Acid Reflux Pain

Heartburn is a symptom of acid reflux or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but not everyone with acid reflux also has heartburn. Similarly, not everyone who gets heartburn has acid reflux.

 

Chest pain is a heartburn symptom that can constitute Acid Reflux Pain for a person, particularly if the pain occurs after eating, bending over, or lying down. Chest pain is a very common reason that a person may have to go to an emergency room.

 

Many who experience chest pain are truly suffering a heart attack, but some may be having a brutal heartburn instead. The pain from severe heartburn can be so tricky to differentiate from the pain of a heart attack that you might need medical tests to find out.

 

This acid reflux pain can be even more complicated because heartburn pain and heart attack pain have many of the same attributes, and they both happen to similar types of people, like those who are older and those who are overweight. One sign of heartburn that you might confuse with heart attack is a sharp, burning sensation right below your breastbone or ribs. In general, acid reflux pain does not branch out to the neck, shoulders, or arms, although it can. It is more apt to feel like dull, heavy discomfort spreading across one’s chest.

 

Many people have reported that they frequently get acid reflux pain in the chest at night, and majority of them have trouble falling or staying asleep. Research has also found that GERD is responsible for more than 50 percent of emergency room cases of chest pain that are not cardiac in nature. A 24-hour esophageal pH study may be used to correlate chest pain with acid reflux.

 

Cardiac pain and heartburn from acid reflux may feel similar partially because the heart and the esophagus are located near each other and they share a nerve network. Acid reflux pain in the chest may be relieved with antacids. You should also be aware that if you are taking a histamine-2 blocker or a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) for your acid reflux, the side effects of these two types of drugs include abdominal pain.

 

Another type of acid reflux pain that people experience is pain or difficulty when swallowing. Trouble with swallowing is more common in advanced GERD cases. You could also have a feeling that something is stuck in your throat. To diagnose acid reflux, your doctor may use an X-ray procedure called a barium swallow radiograph to rule out any esophageal structure problem. Fortunately, this test is painless even though it involves swallowing a solution of barium.