight. Occasional heartburn is not a serious problem, but if you are a frequent sufferer, it can lead to damage of the lining of the esophagus. This condition is known as esophagitis, and can cause the esophagus to narrow, leading to potential problems swallowing and the chance of bleeding.
Gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD) has many of the same symptoms of heartburn, but those that are afflicted with it can also be subjected to belching, vomitting blood, a sore throat, regurgitation of their meals, nausea, a hard time swallowing, and coughing. If your heartburn comes with some of these symptoms, it is more serious and requires treatment. To treat simple heartburn, the best way is to prevent it from happening to begin with. Try eating smaller sized meals, since a full stomach will exert extra pressure on your lower esophageal sphincter, making it more probable that there will be a reflux of acid. Do not go to bed or lie down for two to three hours after ingesting a meal, as lying down with food in your stomach has the same effect of exerting the unwanted pressure. Do not bend over or exercise after meals for the same reason.
Those that endure the pain of heartburn would be well advised to lose weight, as being too heavy can also increase pressure that results in reflux. A loss of just a few pounds can make a huge difference, especially in those with GERD. There are chemicals in the smoke of cigarettes that has been shown to weaken the lower esophageal sphincter, so that’s yet another reason to stop smoking. You should try sleeping with your head raised higher than your stomach, at least six inches, so that you lessen the likelihood of stomach acid and partially digested food making its way back into the lower esophagus. Raise the legs at the head of the bed itself rather than relying on using more pillows to accomplish this. Do not wear tight fitting clothes that squeeze your belly, forcing food and acid upwards.
There are several brands of medications that can be purchased over the counter to aid in relieving heartburn symptoms. Antacids such as Mylanta or Maalox are available in many flavors and forms to help to neutralize the effects of your stomach acid. Pepsid AC, Tagamet, and Zantac lower your stomach’s acid production, while other drugs can all but totally stop acid manufacturing in your system. If you have the burning sensation of heartburn, but with a feeling of the chest being compressed or crushed, seek immediate medical attention, as this could be a heart attack, often mistaken for heartburn by those who get heartburn often. Heartburn symptoms can also be confused with those of indigestion. When all else fails, there is a highly successful surgery called fundoplication, that is performed to strengthen the lower esophageal sphincter muscles, tying the stomach in such a way that it prevents the backwards flow of acid.
