So What Does Heartburn Feel Like Anyway?

[Dave Nettles]

Anyone with a penchant for big meals probably has had heartburn once or twice. Some of us tend to feel this pain a lot more than others. Actually answering the question "what does heartburn feel like?" is actually trickier than you might think. When we think of heartburn, we think of the dull, burning pain in the heart. True heartburn has nothing to do with that vital organ, however. Heartburn happens in the esophagus, the food chute from our mouth to our stomachs, where some stomach acid came up to cause that pain. Since the burning usually feels somewhere near to where we think the heart might be, it tends to confuse some to think of it as their heart that is hurting.

The problem is that angina and heart attacks can feel a lot like heartburn. Keep this is mind if you or your family have some history of heart trouble. If you have had a history of it, you want to play it very safe and never dismiss any chest pains you might be feeling. Always consult a doctor when determining when it is safe to assume a chest pain is heartburn or something more serious.

If you're one of those people who feel like you've had heartburn every other day, you might treat it as such as long as it feels the same as all the other times (consult your doctor, as always, to determine if this is a safe move for you). If you decide to attack your problem like it's heartburn, there are some things you can try.

If you are trying to sleep, try to prop you body up so it's not lying flat. This may help keep the acid in the stomach. Some say that water helps to dull the pain; you may want to try drinking a couple of glasses of water if you haven't tried this before. The problem with this is that you don't want to drink a lot of water right before going to bed.

If you want to try something else, there are plenty of over-the-counter medications. You can even try to make your own anti-heartburn concoction with water and baking soda (be careful if sensitive to sodium or if you are pregnant or nursing). Antacids are commonly used for treating heartburn, just know that they don't tend to work for very long. Other pills can try to actually keep your stomach from making the pesky acid, although some report these take a long time to START working.

If you are having continuous problems, you might want to make an appointment with the doctor. Any serious disease should be treated in consultation with a professional doctor. The reason why you should see a doctor for heartburn is that it could be more serious than you initially believed and heartburn could lead to other things over time, like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

You've got a lot of company when you've got heartburn. Rather than wondering what does heartburn feel like, just play it safe and get your doctor's advice and get it treated properly. It will be well worth it to not have to deal with the pain and inconvenience of heartburn.


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