What is heartburn? When stomach acid flows up into your esophagus, it causes a burning feeling in your chest and throat. This feeling is known as heartburn. This feeling becomes difficult to handle after eating food and can last for several hours. Heartburn is common and can be taken care off with over-the-counter antacids. Heartburn is also known as acid reflux, reflux, acidity, or acid indigestion. If you suffer from heartburn frequently, then you must talk to your doctor immediately.

Symptoms of heartburn
The burning feeling occurs just after eating and usually takes place behind the breastbone. It can last from few a minutes to several hours. Heartburn is aggravated due to lying down, eating or bending over. You must always remember to see a doctor immediately if you experience chest pain. Never assume you are suffering from heartburn unless the doctor diagnoses it. Burning sensation occurs at the back of your throat. There will be a lingering taste of sour, hot and acidic liquid at the back of your throat. You experience difficulty in swallowing food. You will have a feeling that the food you have eaten is coming back to your throat.

A sore throat, chronic cough, and chronic hoarseness are other symptoms. The feeling of heartburn does not spread out to the neck, arms, and shoulders but it always can. Heartburn gets worse when you exercise or are anxious. The symptoms of heartburn usually get better when treated with antacids. Heartburn is rarely accompanied by excessive sweating.

Difference between heartburn and heart attack
Chest pain is one of the most common troubles people face today. You will find many people visiting the emergency room with symptoms of a heart attack. But some people do come into the emergency room with a severe case of heartburn. The difference between heartburn and heart attack is very minute. A sophisticated medical investigation is required to tell the symptoms of a heart attack apart from a heartburn. To complicate the matter further, both problems have similar symptoms. They even occur to the same kind of person, for example those who are aged or overweight due to a bad lifestyle.

If you are suffering from these symptoms, then it is important for you to understand that you must talk about your symptoms to a doctor. You must always let the doctor decide if it is a case of heartburn or a heart attack. Your doctor might prescribe certain medical tests to understand and diagnose the severity of your problem. This is usually done to prescribe a proper treatment. If you are suffering from severe case of heartburn, then your doctor might prescribe special medical tests. Then they provide medications to help you recover from it.