Related Programs

Using Over-the-Counter Medicines for Heartburn Is Your Heartburn Medicine Working? Night Pains: Is Heartburn Keeping You Up? Medication Strategies for Heartburn

Heartburn Heartburn Basics

When is Heartburn Just Heartburn?

Summary & Participants

Heartburn has millions of Americans running to the shelves of their supermarkets and drugstores to end their discomfort. Most of the time, over-the-counter medicines and lifestyle changes can provide relief. Listen in as doctors explain the symptoms of heartburn, when you can safely self-medicate, and what warning signs require medical evaluation.

Medically Reviewed On: July 01, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Heartburn is one of the most common, minor medical complaints, affecting as many as 60 million Americans.

STREET INTERVIEW #1: Chances are I'm probably going to get a little heartburn from this.

STREET INTERVIEW #2: I am going to go with a yes on that.

STREET INTERVIEW #1: Yeah. Well worth it, though.

STUART SPECHLER, MD: Heartburn is a very big problem in this country.

WOMAN ON STREET: I get heartburn every couple of months. Sometimes it's pretty bad. It's a burning sensation.

STUART SPECHLER, MD: There have been some surveys conducted that suggest that about one person in five in the United States, one adult out of every five, has heartburn at least once a week.

MAN ON STREET: Actually, I noticed since I hit my forties it's become a regular occurrence. Particularly with things like hot spicy foods. Or tomato sauces. Almost anything acidic.

STUART SPECHLER, MD: Probably 40% of adult Americans experience heartburn at least once a month. So you're talking about an awful lot of people getting a lot of heartburn.

ANNOUNCER: The good news is, the vast majority of heartburn sufferers can find safe and effective relief on the shelves of their supermarkets and drugstores.

STEVEN PEIKIN, MD: When people come with heartburn, what we call their problem is gastro esophageal reflux. And what that means is that food and acid that should be in the stomach refluxes back up into the esophagus. That's gastro esophageal reflux. The most common symptom of gastro esophageal reflux is heartburn.

STUART SPECHLER, MD: Heartburn is a burning sensation that's usually located in the chest. A lot of patients say, "I feel it behind the breastbone."

STEVEN PEIKIN, MD: The second most common symptom of gastro esophageal reflux is regurgitation. That may be that sour taste in the mouth that you feel maybe when you bend over to tie your shoes or when you're laying down at night.

ANNOUNCER: The problem is in the design of the plumbing.

STUART SPECHLER, MD: Ordinarily, there's a muscle arrangement at the end of the esophagus-it's called the lower esophageal sphincter-and what that muscle is supposed to do is to squeeze, and by squeezing just keep material down in the stomach where it belongs. That muscle obviously has to relax when you eat. Otherwise things wouldn't get through. But what happens is, when you swallow that muscle relaxes. It allows the food to enter into the stomach, and then it's supposed to close back up and prevent reflux.

In people who have heartburn, that muscle, for whatever reason, is not functioning very well and you have a leaky valve. The lower esophageal sphincter is not working... Acid gets into the esophagus, and that triggers heartburn.

ANNOUNCER: Most of the time heartburn is no threat to health. And simple changes in eating habits and daily routines can lessen the number of episodes in the future.

Page 1 of 2 Next Page >>