Heartburn is caused when stomach acid travels upwards to places it shouldn’t be, like the esophagus and mouth. A burning sensation spreads through the chest as a result of the acid.
Heartburn occurs mostly when foods or drinks irritate the stomach. The acid usually comes up more easily after a person lies down immediately after eating.
Heartburn is usually not a cause for concern and goes away on its own. Since it can mimic more serious medical problems like a heart attack, it’s crucial to know how to spot it.
The level of discomfort associated with heartburn varies from mild to severe. Some of the symptoms of heartburn are as follows:
- There is a burning sensation behind the breastbone
- An acute burning sensation that is felt from the stomach up the neck
- A painful condition aggravated by bending forward, such as when you lie down or bend forward
- A sour taste in the mouth
- The following symptoms usually worsen after eating certain foods:
- Caffeine
- tea
- Sauce made from tomatoes
- Alcohol
- Sweets and chocolates
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The symptoms of heartburn can sometimes be out of the ordinary. There has been discomfort reported in:
- nose
- throat
- lungs
- ears
Heartburn can also feel like chest pain in some people. There may be so much chest pain that you fear you’re having a heart attack.
How Does Heartburn Feel? Prevent Acid Reflux and Heartburn with These 6 Tips
Heartburn and Pregnancy – Prevent Acid Reflux and Heartburn
The amount of heartburn experienced by pregnant women varies between 17 and 45 percent. By the third trimester, heartburn usually becomes more frequent.
Heartburn symptoms affect 39 percent of pregnant women in their first trimester, 72 percent of pregnant women in their third trimester.
Women who are pregnant are at increased risk of experiencing heartburn for a variety of reasons. Lower pressure in the sphincter that separates the stomach from the esophagus is one such result. This means the stomach acid can pass into the esophagus more easily.
Heartburn can also be aggravated by the growing uterus, which adds additional pressure to the stomach. While hormones maintain a pregnant woman’s health, they may also affect digestion, causing heartburn.
Heartburn in pregnancy doesn’t generally result in long-term complications. Women who are pregnant ordinarily experience this more often than women who are not pregnant.
Sometimes pregnant women experience more severe heartburn symptoms.
How Does Heartburn Feel? Prevent Acid Reflux and Heartburn with These 6 Tips
Indigestion and Heartburn
In spite of the common symptoms, heartburn and indigestion are different.
Indigestion is also called dyspepsia by doctors. Upper stomach pain is caused by this symptom. Indigestion may also cause the following symptoms:
- bloating
- nausea
- burping
- A general feeling of discomfort in the abdomen
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Indigestion and heartburn are both caused by foods you consume. Indgestion occurs when foods irritate the stomach and its lining. However, Heartburn is the result of stomach acid refluxing upward.
How Does Heartburn Feel? Prevent Acid Reflux and Heartburn with These 6 Tips
GERD – Prevent Acid Reflux and Heartburn
In people who suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), they may experience both indigestion and heartburn.
Acid reflux disease can potentially damage the esophagus in the form of chronic GERD. A person with GERD is more likely to be overweight, to smoke, and to have a hiatal hernia.
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Heartburn vs Heart Attack
Heartburn can cause symptoms that seem out of the ordinary or so severe that you worry you are having a heart attack.
Heart attacks don’t all cause the classic, debilitating chest pain seen on television and in films. The following are the differences between the two:
- Usually, heartburn symptoms appear after eating. Heart attacks are not associated with what you ate.
- You may notice a sour taste in your mouth or feel acid rise in your throat when you have heartburn. The symptoms of a heart attack may include nausea and abdominal pain.
- A burning sensation in the upper part of the stomach usually moves up to the chest when heartburn occurs. Pressure, tightness, or pain may be felt in the chest and spread to the arms, neck, jaw, and back after a heart attack.
- Antacids usually relieve heartburn. Symptoms of a heart attack aren’t.
Besides heart attacks, the following conditions may also be mistaken for heartburn:
- A gallbladder infection
- Symptoms of esophageal spasms
- Symptoms of Gastritis
- pancreatitis
- Symptoms of peptic ulcer
If you are unsure whether your symptoms are caused by heartburn or something else, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible.
You can reduce your heartburn symptoms by making several lifestyle changes if you experience frequent episodes. Here are a few examples:
- You should avoid foods known to trigger heartburn, including:
- Alcoholic beverages
- Caffeine-containing products
- Foods that are spicy
- Sweets and chocolates
- Your bed’s head should be elevated to prevent acid from entering your throat.
- Do not eat within three hours of going to bed.
- Heartburn relief medications over-the-counter (OTC) include:
- Pepcid (famotidine)
- Tagamet (cimetidine)
You may also be able to reduce your heartburn symptoms by losing weight if you’re overweight.
How Does Heartburn Feel? Prevent Acid Reflux and Heartburn with These 6 Tips
Pregnancy and Heart Burn treatment
As a result of concerns over harming the baby, pregnant women are not able to take certain medications that they used to take for heartburn.
The majority of pregnant women can resolve their symptoms with medications such as Tums, Rolaids, and Maalox. Many doctors recommend against taking magnesium-containing antacids during pregnancy due to concerns that they could inhibit labor contractions.
You should also avoid Alka-Seltzer. There is an increased risk of bleeding when pregnant due to the presence of aspirin.
Changing your lifestyle, however, may provide relief:
- Throughout the day, consume small meals frequently.
- Each bite should be chewed thoroughly.
- Avoid eating 2 to 3 hours before bedtime.
- Wear loose-fitting clothing instead.
- You can reduce acid reflux when you sleep by using pillows to support the head and upper body.
Speak with your doctor about other treatment options if you continue to experience heartburn.
