Causes of Heartburn

In my quest for knowledge on the causes of heartburn, I
unfortunately came across many, but I took the time and culled
it down to a hopefully manageable amount.

On a very simple level, the causes of heartburn are associated
with a lot of things, food being the main culprit. Coffee and
chocolates being another, since heartburn, for most people
occurs after eating or drinking.

There is a good explanation for this though, and it all has to do
with something I mentioned earlier, about the acids flowing
back up into your gullet (esophagus).

To put it simply, your stomach produces acids when you eat or
drink anything to better aid in the digestive process. And since
there are more acids present in your stomach at this time, you
have a better than average chance of getting heartburn.

But it is also true that almost half of us will live our entire lives
without suffering from heartburn. So why does it affect some
people and not others? That was another “burning” question I
had since my sister doesn’t suffer from any heartburn at all,
and I do.  

As I have found out, most people can go through their whole
lives and not need anything more severe than a cold
medication to help them. But then we come across the other
more unfortunate people like me, who generally find their
medicine cabinets stocked full of odd remedies that might be
needed at any given time.

Whatever the cause, or the cure however, one thing remains
constant. Our body is in some way failing, and it needs to be
fixed. This is also the case for heartburn sufferers. A part of
your body is failing.

Unfortunately, it just happens to be a part that you can’t see,
and will most of the time ignore in favor of more pressing
needs, that is, until the pain gets so bad that you can’t handle it.

The part that is failing is known as the Lower Esophageal
Sphincter, or LES for short, and is part of the reason you suffer
from heartburn. I found that this LES is akin to a one-way
valve, where it lets the food, or drink pass down your gullet and
on through to the stomach, and doesn’t let it come back up
again.

At least, this is the way it’s supposed to work. For heartburn
sufferers however, it is a completely different matter entirely,
in that our LES valve isn’t working properly, or only half as well
as it should, relaxing its muscular tension to allow acids back
through to the esophagus.

Normally, if that was all, it might have been fine, but another
problem comes up along with it. And that is, that the lining of
the esophagus is more delicate, when compared to that of the
stomach, and therefore damages more easily when coming into
contact with the harsh acidic stomach juices.

The stomach on the other hand, is better able to handle these
juices, as it has been lined by nature with a protective coating
that enables it to better handle the necessary stomach acids.

As a result of this, when the LES fails to do its job and relaxes,
the acids flow back into the esophagus, and cause it to become
irritated and inflamed. It is this acidic, burning feeling we feel
just behind our chest that we call heartburn.

I mentioned at the beginning of this page, that generally
heartburn will occur for most people right after a meal. But did
you know that heartburn can also occur as a result of damage
to the esophagus from causes other than acid reflux?

The best example I think, would be something that many us of
do without putting too much thought into it, like swallowing food
that’s steaming hot, or eating sharp things like potato chips
without chewing properly first.

If you’re getting heartburn only because the esophageal lining
is damaged, then all you will really need is time to heal, and a
few soothing herbs to help it along its way. If however, like me,
your heartburn is due to the more common reason of a
damaged LES valve, you might not be able to fully heal it since
the cause for this breakdown is as yet unknown. There are
things however, that you can do to help alleviate your
heartburn once it starts, and also to prevent it from recurring
too often.

To do this, it is better if you can fully understand exactly what
type of heartburn you suffer from.
Copyright 2006 by home-remedies-for-heartburn.com
An Amazing
E-book
in the Internet
History

1000 Copies Sold Out
Within a month

Get Your Copy Now
Dear Natural Heartburn
Cure,

"I want to let you know how
fantastic your eBook is!  I
have been doing what you
recommended….I’m
certainly never buying
expensive treatment for
Heartburn again that’s for
sure!”

I suffered from re-
occurring Heartburn for
years and kept having to
use counter drugs all the
time to keep it in check.   
One day I stumbled across
your ebook and decided to
give it a shot thinking what
have I got to lose, same
price as my counter drugs
and there was a money
back guarantee which to be
honest I thought I might
end up using.

I wasn’t sure what to
expect maybe some weird
diet, or to have to buy some
cream or something that
cost more more…but there
was nothing hard AT ALL
about it (easy as pie) and
my heartburn  was gone.

It hasn’t come back….
couldn't believe it.  I would
have paid 10 times as much
to get rid of my heartburn
so fast and easily!"

Jacob Amstrong (Florida)
Home-Remedies-for-Heartburn.com