Heartburn Causes

What are the causes of heartburn?

On the one hand, the cause of primary reflux disease can be an overproduction of gastric acid. In this case, the peristalsis (coordinated muscle contraction) of the esophagus is unable to transport the acidic stomach contents back into the stomach quickly enough. It can be said that there is a reduced self-cleaning of the esophagus.

The stomach is the second place after the mouth with its teeth where food is crushed. There the food is to be digested and divided into its smaller components. At the same time, potentially dangerous pathogens that may be present in food are to be killed.

For this reason, the stomach is filled with an extremely acidic digestive juice, gastric acid. Due to various hormones or other misregulations in the body, a more acidic gastric juice can be produced than is usually the case. If this reaches the esophagus, it is particularly corrosive and causes heartburn.

Another cause of primary reflux disease (primary heartburn) may be weakness of the lower esophageal sphincter (lower esophageal sphincter). This is often caused by a diaphragmatic hernia. A hiatal hernia is a protrusion of the upper part of the stomach through a natural opening in the diaphragm (hiatus esophageus) into the chest.

This type of diaphragmatic hernia is often a harmless accidental finding, but in some cases this hernia causes heartburn (reflux disease). The sphincter is located between the esophagus and the stomach. Normally it is permeable to everything coming from above.

These are the drinks and food that you have eaten. At the same time it is impermeable to everything in the stomach. There, food and drinks are mixed with the acidic gastric juice and digested through it.

If there is a weakness of the sphincter muscle, the acidic stomach contents can flow back into the esophagus during digestion and cause a burning sensation, heartburn. In addition, there are other factors and causes that promote heartburn (reflux):

  • Pressure increase in the abdominal cavity: In case of overweight (obesity) pregnancy
  • For overweight (obesity)
  • Pregnancy
  • For overweight (obesity)
  • Pregnancy

During pregnancy, the body goes crazy because it has to adapt to many changes. This leads to the release of many hormones that are otherwise not found in the body or in smaller amounts.

Many pregnant women are often nauseous at the beginning of the pregnancy so that they also have to vomit. When vomiting, stomach contents flow together with the acidic digestive juice through the esophagus. There is a sensitive mucous membrane there, which is not used to the high acid content.

It can therefore easily be attacked by the gastric juice and cause complaints such as heartburn. In later stages of pregnancy, the unborn child is so large that it displaces the organs in the abdominal cavity. This often causes the stomach to be pushed up a little.

This automatically results in the stomach contents pressing more strongly from below against the sphincter muscle between the stomach and the esophagus. If the muscle cannot withstand the pressure, acid digestive juice gets into the esophagus and irritates it. Heartburn during pregnancy is in most cases a consequence of normal processes in the body and therefore not necessarily a worrying sign.

Nevertheless, the doctor treating you should know about heartburn. If necessary, he can prescribe medication to relieve the symptoms. Smoking often causes heartburn in addition to many other conditions.

The symptoms rarely occur immediately after smoking a cigarette. The development of heartburn is based on three different mechanisms: Firstly, smoking produces less saliva, which lies protectively on the esophagus. In addition, the saliva produced is less alkaline and therefore less able to neutralize the stomach acid.

In addition, the individual pollutants that enter the esophagus with the smoke also attack the esophagus, leading to small lesions. Repeated vomiting repeatedly causes stomach acid to enter the oesophagus. In contrast to the stomach, however, the esophagus is not protected against the extremely acidic digestive juice and is therefore easily damaged.This damage or irritation of the mucous membrane can cause complaints such as heartburn.

It is also possible that frequent vomiting irritates the sphincter muscle between the esophagus and the stomach and therefore no longer closes reliably. This can also cause gastric juice to flow back into the esophagus and irritate it. Complaints such as heartburn are not unknown to many people who practice sports.

Several causes are suspected: During sport, the body needs energy for movement. Therefore, the digestive tract switches to energy-saving mode. Food is digested more slowly, which means that more stomach acid is produced.

In addition, food that has already been digested can be more easily transported back into the oesophagus through a contraction (contraction of the stomach during digestion). In addition, increased air can often be swallowed during exertion. During the subsequent belching process, stomach acid may also be transported back into the esophagus.

Too little fluid intake is often associated with heartburn. It is possible that the small amount of fluid in the stomach acid is more concentrated and thus causes heartburn more easily. However, in most cases the causal relationship is not apparent: Diseases such as a gastrointestinal infection trigger heartburn through vomiting. In addition, there is also a loss of fluid. Therefore, heartburn and “not drinking enough” are often experienced at the same time without a direct connection.