Why Heartburn Happens: In people with frequent heartburn, the lower esophageal sphincter muscle may be weak, or relax too frequently, allowing stomach acids to get into the esophagus. It is not usually a problem of ‘too much stomach acid’. Taking antacids and other acid reducing drugs is often a bandaid for the symptoms and does not correct the underlying cause. Often when people try to stop taking these drugs, the acid reflux can re-occur even more severely.
Symptoms: Along with burning pain of the esophagus a person may also have pain with swallowing, nausea, burping, excessive saliva, cough, hoarseness, and bitter taste.
The Oriental Medical Perspective on Acid Reflux and Heartburn: A digestive system in balance should be trouble-free. Unlike Western medicine which views all acid reflux the same, Oriental medicine has many different diagnoses (known as patterns) for this condition. Once the pattern of cause is identified, an appropriate course of Acupuncture, herbal prescriptions and dietary recommendations are provided that will work to modify your system in such a way that both your symptoms and the underlying causes of heartburn are mostly if not completely eliminated.