One may recognize the feeling of having uncomfortable sensations that start behind the breast bone and surges up into the throat and, sets the innards on fire. It is not an uncommon feeling as heartburn is known to affect almost everybody at some point of time or another during their lifetime. Heartburn is also known as gastro esophageal reflux disease or simply as GERD, which though uncomfortable can, if it is no more than occasional, be quite harmless. However, one in every seven Americans does suffer chronic heartburn that may occur thrice or more times in a week.

Treated With Prescription Medications

Chronic heartburn is often treated by doctors with the help of prescription medications as well as changes in lifestyle. There are drugs such as Prilosec and Prevacid that help, even as other medications fail and, are known as proton pump inhibitors that shut off the “pump” that secretes acid into the stomach. Other medications may only switch off certain receptors within the stomach to reduce acid production and, are known as histamine blockers.

With, it is believed, an estimated 40 million Americans being victims of heartburn once every month, at the very least, the problem is certainly one that requires quick remedial action. Chronic heartburn may be the result of weakening of the muscles operating a valve or hiatal hernia or bulge in the diaphragm. Left untreated, chronic heartburn would end up as an ulceration of the esophagus as well as cause other respiratory problems and, also may result in esophageal cancer.

The symptoms of chronic heartburn include burning sensations in the chest or throat, inability to lie flat at rest, vomiting or belching up food or liquid as well as food getting stuck in the throat and finally, difficulty or pain while swallowing. One would thus need to visit medical care centers that are properly equipped to deal with chronic heartburn and ensure that the condition does not get worse.

Some of the more widely used treatments given for chronic heartburn include minimally-invasive videoscopic surgery that uses few small incisions as well as produces less scarring, shorter hospital stays and a quick return to normalcy than does traditional surgical methods. The patient of chronic heartburn may also get treated with the help of a small endoscopic device that permits the physician to place sutures in the muscles that control the stomach valve and, thus tighten as well as improve stomach valve functioning. These treatments help patients to reduce or completely do away with chronic heartburn medication.

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