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Heartburn, or acid reflux, hits when stomach acids escape into your esophagus. Learn about home remedies that will quench the flames of heartburn.
Heartburn. The word evokes a frightening picture: your heart on fire, sizzling and smoking, without a firefighter in sight. Fortunately, the word is a misnomer. It's not your heart that's on fire, it's your esophagus. But heartburn is easier to say than "esophagusburn."
The "burn" part, however, they got right. Your esophagus, the food tube that carries what you swallow down to your stomach, can literally be burned by the acids released by your stomach. Those acids are industrial-strength stuff and are meant to stay where the tough stomach lining can handle them.
Unfortunately, we can experience something called reflux, or acid reflux. That's when some of the stomach contents, including the acid, slip back up through the esophageal sphincter, the valve that's supposed to prevent the stomach's contents from reversing course. Reflux causes an uncomfortable, burning sensation between the stomach and the neck. Most people feel the discomfort beneath the breastbone.
Occasionally the acid keeps on coming until you have a mouthful of something bitter and acidy. You may have some pain in your gut, too, or in your chest. Along with that acid may come a belch, one that may bring even more of that stomach acid with it.
The purpose of stomach acid is to break down the foods we eat so our body can digest them. Our stomachs have a protective lining that shields it from those acids, but the esophagus does not have that protection. Normally that's not a problem, because after we swallow food, it passes down the esophagus, through a sphincter, and into the stomach. The sphincter then closes.
Occasionally, though, the muscles of that sphincter are weakened and it doesn't close properly or it doesn't close all the way. Scarring from an ulcer or frequent episodes of acid reflux (when the acid comes back up), stomach pressure from overeating, obesity, and pregnancy can all cause this glitch in the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). And when the LES gets a glitch and allows the gastric acid to splash out of the stomach, you get heartburn.
Generally, heartburn isn't serious. In fact, small amounts of reflux are normal and most people don't even notice it because the swallowing we do causes saliva to wash the acids right back down into the stomach where they belong. When the stomach starts shooting back amounts that are larger than normal, especially on a regular basis or over a prolonged period of time, that's when the real trouble begins, and simple heartburn can turn into esophageal inflammation or bleeding.
Who's prone to heartburn? Just about anybody. According to the National Digestive Diseases Clearinghouse, 25 million adults suffer from heartburn daily and about 60 million Americans get gastroesophageal reflux and heartburn at least once a month
Doctors call chronic heartburn gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. Despite the often goofy nature of TV commercials for heartburn medications, GERD is serious business. Left untreated, frequent exposure to acid can damage the esophagus, making it difficult for food to pass and in extreme cases leading to cancer of the esophagus.
There are several prescription medicines available for the treatment of long-term or serious heartburn or acid reflux, and over-the-counter remedies are available at your pharmacy, too. But there are several home remedies right in your own kitchen that can fight the fire of heartburn. If you suffer from heartburn, read on -- we'll offer some tips for cooling the flames and avoiding heartburn flare-ups.
Learn more about what ails you. Here are some common symptoms.
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