Heartburn or acid reflux is a widespread phenomenon. Most of us frequently have heartburns especially after having a spicy and delicious dinner/lunch spread. Heartburn is often referred as acidic indigestion; it’s when you sense a burning sensation in the upper portion of your abdomen or the middle part of your chest due to an acid produced by foods mixed with digestive juices and enzymes, which suddenly moves upward through the esophagus. The discomfort and the pain might spread across jaws, arms, neck and you might feel uncomfortable for a long time if the acidic reaction is strong otherwise, you’ll feel better in a few minutes. Most of the time, no treatment is required. But, if the pain stays for long, or you feel too much discomfort, you should ideally be visiting a doctor.
How does heartburn occur?
The esophagus or the food pipe is tight at the point where it joins the stomach. The function of the esophagus or the food pipe is to carry the food from the mouth to the stomach by the process of muscles contractions inside the esophagus. The tight ending of the esophagus doesn’t let any food to come back in the food pipe, and it is same for acids and enzymes too. But at times, due to the loosening of the esophagus outlet, food and acids can move upward towards the chest area causing burning like sensation.
Heartburn gets triggered when you suddenly overeat or eat very spicy and oily or fatty food items. If you are under any mental stress, you are likely to get heartburn after eating flavor-rich food. Most importantly, lying down just after having the food can increase the chances of heartburn.
Symptoms of heartburn
Understanding the symptoms of the problem is necessary to have the right treatment for heartburn. Moreover, the symptoms are similar to heart attack, so you need to understand the ign very carefully to understand whether you have heartburn or an attack. A sore throat occurs due to the food acids and the enzymes suddenly moving upwards and hitting the chest area as well as the throat. Also, if you have asthma, heartburn can increase your breathing issue, so you need to be careful before your breathing problem grows way too much. What’s more, if you have acid reflux, there might be stresses of a dry cough which doesn’t go quickly. A dry cough with time might become a chronic problem of the lungs. Lastly, chest pain accompanied by a burning sensation can be experienced by you, which says you have heartburn.
Diagnosis of heartburn
There are a few standard diagnostic tests, which are done to find out the causes of heartburn and whether it is heartburn or some other problem. For prescribing the treatment for heartburn doctors first do an X-ray to see the condition of the esophagus. Doctors can also do a pH testing of blood for checking the acidic level in your body/toxins etc. This helps in understanding the cause and helps in predicting the right treatment for heartburn.Furthermore, in any gastroenterological problem, endoscopy is a must to check the underlying problem.
Treatment for heartburn
- Herbs
You can follow the treatment for heartburn with herbs like lemon balm, German Chamomile, and Clown’s mustard plant, Angelica, caraway, licorice, peppermint, milk thistle and Greater Celandine. - Over the counter drugs
Under therapeutic treatment for the problem, you need to adapt to few lifestyle changes first and then have common medicines like the antacids you find in the medical stores if you have mild heartburn problems. If your problem is severe or continuous, the doctor might prescribe certain drugs in high doses. The doctors need to find out the cause of the heartburn you are having and depending on the reason they can provide the right drug that will have an impact on your situation. - Quit addictions
The lifestyle changes should be like limited alcohol or no alcohol as alcohol forms acids when mixed with food and enzymes. You should have a small amount of food but frequently. If you can quit smoking, you are halfway done with your treatment.
If the heartburn worsens
If then also there is no improvement, then the only way for you and the doctor would be to go for a surgical method to fix the problem. Surgical treatment for heartburn is rare, but if you have acute or chronic heartburn symptoms, then it is the only procedure. There is also a different type of surgeries which might be done to fix the problem of the esophagus. Having heartburn might be common, but if you don’t opt for the right treatment for heartburn, then the condition might worsen affecting your whole gastroenterological system.