Taking over-the-counter heartburn medications doesn’t cure your condition, so speak to your doctor.
Surgery may be recommended in rare cases when medications are not enough to control heartburn.
A doctor can suggest other options if you aren’t able to take OTC heartburn medications.
Heartburn is a relatively common symptom, but it can resemble a number of different conditions after a big meal or after eating certain foods.
You should seek emergency medical attention if you’re concerned it may be a heart attack. In other cases, lifestyle modifications, such as diet modifications and taking OTC drugs, can usually relieve symptoms.
How Does Heartburn Feel? Prevent Acid Reflux and Heartburn with These 6 Tips
6 Ways To Prevent Acid Reflux and Heartburn
1. You shouldn’t overeat
Lower esophageal sphincter is found where the esophagus meets the stomach.
By acting as a valve, it prevents the acidic contents of the stomach from entering the esophagus. When you swallow, spit, or vomit, the esophagus naturally opens. Otherwise, it should remain closed.
Acid reflux patients have weak or dysfunctional muscles. In some cases, acid reflux is caused by too much pressure on the muscle, which causes acid to escape.
Symptoms of reflux usually occur after a meal. Having a larger meal may also make reflux symptoms worse.
You can minimize acid reflux by avoiding eating large meals.
CONCLUSION:
Eat small meals instead of large ones. It seems that acid reflux is worse after eating a large meal.
2. Weight loss
You have a muscle called the diaphragm above your stomach.
Diaphragms naturally strengthen the lower esophageal sphincter in healthy people.
This muscle prevents excess stomach acid from entering the esophagus, as mentioned earlier.
A person with too much belly fat may develop such high abdominal pressure that the lower esophageal sphincter is forced upward and away from the support of the diaphragm. Hiatus hernia is the medical term for this condition.
People who are obese and pregnant are more likely to experience reflux and heartburn due to hiatus hernias
Extra pounds around the abdominal area have been linked to GERD and reflux.
There is evidence that weight loss can reduce reflux symptoms, as demonstrated in controlled studies.
Acid reflux patients should lose weight as a priority.
CONCLUSION:
In addition to excessive abdominal pressure, acid reflux is also caused by inflammation of the lining of the stomach. Losing belly fat might relieve some of your symptoms.
3. Eat a low-carb diet
The number of studies supporting low-carb diets is increasing.
The chronic inflammation in the abdomen might be caused by undigested carbohydrates. Acid reflux may be caused by this, according to some.
Several studies have found that carbohydrate digestion and absorption are impaired in bacterial overgrowth.
Gassy and bloated feelings are caused by too many undigested carbohydrates in the digestive system. Belching is a common side effect as well.
Several small studies support this idea, showing low-carb diets improve reflux symptoms.
As well as reducing acid reflux, an antibiotic treatment may also decrease gas-producing bacteria.
Participants with GERD were given prebiotic fiber supplements to increase gas-producing bacteria growth in one study. This led to worsening reflux symptoms among participants.
CONCLUSION:
Having problems digesting carbs or having an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine could lead to acid reflux. Further research is needed to determine whether low-carb diets are effective.
4. You Should Limit Your Alcohol Consumption
There is a possibility that drinking alcohol may aggravate acid reflux and heartburn.
Through its effects on stomach acid and lower esophageal sphincters, as well as its effect on esophageal acid clearance, it aggravates symptoms.
In healthy people, moderate alcohol consumption can even cause reflux symptoms.
The effects of drinking wine or beer on reflux symptoms are also greater when compared with plain water.
CONCLUSION:
Acid reflux symptoms can be worsened by excessive alcohol consumption. Heartburn can be eased by limiting your alcohol consumption.
5. Avoid drinking too much coffee
The lower esophageal sphincter is temporarily weakened by coffee, resulting in acid reflux.
Caffeine may be to blame in some cases. The lower esophageal sphincter is also weakened by caffeine, like coffee.
Drinking decaffeinated coffee reduces reflux symptoms compared with drinking regular coffee, as well.
Although caffeine itself worsened reflux symptoms, one study did not detect a benefit from caffeine in drinkable form, even though the beverage contained caffeine.
According to these studies, caffeine may not be the only compound that affects acid reflux in coffee. The preparation and processing of coffee may also be involved.
It is nevertheless unclear whether coffee worsens acid reflux despite several studies suggesting it does.
A study found that acid reflux patients who consumed coffee right after meals had no adverse effects compared to those who consumed warm water. Despite that, coffee increased the length of time between meals during which reflux episodes occurred.
Additionally, GERD symptoms that were self-reported in an analysis of observational studies were not significantly affected by coffee consumption.
Coffee consumption correlated with greater acid damage to the esophagus when the signs of acid reflux were analyzed with a small camera.
Individuals may be affected differently by coffee intake when it comes to acid reflux. Simply avoid coffee or limit your intake if it causes heartburn.
CONCLUSION:
It has been shown that coffee leads to heartburn and acid reflux. You should limit your consumption of coffee if you feel that it increases your symptoms.
6. Don’t drink too much carbonated drinks
Carbonated beverages should sometimes be limited by patients with GERD.
The consumption of carbonated soft drinks was associated with increased acid reflux symptoms, according to an observational study.
Furthermore, controlled studies have shown the lower esophageal sphincter is temporarily weakened by drinking carbonated or sugary drinks, compared to drinking plain water.
There are several reasons for this, including the fact that carbonated beverages cause people to belch more frequently, which may cause more acid to escape into the esophagus.
CONCLUSION:
Belching may be temporarily enhanced by carbonated drinks, causing acid reflux. You may want to reduce your alcohol intake or stop drinking altogether if they aggravate your symptoms.