You may have suffered from heartburn at one point in your life and wondered what it really was. Well, heartburn is a burning sensation that is felt on the chest and may spread to the throat, neck and chin in severe cases. It is as a result of the receding of the gastric juices to the esophagus. This happens when the sphincter muscles, which act like valves in the intestines, fail to prevent the gastric fluids from receding.

The causes for this can be attributed to several factors. These include taking a heavy meal, lying in an inverted position after a meal, wearing clothing that is too tight, pregnancy, medication etc. if you find that you are having a heartburn, check to see what you may have taken or what situation you were in that may have led to the heartburn. Incase it’s the medication, you may want to consult your doctor to see whether they can offer you alternative medication that wont cause the heartburn.

It is important that you keep an eye on the heartburn especially if it keeps recurring. This is because heartburn is a major symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). GERD is a medical condition that is also known as acid reflux. The triggers are different but the acid reflux symptoms are common.

A burning sensation is felt on the chest of the person experiencing the heartburn. It starts on the sternum and may move its way up to the throat. This may normally occur after a meal and may carry on for a couple of minutes to several hours.

The victim may feel a burning sensation on their throat. When the person swallows food, the pain may increase and often cause them to stop eating. This burning feeling may turn to irritation when the contents of the stomach reflux into the throat. This can cause great discomfort to the victim.

The victim may feel a bitter taste in their mouth. This is a result of the stomach fluids entering the mouth. The sour bitter taste is quite nasty and you may have to spit out.

The person experiencing the heartburn may have great difficulty when trying to swallow food. This condition is referred to as dysphagia. Since the food is not able to pass through the esophagus to the stomach, the victim feels some pressure on the chest, food sticking in the throat, may feel like their choking after eating and so on. It is recommended that you have yourself checked out by a physician when you experience this because this difficulty in swallowing food can be as a result of several other conditions including esophageal cancer and erosive esophagitis.

Chronic coughing is also a symptom that has been experienced by many acid reflux sufferers. GERD contributes to more than 40 percent of the chronic coughs in non-smoking patients.

The person may also experience wheezing and other asthma like symptoms. Studies have also showed that most of the people that suffer from asthma experience acid reflux quite often. When the stomach acid is refluxed back to the esophagus and it is aspirated into the lungs and airways, it may cause the patient to have a difficulty in breathing and have coughs and wheezing.

Many people experience acid reflux but most of these sufferers do not take any serious note of it. It is recommended that you seek medical assistance if you continue to experience the acid reflux symptoms. Complications and diseases such as esophageal cancer are serious and can cause death. So the earlier they are detected the better it is to treat them.

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