Managing Nighttime Heartburn

Nighttime heartburn is probably the most disconcerting of all heartburn symptoms. Waking up in the middle of the night with a burning feeling in one's chest and stomach acid in one's mouth is truly unpleasant.

Heartburn is a condition almost everyone experiences. The sharp pain is a shock to the system and when you first have it, you may well confuse it with a heartattack.

There are plenty of heartburn medications, and usually the first thing that people turn to is an antacid solution such as Tums.

To understand what happens with nighttime heartburn, let's take a quick look at how how heartburn occurs.

There is a little flap over inside the part of the stomach that leads up to the esophagus. This small valve is supposed to help keep the acid in the stomach. When you bend over or lie down sometimes this flap does not work properly.

When this occurs when sleeping it leads to nighttime heartburn. In fact nighttime heartburn is the most frequent complaint of people who suffer from this condition.

Many times the individual will have enjoyed their favorite meal and even over indulged. They may have had pizza or spicy food. Perhaps they had their favorite wine or a bit of alcohol.

On top of that as they were out and about and their clothing could have been a bit tight and become snugger still after ingesting a full meal. All of those things help contribute to nighttime heartburn.

Sufferers of nighttime heartburn often find that they wake up with acid in their mouth or nose. They may feel as if it is hard to breathe or find themselves waking up coughing or choking. This is because the acid has come up their esophagus into their nasal cavity while they slept.

Nighttime heartburn can cause the usual pain in the chest. The individual may get up quickly seeking to expand their chest and breathe. Nighttime heartburn for chronic sufferers occurs more than once a week.

Treating nighttime heartburn

The first approach to dealing with nighttime heartburn is to assess the extent of it. If you have chronic heartburn, occurring two to three times per week, then go and see a doctor. Otherwise, make changes to your diet and times of meals.

It's commonsense not to eat food close to bedtime. If you want another reason besides nighttime heartburn, one of the worst times to eat for putting on weight is just before bed.