Almost everyone experiences heartburn at some point in their life. It’s that uncomfortable burning sensation that persists in the chest as stomach acid flows into the esophagus. If it’s a first time or infrequent occurrence, many of us start to wonder: What if it’s not heartburn, what if it’s something more?
How can you tell when heartburn is an emergency or deserving of an urgent care visit? While it’s easy to want to dismiss it, that can also lead to severe consequences. Premium Urgent Care’s team has a few tips to help you decide what to do when heartburn hits.
What If It’s Heartburn? Should You See a Doctor?
When you have heartburn, the digestive juices in your stomach escape the stomach and pass through a band of muscles called the lower esophageal sphincter. This band of muscles connects the stomach and esophagus. As the stomach acid enters the esophagus, its acidic nature irritates the lining, causing the burning sensation.
Certain foods and beverages make you more likely to experience heartburn, including:
- Alcoholic beverages
- Chocolate
- Citrus fruits
- Fried foods
- Garlic
- Onions
- Peppermint
- Spicy foods like chili peppers
- Tomato products like ketchup or pasta sauce
If it’s heartburn, over-the-counter medications like antacids or Pepto-Bismol often reduce the painful burning. Some people might find that’s not enough. Lifestyle changes where you don’t lie down in bed for several hours after your last meal or you avoid certain foods, are more effective.
Far too easily, heartburn symptoms are mistaken for something far more serious. When the uncomfortable burning sensation hits, it’s common to want to see a doctor at a local urgent care or even head to the emergency room. Both of which cost you money and may be unnecessary.
This is why you should always start with what a typical case of heartburn feels like. Symptoms include:
- A burning sensation behind the breastbone that radiates towards the throat.
- Pain that worsens after a large meal or meals and snacks that include acidic, fatty, or spicy foods.
- The burning pain decreases when you take an over-the-counter antacid, but may return when the medications wear off.
- Stomach acid makes it to the throat and mouth through what’s commonly referred to as a sour burp.
- The pain and burning worsen when you bend over or lie down.
When to Go to Urgent Care
Occasional heartburn is common and usually not a cause for concern. If it happens more than twice a week, it’s an indicator that GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) is a possibility. GERD is not a disease to ignore. Go to urgent care and get checked out.
With GERD, stomach acid continually leaks into the esophagus causing acid reflux. Over time, it can damage the lining of the esophagus and cause Barrett’s esophagus, which is a precancerous condition that increases your risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma, the most common form of cancer in the esophagus.
Esophageal adenocarcinoma is more common in men, especially those who drink and/or smoke. If it occurs, chemo and surgery are often used to try to remove the cancerous cells. Signs of this type of cancer include:
- Chest pain and pressure
- A burning sensation
- Coughing
- Difficulty swallowing
- Worsening heartburn
If any of those symptoms are present, go to urgent care and see a doctor. It’s important to get GERD under control before it does damage. If heartburn happens more than twice a week or you have any of the above esophageal cancer symptoms, go to urgent care. That’s just one set of symptoms to watch for. Here are others.
- Chest pain appears suddenly and doesn’t subside.
- Chest pain worsens when you’re carrying heavy items.
- Pain that radiates outside of the center of the chest or throat.
- A persistent cough or wheeze appears.
- Breathing becomes difficult, or it’s hard to catch your breath.
- You’re nauseous alongside the chest pain, or the pain is bad enough that you throw up.
- You get cold sweats without exertion.
- Antacids don’t help.
There are also situations where it’s better to see a doctor as a precaution. They include:
- Advancing age
- Diabetes
- Family history of heart disease
- Heavy drinker
- Heavy smoker
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Obesity
What to Expect During Your Urgent Care Visit
You’ve decided to go to urgent care. What’s going to happen during the visit?
If you see an urgent care doctor about your heartburn, your office visit starts with a question-and-answer session. Be ready to answer questions about your family’s medical history. If a parent or grandparent had heart disease, the doctor needs to know that information.
Describe the symptoms you’re experiencing, even if you feel it’s not related. If you’re having a headache with heartburn, say so. The more information the doctor has, the more accurate the diagnosis. You don’t want the doctor to miss anything important.
If you’re taking any medications for the heartburn, share what they are and how often you’ve been taking them. Have a list of foods you ate in the hours leading up to heartburn.
After this, the doctor may want to listen to your heart, lungs, and stomach. Tests may be used to rule out GERD or Barrett’s esophagus. Often, those tests include one or more of the following.
- Barium X-rays involve a barium liquid that you drink before X-rays are taken of your stomach and esophagus.
- Esophageal manometry is a test that measures the movement and pressure within the esophagus.
- Esophageal pH monitoring helps determine how the acidity levels in the esophagus change over time.
- Upper endoscopy where a thin tube with a camera is inserted down your throat to view the esophagus, stomach, and upper portion of the small intestine known as the duodenum.
If a heart attack is suspected, you’ll be sent to the hospital for further testing. A specific blood test known as the troponin blood test looks at the levels of a specific protein that’s released when there’s damage to the heart muscle. That may be completed before you go to the hospital.
When to Go Straight to the ER
When should you choose the ER over urgent care? If your heartburn accompanies any of the following, go straight to the hospital.
- A crushing sensation in the chest
- Dizziness
- Pain that radiates down an arm or another part of the body
- Severe chest pain
- Shortness of breath
- Sudden difficulty breathing
- Sudden weakness in the arms or legs
- Vomiting blood
Trust your instincts. If you’re experiencing heartburn that over-the-counter medications aren’t easing, you have other symptoms in addition to heartburn, or you’re just not feeling right, see a doctor. It’s better to get checked out and learn it’s nothing alarming than to ignore it.
Premium Urgent Care is open on weekends and later into the evening, making it easier to see a doctor. Save time and check in before you arrive. You can even print out forms online and have them ready to hand to the registration team.