When Exercise Causes Heartburn

Running with heartburn is terrible. Ugh. My heartburn has gotten better over time, but I still get it sometimes when I run. It’s critical for me not to drink coffee, eat greasy foods, or eat too much before running. In fact, eating too much at any time is a trigger. There’s no inducement to stop before you’re full like the knowledge that you will really regret it if you don’t. I’m thin, so losing weight isn’t an option.

Being overweight is a major cause of heartburn and people who lose weight will frequently see their symptoms disappear without medication (and PPIs stopped working for me). I don’t understand why more people don’t choose to do that. It can’t possibly be worse than living with the kind of pain that keeps you up at night, that makes you sleep sitting up, and that makes every meal torture.

I have experienced heartburn from chronic high exercise levels many times. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered that the reason behind it was most likely a drop in metabolism (which makes sense, as high exercise levels often drop body temperature and pulse rate), which results in reduced gastrin secretion and poorer metabolism. In fact, raising my body temperature/metabolism was able to rid me of the heartburn problem within days.

//180degreehealth.blogspot.com/2010/05/heartburn.html

I have severe GERD, and have for many, many years. I take two generic Prilosec a day, and sometimes still have problems. It has never mattered what my weight is. Exercise is torture — even just brisk walking (I can’t run due to back problems — no impact activities) brings on the burn. I used to play a lot of golf — every swing increases the intra-abdominal pressure enough to force acid up my esophagus. At night, if I slip off the wedge pillow I sleep on, I often wake up choking.

I’ve read that there’s no a no-incision operation (done through the esophagus) that will fix a hiatal hernia, the most common cause of GERD, and I’m about ready to look into it.

Coach Mike, your blaming attitude is not helpful. Hiatal hernia is not always related to weight and diet. Lighten up.

I have a hiatal hernia and take generic Prilosec daily but have never noticed any increase associated with exercise. I do not do gym exercises but am a rancher who walks extensively and lifts 50+ lbs. on a regular basis. Mine is worse with foods and particularly alcohol. Too much of either means GERD that night.

Did they look at the role of sports bras at all? Trying to keep the girls properly supported is my main cause of heartburn, exercising or not.

I wish you’d do a feature on when WATER causes heartburn. I can drink plain cold water on a completely empty stomach (4 hours after a meal) and it’ll about half kill me. What is up with that?

(High-fiber, high-fish diet, moderate to vigorous regular exercise, still a bit heavy.)

I thought that exercise made my heartburn worse, and maybe it did. Then I gave up all soda and acidic drinks like Crystal Lite. My acid issues went away completely, even with an increase in exercise.

It is common to see patients with coronary disease misdiagnosed with acid reflux when their heartburn is actually angina. I knew two physicians who died of heart attacks while self treating their heartburn with antacids. Heartburn occuring after meals or in bed is likely reflux, but heartburn occuring with exercise is angina until proven otherwise.

I have moderate GERD from a hiatal hernia, and I’ve found that exercising in the morning before I eat anything minimizes my reflux. I will sometimes have a bit of pain right at the beginning, but that’s it. Using this method I can surf, run, do yoga, you name it!

I can’t really do those types of exercise later in the day, 2 hours after eating just doesn’t seem long enough. If I’m going to work out later I have to stick to biking, walking, or other low impact routines. That doesn’t include rowing, as the above poster suggests, which gives me severe reflux. I guess everyone’s unique.

# 15 Ohio MD:

“It is common to see patients with coronary disease misdiagnosed with acid reflux when their heartburn is actually angina.

Heartburn occurring after meals or in bed is likely reflux, but heartburn occurring with exercise is angina until proven otherwise.”

This is an excellent point. It’s essential to differentiate between the symptoms experienced and the subsequent diagnosis of underlying disease.

It must be emphasised that heartburn is a symptom – not a disease. Heartburn per se is a symptom of numerous underlying conditions, including but not limited to GERD. So it’s unhelpful and misleading to use heartburn as a synonym for GERD. The NYT’s own description of heartburn is that:

“Heartburn is a painful burning sensation in the esophagus, just below or behind the breastbone. The pain often rises in your chest and may radiate to your neck or throat.”

