Heartburn Symptoms and Tips For Heartburn Relief

Heartburn symptoms are a common sign of gastro esophageal reflux (GER), a digestive disorder that is the result of an abnormal backflow of acidic juices from the stomach up into the esophagus or windpipe. In addition to a burning sensation felt in the chest, heartburn symptoms are experienced as a sour taste in the throat area and sometimes as chest pain.

Many sufferers also experience regurgitation – a feeling that stomach contents have risen into the back of the throat or mouth. Heartburn symptoms are not only relatively common among the general population (you only need to watch out for the TV ads promoting medical or home heartburn remedies to get the picture) but also increasingly common during the past two decades, especially in Western nations, for reasons that are not yet clear.

Heartburn symptoms

If these heartburn symptoms persist and become chronic, and you’re taking various heartburn remedies on regularly, the result may be a disease condition called gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD). While not life-threatening, these heartburn symptoms seriously affect quality of life and may require, in the worst-case scenario, surgical intervention. There are many possible treatments for this condition that offer varying degrees of heartburn relief, including natural heartburn remedies, popular over-the-counter and prescription drugs, but people with severe heartburn symptoms do not always respond favorably to drug based solutions. Increasingly, health-care professionals are looking to diet as both possible causes of the symptoms, and effective heartburn remedies.

Heartburn Symptoms – Common Terms

Heartburn: The common term given to a symptom of a gastro esophageal reflux, where stomach “acids” back up into the esophagus and cause a burning sensation in the chest. Although most people experience heartburn symptoms occasionally, they become chronic when experienced several times a week on a regular basis. At this point, finding any type of effective heartburn relief becomes more of a priority, and trying various heartburn remedies like antacid tablets should help short term.

Acid Reflux

Acid Reflux: An abbreviated term for gastro esophageal reflux, with “acid” referring to the digestive juices that back up from the stomach to the esophagus causing the heartburn symptoms.

Gastro esophageal Reflux (GER): The medical term used to describe heartburn symptoms and acid reflux that might occur from time to time to anyone, perhaps after a heavy meal, when food might be moving very slowly out of the stomach.

Gastro esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD): When these heartburn symptoms continue to occur on a regular basis, with a frequency of more than twice a week, and interfere with quality of life, the term “disease” is added to describe this chronic condition.

Heartburn Symptoms – Its Origins

Heartburn symptoms signify a digestive disorder that occurs when the normal process of digestion goes wrong.

The primary role of the digestive tract is to process food, enabling the body to benefit from nutrients and fluids that are essential for survival. Under normal circumstances, the movement of food throughout the digestive tract occurs without our conscious awareness. We consume food, it moves through the digestive system, and we eliminate the waste materials. Normally, the digestive tract proceeds with its usual functions without our awareness.

How Heartburn Remedies Work

However, sometimes we become aware of how our digestive tract is functioning if the passage of food causes a gurgling noise, if indigestion causes stomach upset, or if bloating occurs, perhaps due to excessive intake or stomach gas. We also become aware of our digestive system when we experience heartburn symptoms and other symptoms of gastro esophageal or acid reflux. It’s at this point we would normally start to reach for the heartburn remedies or relief tablets.

Digestive Process

The actual movement of food through the digestive system occurs as a result of signals to nerves and muscles that work together in an organized and regulated manner to enable the movement of food through the digestive tract.

Mouth

The digestion of food begins within the mouth, where enzymes begin to break down some of the food. Saliva in the mouth helps the food to stick together, facilitating movement from the throat down toward the stomach. Usually, food and liquids move from the mouth, through the esophagus and into the stomach in an orderly manner, assisted by the effect of gravity and pushed by the wavelike muscular action of the esophagus, called peristalsis. Natural heartburn remedies start with making sure to chew food completely before swallowing.

Esophagus

The act of swallowing has a direct effect on relaxing and opening valve-like muscles or sphincters in the esophagus. As food is being swallowed, a tight valve-like muscle at the top of the esophagus relaxes, enabling passage into the esophagus. This upper esophageal sphincter (UES) muscle then closes. Within the esophagus, smooth muscle contractions, called peristaltic waves, guide food toward the stomach.

At the junction of the esophagus and the stomach there is another valve like muscle, called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), that is tightly controlled. To enable the passage of food into the stomach, the lower esophageal sphincter begins to relax. This muscle then contracts and closes to prevent acid reflux, or backup, of acidic digestive juices from the stomach into the esophagus. This valve also allows excess gas to escape by belching or burping, lowering pressure in the stomach.

Natural Action Of Heartburn Remedies

Stomach

The stomach acts like a reservoir where the primary digestive activity begins on food. The stomach produces digestive juices, chiefly hydrochloric acid and pepsin enzymes, to break down and sterilize the food we eat. With the assistance of the muscular action of the stomach, these digestive juices transform food from a solid form into a semi-liquid texture. When the digestive system is working normally, these acidic digestive juices remain in the stomach. When it isn’t, these juices start to flow back past the LES and we experience those heartburn symptoms. Most heartburn remedies and heartburn relief tablets try to reduce the levels of acid in the stomach, which isn’t necessarily a good thing – certainly not for long term use. The best heartburn remedies suggest eating less, eating it slower, and reducing intake of alcohol.

Bowels

Once the digested food has reached the desired consistency, it is then moved out of the stomach via another valve-like muscle, the pyloric sphincter, into the small bowel. Within the small bowel, additional digestive enzymes work on the food. Eventually, nutrients released from the digestive action on food are absorbed within the small bowel and food waste is eliminated through the large bowel. Certainly by this stage of the game your heartburn symptoms should have subsided – if not, you may have a more serious problem.