You have a sharp, burning feeling just below your breastbone or ribs. The chest pain can be accompanied by an acidic taste in your mouth, regurgitation of food, or a burning in your throat. Pain generally doesn't spread to your shoulders, neck, or arms, but it can.
GERD can cause chest pain that mimics a heart attack. Described as a squeezing pressure behind the breast bone, GERD-related chest pain can last for hours. And like a heart attack, it can also radiate down your arm to your back.
Left untreated, heartburn (also known as acid reflux) can result in a more serious condition known as gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. In turn, GERD can lead to more life-threatening conditions – including esophageal cancer.
However, if the pain moves around your stomach or chest or it relocates to a new area entirely, you should go to the ER or your doctor immediately. This symptom could signal that the damage from this disease is rapidly expanding into a new location in your body or that you are developing ulcers.
Urgent acid reflux symptoms
Seek medical advice sooner rather than later if: Symptoms become severe or suddenly increase in frequency. OTC remedies don't work, or you've been using them longer than two weeks. You have difficulty swallowing solid food.
It can vary. For some folks, it can last just a few minutes. Sometimes it can last for several hours. Heartburn happens about once a week for up to 20% of Americans and is common in pregnant women.
Eating a heavy meal and lying on your back or bending over at the waist. Snacking close to bedtime. Eating certain foods, such as citrus, tomato, chocolate, mint, garlic, onions, or spicy or fatty foods. Drinking certain beverages, such as alcohol, carbonated drinks, coffee, or tea.
Someone with GERD might experience heartburn or a burning sensation in the throat or a sour or bitter taste in the mouth. It might feel like food, liquid, or stomach acid coming up into the throat (regurgitation). Nausea, vomiting, and other stomach discomfort are common, as is pain or difficulty swallowing.
A burning sensation in your chest (heartburn), usually after eating, which might be worse at night or while lying down. Backwash (regurgitation) of food or sour liquid. Upper abdominal or chest pain. Trouble swallowing (dysphagia)
Heartburn can last for a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the cause. If heartburn is due to something you ate, you will probably have symptoms until the food has been digested. Lying down or bending over can cause symptoms to return even after you've started to feel better.
Long-term acid reflux can damage the esophagus and may lead to a condition known as Barrett's esophagus, which is a precursor to esophageal cancer. Barrett's affects about 3% to 10% of older men, but within this group the risk of developing esophageal cancer is only about four in every 1,000 cases.
These symptoms accompanying acid reflux (or any time) should always mean a trip to the emergency room: Feeling confused or sudden weakness. When the reflux moves/relocates from how you typically experience it. Fainting/loss of consciousness, even briefly.
Heartburn for multiple days in a row can result from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a hiatal hernia, Barrett's esophagus, or esophageal cancer. Heartburn refers to the burning sensation in the chest that happens as a result of stomach acid. This is called acid reflux. Occasional acid reflux is normal .
When your acid reflux symptoms are not being controlled by medication, it's time to see a gastroenterologist to discuss your options, specialists say.
While sore throat from acid reflux is uncomfortable in the short-term, it can also cause long-term damage. Over time, stomach acid can actually damage the esophagus and throat, causing difficulty swallowing, shortness of breath, and a feeling that food is stuck in your throat.
Overview. Heartburn is a burning pain in your chest, just behind your breastbone. The pain is often worse after eating, in the evening, or when lying down or bending over. Occasional heartburn is common and no cause for alarm.
Acid reflux can cause a burning sensation in the throat and chest. Drinking water, low fat milk, and herbal teas may help manage it. Alcohol, caffeinated drinks, and sodas may worsen symptoms, however. Acid reflux, or heartburn, occurs when stomach acid flows up into a person's esophagus, or food pipe.
The fat in milk can aggravate acid reflux. But nonfat milk can act as a temporary buffer between the stomach lining and acidic stomach contents and provide immediate relief of heartburn symptoms."
Difficulty swallowing. Painful swallowing. Swallowed food becoming stuck in the esophagus, also known as food impaction. Chest pain, particularly behind the breastbone, that occurs with eating.