Of all the symptoms of GERD, nothing could be more painful and alarming as heartburn. What does heartburn feel like? Painful, burning, suffocating, scary, do I need to add more adjectives? People think a cardiac attack is imminent when there is heartburn, when actually there is none. What makes GERD bad is that even infants are not spared of the indications.

The ‘lower esophageal sphincter’ (LES) is the one part of the anatomy of the digestive system which controls the food from going back up the esophagus. This is also in charge of releasing the gasses in the tracts and can be experienced as a belch or a burp. When certain foods weaken the LES, symptoms of GERD can be felt and experienced.

What does heartburn feel like? Heartburn is one of the main symptoms of GERD and this is the scariest of them all. This sounds exactly as it feels. Burning in the chest area accompanied by weakness and sometimes nausea. It has nothing to do with the heart; it is the gastric juices found inside the stomach that is released back into the esophagus and gives the word NASTY to the symptoms.

What is good about the symptoms of GERD is that they are most often relieved by simple OTC medications. OTCs like Mylanta, Tums, and Pepto Bismol work pretty fast. If there are none available, then other antacids should do the trick like a teaspoon of baking soda, apple cider vinegar should have the same results.

With severe GERD symptoms, doctors can prescribe medications like proton pump inhibitors. They work to decrease the gastric acid production in the stomach. The last of the GERD treatments if all else fails is surgery which has to be discussed with the doctor thoroughly.

It is funny that the symptoms that accompany GERD should scare people more than having symptoms of cardiac problems like high blood pressure. Maybe it is the pain, maybe it is the fact that there is a nasty aftertaste, or maybe it is just the guilt behind the symptoms which is usually eating the wrong diet and taking in of substances that are known poisons to the body. Whatever it is, the symptoms of GERD attract more attention than any other diseases.

Cyndi Funaldi discusses heartburn remedies at her website. Learn more about heartburn cure and what causes heartburn.