Usually, heartburn is accompanied by a sour or bitter taste, which is primarily the stomach acid you regurgitated and made its way to your mouth. To make things worse, women who are pregnant are more susceptible to heartburn. It can really be frustrating experiencing this condition especially when the weather is hot or warm. Chronic Heartburn: Causes and Effective Treatments Today, around 10 to 15 percent of the adult population has chronic heartburn. While mild heartburn can be treated easily through lifestyle modification and over the counter antacids, chronic heartburn is far more complicated to treat. This is because chronic heartburn may indicate that you may be suffering from other medical conditions that are far more serious, such as Barrett s esophagus, Hiatal hernia, esophagitis, or GERD. First of all, you have to remember that heartburn is in no way related to any heart condition. As a matter of fact, heartburn is a digestive condition where the acid that our stomach naturally produces to digest food comes in contact with our esophagus. When this happens, we will feel a burning sensation that starts on our diaphragm all the way to our chest. This is because when we lie down, it s easier for the acid to reach our esophagus because gravity will no longer be of any help when we are lying down. And, when we lie down, there will be a much more prolonged contact between the esophagus and the acid, which can easily lead to the deterioration of the esophagus lining, which will cause a more serious complication as mentioned earlier. And, these drugs are usually prescribed if no other drugs helped your heartburn condition. There are also surgical procedures that can help your problem with heartburn. Surgery is usually done if no prescription drugs helped in relieving heartburn or if you are already experiencing serious complications from heartburn. Despite its name and what you will feel during an episode of heartburn, it is in no way related to the heart. Heartburn happens when stomach acid comes in to contact with our esophagus. You have to remember that stomach acid can reflux or travel back up inside our body. When stomach acid comes in to contact with our esophagus, it will cause irritation and we will feel that burning sensation that starts in our diaphragm all the way to our chest, which is basically what we all know as heartburn.