What Is Heartburn?

What is heartburn? Heartburn is a condition in which a person feels a burping and burning sensation in the chest. The common symptoms of heartburn are belching and burning that triggers the lower esophageal sphincter to loosen and allowing the stomach acids to slip out and flow back to the esophagus. Heartburn brings serious discomfort that is why it is important to know what triggers heartburn.

Apparently, there are lots of people finding ways to get rid heartburn. Some people are experiencing the discomfort of heartburn without experiencing acid reflux. However, other people are suffering chronic and severe heartburn. Nevertheless, regardless of the severity of the condition you will surely find the right cure. On the other hand, there are instances when heartburn is mistaken to heart attack because of the chest pain. In this sense, it is important to understand how these two differs.

Firstly, you should know that heartburn is a symptom and not a disease. It is characterized by burning sensation or pain in the chest area and followed by acid reflux. Severe and persistent heartburn indicates gastroesophageal reflux disease that requires medical care. It occurs when the lower esophageal sphincter does not function well in such a way that it allows stomach acid and undigested food to flow back to the esophagus. If this happen bad taste is left in the mouth followed by burning sensation.

Moreover, persistent tightening in the chest and momentary burning sensation is the key difference between heartburn and heart attack. The chest pain is not alleviated unless the heartburn lapsed. In addition, nausea is common to both heart attack and heartburn. However, nausea in heartburn is short-lived and cause stomach upset. While in heart attack nausea is accompanied by dizziness. Nevertheless, in order to ensure your health and safety you should consult your doctor to know the cause of the chest pain.

Heartburn Triggers

• Pain relievers – Though this kind of medication relieves your headaches yet it can cause heartburn. Likewise, anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin can also cause burning sensation in the chest.
• Tight clothing – Skinny and tight jeans can squeeze your abdomen and result to heartburn.
• After-dinner mints – The peppermint is ideal for relaxing the digestive system muscles and for upset stomach. However, it can also relax the lower esophageal sphincter and eventually allow the stomach acid to spill out.
• Smoking – Tobacco does not only cause heart disease, cancer, lung disease and wrinkle but also it makes the lower esophageal sphincter weak.

Lifestyle Remedies

Obviously, heartburn brings real pain. However, you should not let the pain rule your life. Instead, you should find ways on how you can get rid the pain. Fortunately, simple modification of lifestyle can eliminate the burning pain that making your life miserable.  The first step to do in changing your lifestyle is to be watchful with your food and the way you eat. Keep in mind that the more food you put in your stomach the higher possibility of producing acid. In this sense, it is important to take smaller meals throughout the day. Likewise, you should avoid intake of the notorious heartburn triggers that include citrus fruits, tomatoes, chocolate and caffeine.

In the same manner, you should also avoid fatty foods so that you can trim down your weight. Remember that being overweight has the great risk of experiencing heartburn. The extra fat in your belly can put pressure on your stomach in such a way that it would push the stomach acid to flow back to your esophagus.

Nighttime is a real nightmare for people who suffer heartburn. Lying down can keep the stomach acid to stuck in your esophagus. The best thing to do is to elevate the head of your bed at least 9 inches higher that the normal height. Additionally, you should avoid eating three hours before retiring to bed so that you can sleep empty stomach.

Heartburn Treatments

If changing your lifestyle does not work in relieving heartburn attack, then it is about time to see your doctor for medication and treatment options. Upon diagnosing heartburn your doctor would prescribe medications to prevent, neutralize and block the production of stomach acid. However, make sure to tell your doctor everything about the symptoms so that you can ensure that the medication would work best in your condition.

You can also try less traditional methods of relieving heartburn such as chewing sugar-free gums. This way would stimulate the saliva production that would buffer the stomach acid. Likewise, chewing would let you swallow more in such a way that it helps in pushing back down the acid in your throat. Other treatment options that you can try are using natural remedies such as herbs.

Chamomile is one of the natural remedies ideal for heartburn. It has anti-inflammatory properties that can prevent inflammation of
your esophagus due to acid reflux. Also, licorice serves as protective barrier for stomach acids. However, as a rule of thumb you should not use any herbal remedy without consulting your doctor especially if you are taking medications. Would you believe that relaxation can also relieve heartburn? Yes, it is true and possible because heartburn commonly affects people who are stress. In this sense, you should observe stress-busting therapies such as acupuncture and meditation to get rid with heartburn.

Furthermore, women experience heartburn more often as compared to men. This is possible especially when there is hormonal change in the body of a woman. That is why oftentimes most pregnant women suffer heartburn because of hormonal changes. On the other hand, aside from hormonal changes other factors that cause heartburn are the same between men and women.  The food is the most common factor that highly triggers heartburn. For pregnant women it is important to seek treatment immediately because it may be harmful to the unborn child. Since pregnant woman are prohibited to take drugs, the best thing to do is take natural remedies that are also available inside your home. Keep in mind that pregnancy entails lots of discomforts and you should not allow the discomfort of heartburn to rule your life. In this way you should keep in mind all the simple techniques that can help in alleviating the discomforts of heartburn.

On the other hand, by consulting your doctor you will have the chance to know the underlying conditions. Chronic heartburn can lead to more serious health conditions like Barrett’s esophagus, GERD, hiatal hernia and esophageal cancer. The Barrett’s esophagus is the result of over exposure of esophagus to stomach acids for long period of time. Likewise, hiatal hernia can also cause heartburn because the protruding part of the stomach adds pressure to the stomach acids. Esophageal cancer is the result of chronic irritation of esophagus. That is why to avoid the underlying conditions of heartburn it is important to seek immediate treatment.

Heartburn does not only affects adults but also infants and children. The pain is more debilitating and hard to understand especially in infants. The prevention for heartburn in infants and children is similar to adults. Since milk can also increase the stomach acid production it is required to give non-fat and low-fat dairy products like milk, yogurt and ice cream. Parents should monitor their children when experiencing heartburn so that they will know if the heartburn attack becomes persistent.

There are many things to consider with regards to heartburn attack. And the best thing to do is understand what heartburn is, its symptoms, causes, prevention and treatment. Once an individual know these information there is no difficulty in recognizing and determining how heartburn occurs. In addition, when taking treatment it is important to do it religiously in order to obtain good results. Obtaining the best cure for heartburn can help you get rid the painful discomforts and gives you the opportunity to go back to your usual life.