Heartburn and GERD
One in 10 Americans experiences heartburn symptoms at least once a week. Heartburn has different triggers, including certain foods, medications, obesity, or even stress. Knowing your triggers will help you design a prevention strategy. The symptoms of heartburn include a burning in the chest behind the breast bone, a dull, heavy chest pain, a sour bitter taste in the mouth, and a feeling that food is trapped behind the breast bone. Symptoms often worsen when bending over or lying down. If you suffer from heartburn it is important to find effective heartburn remedies and get to the bottom of its root cause in order to prevent it from getting worse.
Heartburn may be the first sign of a more serious problem such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). GERD is a condition in which the stomach contents (food or liquid) leak backwards from the stomach into the esophagus (the tube from the mouth to the stomach) and cause heartburn.
When you eat, food passes from the throat to the stomach through the esophagus (also called the food pipe). Once food is in the stomach, a ring of muscle fibers prevents food from moving back into the esophagus. These muscle fibers are called the lower esophageal sphincter, or LES. If this sphincter muscle doesn't close properly, food, liquid, and stomach acid can leak back into the esophagus, causing the unpleasant heartburn symptoms. If GERD goes untreated, it can damage the esophagus and eventually cause cancer.
The good news is, GERD is treatable with lifestyle changes and medication. GERD can be complicated by ulcer formation, stricture (narrowing), swallowing difficulty or precancerous changes. The experts at Gastroenterology Specialists, Inc. can diagnose and treat GERD and perform and interpret tests to measure the amount of GERD as well as the effectiveness of treatment using sophisticated tests such as the Bravo® capsule.
People with chronic or persistent heartburn should be evaluated by one of our experts in gastrointestinal disease to prevent and manage such problems.
For a comprehensive evaluation, call our GI Doctors at 401-596-6330 in Westerly, Rhode Island or 860-572-5862 in Mystic, Connecticut or request an appointment online. To schedule an appointment at our new satellite office located in North Stonington, Connecticut, call us at 401-596-6330.
Please visit our Patient Education Library, to learn more about GERD.
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Heartburn and GERD
One in 10 Americans experiences heartburn symptoms at least once a week. Heartburn has different triggers, including certain foods, medications, obesity, or even stress. Knowing your triggers will help you design a prevention strategy. The symptoms of heartburn include a burning in the chest behind the breast bone, a dull, heavy chest pain, a sour bitter taste in the mouth, and a feeling that food is trapped behind the breast bone. Symptoms often worsen when bending over or lying down. If you suffer from heartburn it is important to find effective heartburn remedies and get to the bottom of its root cause in order to prevent it from getting worse.
Heartburn may be the first sign of a more serious problem such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). GERD is a condition in which the stomach contents (food or liquid) leak backwards from the stomach into the esophagus (the tube from the mouth to the stomach) and cause heartburn.
When you eat, food passes from the throat to the stomach through the esophagus (also called the food pipe). Once food is in the stomach, a ring of muscle fibers prevents food from moving back into the esophagus. These muscle fibers are called the lower esophageal sphincter, or LES. If this sphincter muscle doesn't close properly, food, liquid, and stomach acid can leak back into the esophagus, causing the unpleasant heartburn symptoms. If GERD goes untreated, it can damage the esophagus and eventually cause cancer.
The good news is, GERD is treatable with lifestyle changes and medication. GERD can be complicated by ulcer formation, stricture (narrowing), swallowing difficulty or precancerous changes. The experts at Gastroenterology Specialists, Inc. can diagnose and treat GERD and perform and interpret tests to measure the amount of GERD as well as the effectiveness of treatment using sophisticated tests such as the Bravo® capsule.
People with chronic or persistent heartburn should be evaluated by one of our experts in gastrointestinal disease to prevent and manage such problems.
For a comprehensive evaluation, call our GI Doctors at 401-596-6330 in Westerly, Rhode Island or 860-572-5862 in Mystic, Connecticut or request an appointment online. To schedule an appointment at our new satellite office located in North Stonington, Connecticut, call us at 401-596-6330.
Please visit our Patient Education Library, to learn more about GERD.
GO BACK