A hand clenching the chest is not the best way to express emotions, or is it? Maybe the emotions are too strong to handle and at times tears just flow involuntary. How do I even put this into words? You wish you had done something differently and with actual involvement of the brain and not only your mouth, but may be the pleasure was worth it, the feeling of it melt in you ectastic, feeling it’s fullness in your mouth, just took you to a different world. All you wish for is a small pill to save you from this emotional torture. He who gives you that pill will be you knight in shining armor for the night. Maybe they get the jealously guarded last dance with you. And someone gets the honors to become the prince to a princess in distress. Is this from Disney? Definitely not but it all depends on your interpretation of emotions. A burning heart is never cool because it is a heart burn.

Heart burn is a burning sensation or discomfort in the upper chest and mid chest. This pain is caused by stomach contents being forced back up into the esophagus (food pipe). The action of chewing stimulates the cells on the stomach lining to produce hydrochloric acid. This is a natural mechanism that ensures that there is some acid in the stomach once the food is swallowed to allow the process of digestion. Whenever the content of the stomach is pushed upwards it causes irritation keeping in mind that it is acidic and comes with a bitter sour taste in the back of the throat. This process of the acidic content being pushed back to the esophagus is known as the acid reflux and is the main cause of heart burn.

Acid reflux is caused by increased production of the acid in the problems or at times structural problems in the esophagus. In the case of increased production, your guess is as good as mine; the more you eat, the more HCl is produced, the higher the chances of the acid rising in the esophagus. Eating large food portions is a confirmed cause of acid reflux and the body is not hesitant to express its displeasure on being overworked. Other than that, the production of HCl in the stomach is a conditioned reflex in that it is almost in exact synchrony to ones eating schedule. This explains that uncomfortable one gets if taking meals is delayed simply because the body was expecting food but there was none.

Eating food shortly before bed time also leads to one getting a heart burn. This is because eating food normally makes the stomach to produce acid and at this time it is left with much acid which might find its way to the esophagus.

I am saddened to be the beholder of these news days to valentine but chocolate is bad news. Chocolate contains caffeine and other stimulants, high fat and obviously high levels of cocoa. A combination of the three is a perfect recipe for a heart burn. They lead to over production of HCl acid and this results to an acid reflux. Let’s face it, that dark brown bar is not the best but who would mind having a heart on fire on valentines? Would you?

Since chocolate is not good for the ‘heart’, you decide to take fries and one big burger. Sounds better than a small packet of overcharged and overrated chocolate that does your ‘heart ’ no good. You just jumped from the hot pan to the fire its self. Most fast foods are deep fried and thus have a high fat content. Fat contributes highly to acid reflux and yes your heart will burn.

We all know of that Monday morning when you blame whoever came up with such a day on the calendar and curse them to their death. All you systems are still on weekend mode but work is waiting, a lecture is waiting, uncompleted assignments due on that morning, you can’t find one sock that you are so sure was with its partner a day ago, the world just seems to be against you for some wrong you are not aware of committing. But then there is this guy who is you hero, you savior, you are forever indebted to them, Kardi. Kardi is the Ethiopian who discovered coffee after noticing how excited his goats became after taking the beans from a coffee plant in the 19^th century.

You say a silent prayer for his soul as you gulp down the concentrated solution of caffeine and some magic happens and your body is alert faster than you can say alert. In the afternoon, when a siesta is too tempting a solution, and your in tray is overflowing, Kardi is back to your mouth, literally. Mondays slowly turn into Tuesdays and the whole week follows. My friend, you are courting frequent acid reflux if you don’t have it already.Caffeine stimulates the production of HCl in the stomach in its “alertness formula”. Excess acids find its way up the esophagus and the results are not pleasing, that we can agree on.

As a kid, the hissing sound produced by carbonated drinks was fascinating and still is, but have you ever wondered where the bubbles go to. The fizzier it is the better or the tastier it is but where does all that air end up. You are right, I hope, it ends up in the stomach. Once in the stomach the bubbles of the carbonate expand and increase the pressure. This increased pressure contributes to an acid reflux since there is limited volume in the stomach.

The situation is even worse if the beverage is alcoholic. Alcohol has a way of relaxing the valve at the bottom of the esophagus where it joins the stomach. A valve is a structure that allows controlled movement of fluid in a tube in the body and only supports unidirectional movement. Now alcohol interferes with this mechanism and contents in the stomach can move back up to esophagus. This actually explains the frequent bopping when drunk as there’s no barrier.

You might be wondering how it is a heart burn and the heart is not involved at all. The most common indication of a heart burn is clutching the chest region, the region where the heart is located. The heart in this case is in term of sense of center and not the organ. It simply means pain in the center, low in the chest or high up in the abdomen and nothing to do with the organ. Mild heart burn can be managed by taking anti acid pills. However if persistent, a doctor should be consulted to find out the underlying cause.

“The original 13th century meaning of heart burn was lust but by the 15th century it had come to have today’s meaning”

As for valentine, a little discussion with your stomach can save you the trouble. Just get to an agreement and you’ll take as many bars of chocolate as possibly possible. You have 4 days to work that out and you’ll have a chocolate filled valentine! All the best! You can always thank me later.