Heartburn Symptoms: Recognizing Them Can Save Your Life

There are some universal heartburn symptoms that if you can recognize can mean the difference between life and death. The reason for this is that many times people who are having sever chest pains may mistake the feeling for heartburn symptoms when in fact they are having a heart attack. It is best to be absolutely sure of what the heartburn symptoms are so that you can make sure that you are not in grave medical danger. Heartburn pregnancy symptoms are similar but have a much different cause.

Checking For Heartburn Symptoms

Heartburn symptoms are themselves not harmful to you, but can be extremely painful. Actual heartburn is the name for the symptoms and is caused by something called acid reflux. This is the medical condition with heartburn being the actual symptoms of that condition. What triggers acid reflux can very from person to person, sometimes it is diet, sometimes hereditary, and sometimes it can just be brought on for no apparent reason.

The first and most commonly recognized heartburn symptom is a painful burning sensation in the chest. This sensation starts behind the sternum and can travel up to the throat. It usually comes on quickly after the onset of acid reflux and can last a few minutes to many hours. Accompanying this can be a burning sensation in the throat, usually fairly high up on the neck. This sensation generally will not be present in more serious conditions. This pain is usually aggravated by swallowing and results from contents of the stomach coming up into the back of the throat. In addition a person will often have a sour taste in the back of their mouth.

These symptoms also come with a difficulty in swallowing. Food will seem to not travel easily down the esophagus down to the stomach. There is usually a sensation of food being stuck in the throat followed by chest pressure and the above burning. This condition can be far more serious and should be checked out by a physician if it persists continually.

One thing that is commonly overlooked is chronic coughing in non smokers. In recent studies it has been shown that almost half of all chronic cases can be tied back to acid reflux. The discomfort in the stomach causes the person to have a frequent and persistent cough that does not seem to have a cure. In any case, if you are coughing frequently it is a good reason to go see a doctor.