Q&A - Dr. John Bienvenu: When should you see a doctor for heartburn?
In terms of when we ask patients to seek treatment for reflux symptoms, there are some clues we look for, and signs and symptoms that we identify patients for which we might think they need further evaluation. One of those symptoms is chest pain. We also always want to exclude heart disease as being the cause of the patient’s chest pain before we chalk it up to reflux disease. Additionally if patients have trouble swallowing or pain with swallowing, that would prompt us to do a little more research. One of the problems with reflux disease is, if left untreated over time, that reflux can damage the bottom of the esophagus and cause what’s called Barrett’s esophagus. That condition is important for us to know about and screen patients for Barrett’s esophagus because untreated Barrett’s esophagus can result in esophageal cancer. It’s a very high risk associated with Barrett’s esophagus and one of the reasons why we want to identify patients that may be at risk for its development.