What does acid reflux in chest feel like?

If you’ve ever felt a burning sensation in your chest after a heavy meal, congratulations – you’re now qualified to talk about acid reflux. That’s right, the dreaded “heartburn” that so many people experience is actually caused by a wave of stomach acid making its way up into the esophagus. But what does this feel like? And how can you identify whether or not you’re experiencing this uncomfortable condition? Fear not – we’ll be tackling these questions and more in our comprehensive guide to the world of acid reflux.

The Basics

To understand acid reflux, it helps to know a little bit about how digestion works. When you eat food, it travels down your esophagus (which connects your mouth to your stomach) and into your stomach, where it gets broken down by enzymes and acids. Normally, there’s a barrier at the bottom of your esophagus called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) that prevents any acidic contents from traveling back upwards. However, when this muscle relaxes or becomes weak (often due to obesity, smoking, or certain medications), some stomach juices may escape backwards through the LES and up into the throat.

This transfer of contents leads many people to believe that they are experiencing heart pain rather than their actual problem which is merely an inconvenient digestive issue.

Symptoms

So what exactly does having something unexpected happen deep inside our body feel like practically speaking?

Well first things first: let’s establish The most common symptom of GERD\acid-reflux-gerd/imt-tool/reflux-symptoms”> is none other than heart burn! This usually manifests as{‘ ‘}

  • A burning feeling across one’s chest
  • Painful burping
  • Lingering discomfort during meals

However recurrent symptoms could go above just being uncomfortable–they could actually damage one’s esophagus radically. According to {‘ ‘} Health Line, some rare and grave symptoms of acid reflux would include:

  • Bloody or black stools
  • Nausea/vomiting blood
  • Dark, tarry stool – this is a medical emergency!

Clearly, you do not want to have these symptoms that might as well imply serious complications. So it is important when one sees initial signs of heart burn to take actions that soothe and cure the issue.

Dealing with Acid Reflux

Here are some steps you can follow in order reduce your likelihood of severer GERD:

Lifestyle changes

Thanks for reading!

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