Gastroesophageal acid reflux is also a symptom, unmistakable to anyone has ever experienced it. But acid reflux, the symptom, again needs to be differentiated from possible underlying disease commonly referred to as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). It seems clear that the occasional episode of reflux or heartburn does not in itself necessarily indicate GERD or any other underlying disorder.

Further, as others have pointed out, GERD can itself be linked with (yes, I know, not necessarily caused by) numerous other disorders. Sometimes, but unfortunately not always, correcting or ameliorating a linked disorder sorts out GERD, and one’s symptoms of reflux and/or heartburn. Just look for yourself at PubMed to see what I mean by this.

Like most folks, I have had the occasional unpleasant sensation of heartburn, but never at the same time as gastroesophageal acid reflux. In my case, I have always put it down to indigestion.

Like most people, I have also had the unpleasant experience of reflux– but, again, never accompanied by heartburn. I experienced reflux several times as a teenager when I competed in cross country races first thing in the morning, if I had made the mistake of having any breakfast in the previous four hours, especially if I had made the crucial mistake of having orange juice for breakfast. The very fast running, especially at the beginning of a cross-country race as you are jockeying for position before you pass through the first gate, requires a relatively high, fast knee lift that places high stresses on the abdominal region. The inevitable result after drinking orange juice, spewing up as one runs along, at least helps put off one’s competitors! After a number of episodes of this, I learned to modify my race preparation.

As a middle-aged adult, my episodes of reflux have been something else altogether – far, far more unpleasant than those I experienced as a youth when racing. My middle-aged episodes have always occurred while I have been asleep, following the overconsumption of scotch whiskey or tomato juice beforehand. It’s a truly horrible experience to wake up spluttering and drowning in the tides of acid flooding into one’s throat and lungs as one struggles for breath and leaps gasping out of bed.

I’ve always put my occasional episodes of youthful and middle-aged reflux and heartburn down to my own prior conduct, but as the previous poster has pointed out, it’s essential that one does not confuse the symptoms with the diagnosis, and that one is checked for common underlying problems, particularly if the symptoms occur often.

Losing weight, through increasing exercise and decreasing intake, seems to have worked for my heartburn. I also eliminated carbonated drinks from my life. I was taking calcium carbonate nightly as well as occasionally through the day for years (mainly in the 20 years after my 10 lb 5 oz baby.) Once I started eating less, moving more, and losing weight it went away.
Now that I am down 40 pounds and bike, lift weights, run/walk intervals, and do DDR about 6 hours a week, I can count on one hand the times I needed the pill in the last three years. I am still careful about leaning over after a meal, as in weeding or other housework/gardening activities. I am particularly glad because I have become more and more concerned about lowering the body’s defenses against harmful microbes as I lowered the acidity of the stomach.
Side note: my sister was on Nexium for several years for severe heartburn. She spent a year of unexplained fevers, fatigue, malaise, being tested for all sorts of things before she was accidentally cured when the GP suggested boosting her immune system with a B complex. She had a severe B12 deficiency. Apparently, vegetarians can become depleted of B12 when using Nexium and it should not be used long term. I think her best results came from leaving her high-stress job and starting a business that has her working outside doing something she loves.

Heart and esophagus are intinately connected. Exercise can of course also cause heartburn/chest pain that may be due to heart problems. //bit.ly/9oJa5j

I tend to get indigestion if I have overworked my back or abs doing pilates or crunches. The only way to counter the possible damage is to make sure that I stretch properly after a workout and again the next morning, etc. I also try to do yaga at least twice a week to stretch out these muscles as well. I have been to a chiropracter on many occasions and have found that there is a direct correlation between my back and my indigestion. If you get frequent back aches and indigestion think about chiropractic care or massage. Believe it or not your ribs can actually hang up on each other and cause enough muscle tightness to cause indigestion. Doing cat/cow while rocking back slightly towards my heels tends to help stretch out those areas that cause issues.