Mostly everyone at one point or another in their life has experienced heartburn.
Having a simple case of heartburn on occasion will not require you to seek immediate medical attention.
With that said, it's important to understand that when you suffer from occasional heartburn or indigestion, it ought to be considered acid reflux and therefore you need to sit up and pay attention as this is a serious disease that needs to be addressed.
In actual fact it is typical that acid reflux mimics that of heartburn.
When it occurs there is a burning sensation which can radiate anywhere from your tummy to your mouth.
This feeling can be very uncomfortable and pretty painful.
It can occur in the chest area near the throat and along the area of the stomach.
Other symptoms include squeezing and pressure in the chest, this takes place after eating.
In some cases people report that the pressure can become so bad that they have a difficult time moving, because any movement increases the discomfort, due to this many who suffer do not want to move so as to avoid increasing pain.
Other symptoms that may occur is pressure and a choking sensation when trying to swallow, many reports suggest that patients become aware of the food passing through the esophagus, which in general you should not be feeling.
This occurs when an individual develops what is known as strictures, these are erosions or tiny holes in the esophagus which occur due to acid reflux.
Strictures in actual fact are very dangerous, left unattended they can lead to ulcers and internal bleeding and of course all this leads to severe pain while eating.
Having a meal can become a painful experience, even after eating.
Often patients themselves disregard good dietary habits as other foods can become less painful to swallow as a consequence they begin to lack the amino acids and vitamins they would get form protein and other similar foods.
It is also the case that acid reflux symptoms can imitate that of a heart attack.
The pressure and squeezing that one feels along the chest area can actually be misrepresented as a heart attack and worse still it can also work the other way around, such as having heart problems and mistaking it for acid reflux.
When this occurs individual patients can find themselves subjected to unnecessary tests as emergency personal based on the patient?s description can easily assume that the patient is suffering from a heart attack, either way all scenarios are dangerous.