Heartburn Facts

7/26/2019 Heartburn Facts

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Heartburn facts Heartburn is a feeling of burning in your chest.

Heartburn is often linked to a specific food or beverages ingested.

Lifestyle changes can alleviate heartburn in many cases.

Heartburn is more common during pregnancy.

Heartburn definition

Heartburn is a sensation of burning in the chest caused by stomach acid backing up into the

esophagus (food pipe). The burning is usually in the upper and central part of the chest, just

behind the sternum (breast bone). The burning can worsen or can be brought on by lying

flat or on the right side. regnancy tends to aggravate heartburn.

!any people e"perience heartburn and there are a large number of over#the#counter ($T%)

medications and home remedies available to treat heartburn or the symptoms of heartburn.

&n most cases you will not need to see a health care professional, e"cept if the symptoms

are fre'uent (several times a week ) or severe.

&f heartburn is severe or the pain is accompanied with additional symptoms such

as shortness of breath, radiation into your arms or neck, you will need to see a doctor to

distinguish these symptoms from more serious medical conditions such as a heart attack.

*+(astroesophageal reflu" disease) is a chronic and more serious form of heartburn.

&f your heartburn symptoms occur more than twice a week you should see your health care

professional to make sure no serious problems are present.

What causes heartburn?

Comment on this*ead %omment-hare our -toryThe esophagus (the tube that connects your mouth to the stomach) has a tight band of

muscles at the lower end (lower esophageal sphincter /L-0) that closes after the food

enters the stomach and prevents the stomach contents to reenter the esophagus. &f this

sphincter weakens or rela"es at the wrong time, stomach acid can back up into the

esophagus, causing heartburn.
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Picture of GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux disease, heartburn)

What are the symptoms of heartburn?Comment on this*ead 1 %omments-hare our -tory

The usual symptom of heartburn is a burning sensation in the chest. &t can be accompanied

by a sour taste at the back of the throat, or a feeling of food being stuck in the throat.

&f heartburn symptoms are accompanied with shortness of breath, radiation to the arms or

neck, di22inessor cold sweat, the person needs to be evaluated by a health care

professional as soon as possible.

What foods and beverages aggravate heartburn?Comment on this-hare our -tory

Alcohol3 4lcohol can rela" the lower esophageal sphincter.

Coffee and orange or other acidic juicesare some of the beverages that can

worse or trigger heartburn.

Fatty foods, fried foods, and some acidic foods (oranges, grapefruits, tomatoes) as

well as spicy foods can cause heartburn.

very person reacts somewhat differently to specific food groups. To track what foods

worsen your symptoms, keep a food journal. &n this journal, you should keep track of what

you eat, the time you ate, any activity that worsened or made the heartburn better, and

indicate which days you have heartburn symptoms. $ver time, you will be able to correlate

the offending foods with heartburn events.
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Heartburn 5ournal # 6eek of7777777777777777

Day Foods Eaten

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Ho' is heartburn diagnosed?

$ften all that a health care professional re'uires is a thorough history and physical to make

the preliminary diagnosis of heartburn. To evaluate if there is any damage and how severe

your heartburn is, the doctor my suggest some of the following tests3


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Endoscopy(4 fle"ible scope is passed down the esophagus to e"amine the esophagus as

well as the stomach. 8iopsies can be taken if indicated. This lets the doctor see if there is

any obvious damage, and also eliminate other reasons for the patient9s symptoms (foreign

body, malignancy).

)pper *+ series!upper *+ series$(4fter drinking a li'uid that coats the inside of thedigestive tract, :#rays are taken. These :#rays will show the outline of the digestive system.

Ambulatory pH testing(This test measures the acidity in the esophagus via a small tube

that goes through the nose into the stomach.

What are treatments and home remedies for heartburn?Comment on this*ead %omment-hare our -tory

Heartburn can be treated with lifestyle changes and medications (over#the#counter and

prescription). &n rare cases, surgical procedures are available to help with severe and

chronic heartburn (*+).

ifestyle changes

There are several ways to treat and avoid heartburn with lifestyle changes.

Weight loss-.eeping ideal 'eight( "cess weight increases the pressure on the

stomach, increasing the chance of acid reflu" into the esophagus.

/uit smo.ing3 -moking interferes with the proper functioning of the lower

esophageal sphincter.

Food control3 4void foods that trigger heartburn (see previously). %onsider keeping

a food journal to alert you to foods that make your heartburn worse. +ecrease theamount of food you eat.

Elevate the head of the bed(&f you are e"periencing heartburn at night, elevating

the head of the bed will decrease reflu".

0C and prescription medications

There are many over#the#counter and prescription medications available. These fall into

three major categories3

. &edications that neutrali1e stomach acid !antacids$(4ntacids (!ylanta,!aalo",

*olaids , Tums) provide 'uick relieve because they decrease the acid. These

medications don9t heal e"isting damage to your esophagus nor prevent future episodes

of heartburn.

;. &edications that reduce the production of acid(These medications are named

after the receptor they block (H#; blockers) and are available as over#the#counter as

well as prescription medications. Their symptom relief tends to last longer than

antacids, but it also takes longer for them to start working. They are available as
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several brands and formulations

(ranitidine/. Laparoscopic surgical procedures are available to treat heartburn. This option is

usually only chosen if lifestyle changes and medications have not helped.

43 Heartburn during pregnancy?. Comment on this*ead +octor9s @iew-hare our -tory

A. regnancy tends to aggravate heartburn because the lower esophageal sphincter

(L-) is weakened during pregnancy. This weakened (L-) resolves after delivery ofthe baby. regnancy also distorts the organs in the abdomen and the increased

abdominal pressure from the growing fetus causes heartburn. These changes

promote the reflu" of acid and heartburn.

B. 4ppro"imately CD to E=D of women who become pregnant will suffer from

heartburn.

. Fnfortunately there are no clear studies on the safety of heartburn medications on

the growing fetus, and researchers are not going to test these drugs on pregnant

women to evaluate how safe they are for the developing fetus, so the only option is

to test these drugs on pregnant animals.

;. !anagement of heartburn during pregnancy consists of many of the same home

remedies and lifestyle changes for a person with heartburn who is not pregnant (see

previous section on home remedies and lifestyle changes).

563 Ho' can heartburn be prevented?

E. The first step, as it is so often, is basic lifestyle changes. -top smoking, lose weight,

and watch what you eat (sounds familiarG).

=. &f these interventions do not fully alleviate heartburn symptoms, then the addition of

medications that decrease heartburn or prevent it all together, under the guidance of

your health care professional, should allow you to control heartburn.
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Heartburn Facts