What is Heartburn and How Does it Affect You?
If you have been experiencing a sudden pain in your chest you may wonder if you are suffering from heartburn. What is heartburn? Is it a disease or condition? Is it treatable?
Learning more about heartburn can help you deal with it better. One of the best ways to cure something bothering you is to learn all you can about it.
You may have wondered, ‘what is heartburn?' when you had a small pain in your chest but one thing to remember is that heartburn does not mean that your heart is burning. In fact heartburn has nothing to do with your heart. Heartburn is about the digestive system. Heartburn comes on when your stomach acid is in contact with the esophagus lining. This stomach acid can cause the burning and irritation that you experience as a result. Now that you know what is heartburn you may wonder what you do about it.
Heartburn is something that you don't just get all of a sudden. It usually starts out gradually and then works its way up to being painful. Some people experience heartburn so badly that it feels more like a heart attack. Always seek medical treatment if you think that you may be having a heart attack and not just heartburn. It's not always as simple as asking ‘what is heartburn?' but it's also about treating it seriously. The heartburn will only increase as you continue to eat and drink the way that you are currently that is resulting in the heartburn. The more heartburn occurs the more frequently the esophagus lining is becoming irritated.
Heartburn in Children
What is heartburn like for children? Even children can experience heartburn. It's not always severe but heartburn is very uncomfortable for anyone. Children may eat quickly in order to go catch up with their friends to play or maybe they have a busy schedule and they eat on the run. This usually not only involves a poor diet but it may also be very hard for the child to digest. This will only hurt the child when they start to feel a slight pain in their chest. They may ask you ‘what is heartburn?' and you need to try to explain to them.
When you speak to your doctor and you ask him or her ‘what is heartburn?' make sure you are prepared to change your diet around to decrease the chances of developing heartburn. Diet is probably the first thing doctors will change when you come in with heartburn.