Sunday, October 21, 2007

What Really Causes Heartburn?

What Really Causes Heartburn?
The medical dictionary describes heartburn as "a burning
discomfort behind the lower part of the sternum"

Heartburn can be quite uncomfortable at times with the
pressure in your chest and pain so bad you might think you
are having a heart attack. This pressure can even radiate
into your back or your arm and may cause numbness.

As a matter of fact people often mistake the symptoms of
heartburn for signs of a heart attack. However pain from a
heart attack is made worse by physical activity, and is
usually accompanied by one or more of the following: chest
pressure, shortness of breath, fatigue, totals loss of
energy, nausea, or vomiting. Other symptoms may also be
present.

On the other hand heartburn is not usually caused by
physical activity. However, if you think you are having a
heart attack, or you're not quite sure, it's important that
you seek medical attention immediately, call 911.

People that experience heartburn usually have damaged the
delicate cells of their esophagus which it is very easy to
correct, once they know exactly how it got damaged in the
first place.

Most people today have a very busy life and they tend to
rush everything they do, and this would also include eating.

It's such a RUSH-RUSH world that people don't stop to enjoy
their food and they take even less time chewing up the
foods they do eat. Considering that we extract most of our
vitamins and minerals from our food during the chewing
process it's not really healthy to gulp our food down until
it is entirely chewed-up, because we are missing out on
valuable nutrients that our bodies need to function
properly.

Harsh and crunchy foods such as crackers, toast, nuts,
popcorn, sports bars, and other crunchy foods will actually
scratch and damage the delicate cells of the esophagus when
you swallow if they haven't been completely chewed!

When we swallow, our food is forced down our esophagus and
into the stomach by a wavy squeezing motion. The medical
term for this is "peristalsis." Picture squeezing the
contents out of a sausage casing. The sausage meat is
pressing against the casing as you force it out.

Our esophagus works much the same way and if we fail to
completely chew our food up before we swallow, then any
bits of harsh or crunchy food are going to scratch or
damage the delicate cells of our esophagus when we swallow.
This damage is usually in the form of tiny cuts or lesions.

Then when we swallow acidic beverages like coffee, orange
juice, tomato juice, or acidic foods they will come in
direct contact with these sores or lesions and the result
is pain. It's much like spilling vinegar on a cut . . . it
will sting or cause a burning sensation.

A simple burp will even expel acidic stomach gases into our
esophagus and when these gases come in contact with the
damage in our esophagus, the result is a pain or burning
sensation behind the breastbone. People that don't have any
damage to their esophagus can burp and the gases are
expelled up the esophagus with no pain symptoms what so
ever.

Even if we don't belch and we are just suffering from
indigestion and bloating the acidic stomach gases can seep
past the Lower Esophageal Sphincter valve and reflux into
our esophagus. When they come in contact with any damage
that is present we will experience pain or a burning
sensation. It is very rare that the actual liquid contents
of our stomach reflux into the esophagus it is usually just
the acidic stomach gases which contribute to heartburn.


----------------------------------------------------
Medical researcher William Lagadyn first unravelled the
mysteries of heartburn and acid reflux problems over 20
years ago, and since that time he has helped 1000's of
people completely solve their digestive problems. For more
information on how to solve your digestive problems such as
heartburn, acid reflux or GERD without the use of
potentially dangerous drugs forever, please visit his
website at http://www.cureyourheartburn.com

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