Heartburn – what, when and how to relieve it? Review article
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Abstract
One of the symptoms most frequently reported in doctor’s offices is heartburn, which is defined as a burning sensation along the esophagus. It is also the main symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease, but it may also appear incidentally. Depending on the frequency of symptoms, their duration and severity, different procedures are proposed, which are aimed at quickly relieving heartburn, healing potential inflammatory lesions of the esophagus or temporarily eliminating the burning sensation in the esophagus if it does not occur frequently or constantly, but only in specific situations. e.g. after dietary mistakes. Patients’ self-treatment should be limited to 2 weeks, and in case of the slightest doubt or the occurrence of alarm symptoms, diagnostics should always be in-depth with additional tests. Treatment with proton pump inhibitors should be limited to 4–8 weeks, and in case of failure, the patient should also be referred to a specialist. Acute use of famotidine, alkinates, and alginates may be effective for episodic symptoms.
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