By: Jeff Martin

Heartburn symptoms are alarmingly common all over the world. Millions of men and women in America suffer from acid reflux induced heartburn during their lifetime. Sometimes, it may become difficult for us to distinguish its symptoms from those caused by other conditions, such as angina pectoris or heart attack. What most of us lack is a clear understanding of all the symptoms of heartburn and this could prove to be potentially dangerous. It is critical to distinguish between heartburn symptoms and actual cardiac arrest signs in order to start the correct treatment and take the necessary action.

To begin with, heartburn due to acid reflux is caused when the acidic stomach contents reflux back into the esophagus (tube that carries food, beverages, etc from the mouth to the stomach) as a result of which the person feels a burning sensation at the back of the breastbone or in the throat. Often a hot, sour acidic or salty fluid regurgitates back in the throat, resulting in retching. This is particularly evident in children who vomit out most of the stomach contents.

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder or acid reflux heartburn also accompanies a feeling of difficulty in swallowing as also a sensation of foodstuff getting ’stuck’ in the middle of the chest or the throat. It may also cause chronic cough, chronic hoarseness and sore throat for days on end. Actual heart attack, on the other hand, has none of these symptoms. Although some amount of heartburn could also accompany an angina pectoris, the pain is much more severe in this case.

Below are a few of the significant symptoms associated with angina pectoris as opposed to GERD:

Pain related to heart attacks, unlike GERD-related pain, often radiates to the shoulders, neck, jaw and arms.

Sudden intense chest pain or pressure on the chest is one of the most common symptoms of cardiac arrest but is absent in GERD.

Cardiac attack triggers a feeling of tightness in the center of the chest, which is not restricted to the back of the breastbone only, as in the case of acid reflux.

Heart attack may cause a shortness of breath which is rare with GERD heartburn.

In case of heart attack the pain is relived by taking nitroglycerin, GERD heartburn on the other hand is relived after taking antacids.

Heart attack patients break into a cold sweat, but that rarely happens with GERD patients.

The GERD symptoms when compared with heart attack symptoms are far easier to understand.

Some of the common symptoms of heartburn are given below.

Heart attack and GERD, both may cause very severe pain; however, unlie the former, GERD induced pain does not spread to the shoulder, jaw, neck and arms of the sufferer.

Heartburn is only restricted to below the breastbone or the ribs and does not radiate to the center of the chest.

A GERD induced pain is often reported after meals, when lying on the back and particularly more during the night.

Heartburn does not cause the patient to break into a cold sweat.

Studies made on patients suffering from heartburn has revealed that most GERD related symptoms become evident at night, making them more restless as they tend to lose slumber and stay awake. Besides, patients with nighttime GERD also seem to experience more intense pain than those whose symptoms occur at other times.

There are many people who just try to get rid of heartburn symptoms without realizing that what they actually need to do is fight the disease, or what causes it in the first place instead. This is because if the problem remains within the body, the symptoms may make a comeback, even after they have gone away due to the medication. This is a classic case why most medications do not work for GERD – holistic remedies being an exception. Holistic remedies treat the body as a whole and goes to the root causes of GERD and so the problem is fixed from within the inside, rather than just the symptoms. So you should always turn to holistic remedies for the best results.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

Jeff Martin is a certified nutritionist and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, Heartburn No More.

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