Can Stress Cause Heartburn?

Have you ever wondered whether stress causes heartburn? I bet that you did. It is widely proclaimed that stress kills, and there are many instances in which it can trigger heartburn which in itself is a symptom of acid reflux. Times are hard, and there are not many people walking around these days which do not feel at least a bit stressed out.

Acid reflux is an illness which is often caused by a dysfunctional digestive system, weak LES or a hiatal hernia. As the half digested food along with the stomach acid makes its way into the chest and throat area in causes a burning sensation known commonly as heartburn. This is very painful and can come with many other symptoms such as nausea, shortness of breath and severe chest pain.

The main problem with this is that not only does it throw a person of from living a normal life, but also comes at the most inappropriate times. As you just ate lunch and are making your way to a very important presentation or interview, heartburn, is the last thing that you want to have to deal with.

This is the type of situation where stress can easily cause heartburn also. As you are used to this symptom happening after lunch, if you just ate and are heading to an important meeting your mind starts to worry if the heartburn will appear once again. This stress and worry often leads to anxiety and maybe even a panic attack.

That type of a response weakens your immune system, allows the LES to weaken and induces fast, shallow breathing. If you tend to breath through the stomach than this type of an event is even more dangerous to you. These factors combined are more than enough to induce a case of reflux and with that heartburn.

Although it is hard to do, most people are able to control these symptoms by changing their diet, lifestyle and getting on some sort of medication. I do not recommend for anybody to self diagnose or self medicate as the symptoms correlate to those of many other, even more serious diseases. No reason to start panicking and getting yourself wound up for nothing.

See a doctor and explain what you are feeling and when this happens. A physician will be able to perform the right tests and maybe even see inside your throat to check on the severity of the reflux and give you the proper recommendations. If the doctor simply puts you on medication, than either ask again or go see a different one as the medicine, although good, only treats the symptoms and does not get to the root of the problem.