What Does Heartburn Feel Like?
Key takeaways:
Heartburn’s most common symptom is a burning sensation in the chest or throat.
Some people who have experienced it say it feels like food sticking in their chest or throat.
Lifestyle changes and medications can help manage and reduce heartburn.
Heartburn happens when the stomach acids that digest food travel backwards into the esophagus. This can cause a burning or uncomfortable feeling in the chest and throat. Chronic heartburn is known as GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). Causes of heartburn include certain foods and other medical conditions, including pregnancy.
Here’s what four people who have experienced heartburn say it feels like.
‘Like a little punch in the chest’
When Alex Estrada first felt heartburn 12 years ago, he thought it was heart-related pain. He was in his 30s at the time.
“I had sharp, sustained pain in my chest, in the same area as my heart,” says Alex, a certified payment professional and web developer now living in Santa Barbara, California with his wife and four children.
Rigorous tests and an ultrasound found Alex’s heart was strong. The pain he felt was heartburn. Alex chose to manage his symptoms without medication. He followed a strict daily regimen that included exercise, eating well, and managing his blood pressure and cholesterol.
Fast forward 10 years. Alex had heart pain again. When he described what he was feeling to his doctor, he was sent to the emergency room. His symptoms mirrored a heart attack.
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“It was a dull, persistent pain,” Alex says. “Like a little punch in the chest.”
The culprit? Heartburn.
Alex now takes omeprazole (Prilosec) every day to reduce his stomach acid. Now 42, Alex finds it harder to maintain his health routine while managing work and home life.
“I still have days where I experience heartburn-related chest pain,” Alex says. “My previous scares give me some peace of mind. If I didn’t know what it was, heartburn would be a nerve-wracking experience.”
A coating on the throat that won’t go away
For AJ Silberman-Moffitt, a senior editor from Pompano Beach, Florida, GERD presents itself in other ways.
“I don’t have that burning sensation,” AJ says. “The feeling I get is the need to clear my throat or cough. It’s like there is a coating on my throat that won’t go away. It’s not painful. It’s just different.”
AJ’s symptoms started in 2011 with a persistent cough. Her doctor referred her to an allergist. After reviewing her medical history and symptoms, the allergist diagnosed her with asthma and GERD.
Now 49, AJ has been taking omeprazole for 11 years. She also uses over-the-counter products such as Tums, Coffee Tamer, and papaya enzyme for their antacid properties.
Recently she kept losing her voice. AJ was worried the stomach acid might be damaging her vocal cords. She underwent an upper GI endoscopy test, and everything checked out OK. Her new symptoms were caused by allergies and postnasal drip.
AJ now knows that her allergies, asthma, and heartburn can aggravate one another.
“The biggest obstacle is knowing which condition is causing my symptoms,” AJ says. She pays attention to her symptoms and adjusts as needed, which includes avoiding trigger foods.
Food coming up to your neck
Catherine Pearlman had experienced acid reflux before becoming pregnant with her son 15 years ago. But it was nothing compared to the heartburn she felt during her pregnancy.
“There was nowhere for the baby or the food to go,” says the 50-year-old author and licensed social worker.
She tried to manage her symptoms by taking Tums 10 or 12 times a day.
“It feels like actual burning in your throat,” Catherine says. “Or like the food is coming up to your neck. It doesn’t feel good. It was worse if I ate and worse if I didn’t eat.”
She vomited while giving birth but says the heartburn went away once her son was born.
“They say if you have a lot of heartburn your child will have lots of hair, but he had no hair at birth,” Catherine says.
Her advice: Speak up to your doctor.
“I just accepted it as part of being pregnant,” Catherine says. “But it affects what you eat, what you want to eat, and how you eat. That is all very important for nutrition when you are pregnant.”
A burning sensation
Shannon Fay rarely had heartburn until she got pregnant in June 2019.
“It was there every day, all the time, until I finally went on a daily medicine,” Shannon says.
As the baby got bigger, the heartburn got worse for the now 38-year-old knowledge management specialist from Annapolis, Maryland.
“It felt like my stomach was empty but also not empty,” Shannon says. “I would get a burning sensation at the base of my sternum. If I laid down or hiccupped or burped or sneezed, I had acid reflux.”
Drinking whole milk and heavy cream eased the burning sensation.
“My wife questioned why I was drinking that, but I was already exhausted and dealing with heartburn on top of it was even more exhausting.”
Once her daughter was born in March 2020, the heartburn quickly went away. Her daughter did have a lot of hair, so perhaps the old wives’ tale is true.
She advises other pregnant women who feel heartburn to not accept it and ask for treatment. Daily antacids and dietary changes can help. Keeping a food diary can pinpoint what triggers symptoms. Even alternative medicine like acupuncture may provide relief.
“It was a short period in my life,” Shannon says. “I can’t imagine dealing with heartburn all the time.”
What does the doctor say?
Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH
Medical Editor
Your stomach produces acid to break down food that you eat. Stomach acid is very efficient. It makes sure your meal gets completely digested so your body can pull out every last nutrient.
To be that effective, stomach acid has to be very strong. If you remember back to high school chemistry, the pH scale measures acids. Stomach acid has a pH between 1 and 3.5, making it one of the strongest naturally occuring acids in the world.
Your stomach lining is made to withstand this acid. And your pancreas dumps neutralizing agent into your intestines to protect them from stomach acid. But your gastrointestinal tract is supposed to be a one-way street. That means your esophagus has no protection against acid. So when food and stomach acid back up into the esophagus — it hurts. A lot.
Because of the way your esophagus signals pain back to your brain, the experience of heartburn varies from person to person. People can have pain, burning, coughing, a weird taste in their mouth, trouble swallowing, an increase in saliva production, and chest pain. And those are just a few of the many ways heartburn can present itself.
Heartburn isn’t just uncomfortable. It can make it hard for people to eat and swallow. It can worsen asthma and trigger wheezing and allergies. It can also feel a lot like a heart attack, which is a scary experience that requires long and expensive medical evaluations.
As you heard, heartburn is common during pregnancy. It has nothing to do with hair and everything to do with progesterone. This hormone relaxes the muscle that separates the esophagus and stomach, letting acid flow from the stomach into the esophagus. After pregnancy, progesterone levels drop and the muscle is able to squeeze back down, shutting out acid.
There are great treatments for heartburn that will bring you long-lasting relief. While taking some Tums will help in a pinch, keep in mind that Tums aren’t meant to be a long-term solution. Taking too much can even be dangerous, especially if you’re pregnant. So talk to your healthcare provider about other treatment options.
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