What is Heartburn and GERD?
Heartburn, sometimes called acid indigestion, is a painful, burning feeling in the middle of your chest or the upper part of your stomach. The pain, which can also spread to your neck, jaw, or arms, can last just a few minutes or stick with you for hours. What causes heartburn? There’s a muscle at the entrance […] The post What is Heartburn and GERD? appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle .
Heartburn, also known as acid indigestion, is a burning sensation felt in the chest or upper stomach area. This discomfort may also radiate to the neck, jaw, or arms and can last from a few minutes to several hours. The condition occurs due to a muscle at the entrance of the stomach called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). This muscle acts as a gate, opening to allow food to move from the esophagus to the stomach and then closing to prevent food and acid from flowing back out.
When the LES opens too frequently or becomes weak, stomach acid can ascend into the esophagus, causing the characteristic burning feeling.
Various factors can trigger heartburn, with individual susceptibility varying. Overeating, consuming spicy, fatty, acidic, or greasy foods, drinking caffeine or alcohol, smoking, lying down shortly after eating, and experiencing stress can all contribute to the onset of heartburn. Certain individuals are more prone to experiencing heartburn, including smokers, overweight people, pregnant women, and those with a hiatal hernia, where the stomach pushes into the chest through an opening in the diaphragm.
To minimize heartburn, dietary adjustments may prove beneficial. Common triggers such as alcohol, chocolate, coffee, fatty or fried foods, greasy foods, onions, citrus fruits and juices, vinegar, hot sauces, salad dressings, peppermint, sodas, spicy foods, and tomatoes, as well as large meals, should be minimized or avoided. Adopting healthy lifestyle habits, such as losing weight if overweight, wearing loose-fitting clothing, quitting smoking, and ceasing high-impact exercise, can also help reduce the occurrence of heartburn.
For those who frequently experience heartburn (at least twice a week for several weeks) or notice that it interferes with daily life or causes esophageal damage, it is essential to consult a doctor for a potential diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), also known as acid reflux disease. GERD is characterized by persistent heartburn and can present additional symptoms, including bad breath, sour taste in the mouth or throat, breathing difficulties, coughing, a sensation of a lump in the throat, hoarseness, difficulty swallowing, nausea, sore throat, tooth decay, and vomiting.
If left untreated, frequent heartburn and GERD can lead to severe complications, such as breathing problems, Barrett’s esophagus (a condition that may progress to esophageal cancer), esophageal inflammation (esophagitis), and esophageal narrowing (esophageal stricture), which can hinder swallowing.
Written by urgent.news from The Chronicle Ghana's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
