What causes heartburn?

For more information, please call: (434) 817-2442 or visit www.cvillemedresearch.com What causes heartburn? Heartburn is a condition typically
experienced as a burning discomfort in the chest just behind
the breast bone. This burning
sensation results
when stomach juices come into
contact with and irritate the delicate lining of the
esophagus, the tube-like structure that
connects the mouth to the stomach. The lower esophageal sphincter (LES)
is muscle/valve located at the base of
the esophagus where it connects to
the top of the stomach. The LES is
the most important valve responsible
for keeping stomach contents (such
as food, acid and bile) out of the esophagus and away
from our trachea or windpipe. When closed, the
muscles of the LES maintain a higher pressure than
those in the stomach, preventing food and digestive
juices from refluxing back into the esophagus. A normally functioning LES will open occasionally
when there is no swallowing these spontaneous
openings of the LES are known as transient LES
relaxations and typically occur after a meal when the
stomach is full with food and swallowed air. These C H A R L O T T E S V I L L E M E D I C A L R E S E A R C H The Pulse Osteoporosis Charlottesville Medical Research Current and Future Research Studies Reflux may still be the reason for persistent symptoms
despite acid suppression. Emergent treatments are
seeking to prevent heartburn and reflux by increasing
the muscle pressure of the LES in addition to reducing
the frequency of transient LES relaxations. Starting in late October, Charlottesville Medical
Research in conjunction with Daniel Pambianco,
M.D., F.A.C.G., C.P.I. will be conducting a Heartburn/
GERD research study for individuals suffering
from frequent heartburn and reflux symptoms and a
documented history of GERD. If you would like more
information about this research study, please visit our
website www.cvillemedresearch.com or contact us
directly at (434) 817-2442. To date, CMR has performed
over thirty GERD/Heartburn research studies with
over 350 participants. Americans have
heartburn
on a daily basis of people (male and
female) who suffer from
heartburn are between
the ages of 45 to 64. 50 PERCENT relaxations occur to let air out of the stomach and result
in burping. The backwash of stomach contents can
occur at this time - however, the esophagus responds
by causing contractions that force the stomach contents back into the stomach. Our natural
saliva is also alkaline and neutralizes
any remaining gastric acid in the
esophagus. Many people experience occasional
heartburn, but frequent suffers tend
to have a higher frequency of transient
LES relaxations. Those with severe
heartburn symptoms may have a LES
with abnormally low muscle pressure
which causes the LES to not close
completely and allows a constant
reflux of stomach contents into the esophagus exacerbating their heartburn symptoms.
Reflux in these sufferers occurs not only after meals but
at night when lying down, and can also be induced by
coughing, bending over and even by wearing clothing
that fits tightly around the waist! Current therapy for heartburn has acid
suppression as the mainstay. This
includes such drugs as Prilosec,
Nexium and Prevacid in one class and
Zantac and Pepcid in another class. Heartburn Americans have
heartburn at least
once a month Heartburn 15 MillioN 60 MillioN (Source: Mayo Clinic)

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