Common symptoms of acid reflux

Heartburn: When the gastric acid of the stomach refluxes and escapes through the esophageal sphincter stimulating the nerves in the esophagus which creates the feeling of the area being on fire. Known as heartburn, it feels like a pain that burns in the middle of the chest, starting in the abdomen and may go as far up the esophagus as the throat and neck. Because of the location of the pain heartburn is often confused with heart angina, which may also radiate to the ribs and back up and down the torso.

Ulcers: As the gastric acid escapes from the stomach and comes to the esophagus it does considerable damage to the cells along the esophagus. This forces the esophagus to become inflamed whereupon it produces a healing agent but if that damage is too much an ulcer may form. The ulcer is essentially a break or tear in the esophageal lining that occurs in the inflamed area where the gastric acid has hurt the lining. As the ulcer continues to becomes worse the ulcer can actually wound the esophagus to the point where blood vessels burst, causing the ulcer to bleed.

Nausea: Nausea is a symptom of acid reflux that happens on occasion but when it does can happen cause vomiting. Sometimes there are rare cases when a patient will develop only nausea and no heartburn, though those cases are few and far between.

Regurgitation: Regurgitation is essentially refluxed liquid from the stomach that makes its way passed the esophageal sphincter to the esophagus and throat. For the most part this is occurs in small amounts and will only travel up the esophagus partway though there are instances where the gastric acid will actually come up in larger spurts. When this happens it will contain food and travel to the upper esophagus and throat. When this happens there is usually a taste of acid in the mouth and if the esophageal sphincter is loosened then it may fill with partially digested food. In these cases the acid will actually erode the enamel of the teeth causing them to erode.