Acid reflux is stomach acid flowing backward into your esophagus
Your stomach is built to hold acid. Your esophagus — the tube from your throat to your stomach — is not. Between them sits a ring of muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). It opens to let food in and closes to keep acid down. Acid reflux is what happens when that valve opens at the wrong time, and acid splashes up where it doesn't belong.
That's it. Everything else — the burning, the sour taste, the cough — is your esophagus complaining about acid it was never designed to touch.
My experience: for years I called it "just acidity". I didn't know it was reflux, and I didn't know reflux could scar tissue. An endoscopy later showed a severe mucosal break exactly where the esophagus meets the stomach. That's the story behind this site.
Acid reflux vs heartburn vs GERD
People use these words interchangeably. They are three different things:
The event. Acid moves from stomach to esophagus. Can happen with or without any feeling.
The symptom. The burning behind your breastbone caused by reflux. More on heartburn →
The disease. Reflux twice a week or more, or reflux that damages the esophagus. What is GERD →
Why does it happen?
The valve fails for a handful of predictable reasons — a stomach that is too full or under pressure, foods that relax the LES, lying down too soon after eating, excess weight, or a hiatal hernia. Eating too fast was my big one: a large volume of poorly chewed food arriving in minutes stretches the stomach and forces the valve open. Full list of acid reflux causes →
What does it feel like?
- Heartburn — burning behind the breastbone, often rising toward the throat
- Regurgitation — sour or bitter liquid in the back of the mouth
- Bloating and burping after meals
- Chronic cough, hoarseness, or a lump-in-throat feeling (often called "silent reflux")
- Worse at night or when bending over
See the complete list of acid reflux symptoms →
Is acid reflux serious?
Occasional reflux after a heavy meal is normal and harmless. Frequent reflux is not. Acid repeatedly hitting the esophagus can cause esophagitis, mucosal breaks (what I had), strictures that make swallowing hard, and — rarely — Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous change.
See a doctor if: symptoms happen twice a week or more, you have trouble or pain swallowing, unexplained weight loss, vomiting, black stools, or chest pain that spreads to your arm or jaw (rule out your heart first).
How do you stop it?
Medicine calms the acid; habits fix the valve problem. What worked for me: smaller meals, no food within 3 hours of bed, cutting my trigger foods — and above all, eating slowly and chewing properly, which is exactly the habit the FixMyStomach app trains. How to treat acid reflux, step by step →
This page shares personal experience and general information. It is not medical advice — please consult your doctor about your own condition.