What Causes Symptoms of Heartburn and GERD?

GERD is Gastroesophageal reflux disease. So basically, that's when contents of the stomach re-flux up into the esophagus. Now we have natural barriers in our bodies that helps to prevent GERD. That's basically our diaphragm which keeps our lungs up in our chests and our stomachs in our abdomen, and there's also a small muscle that's at the base of our esophagus that causes a nice, tight seal so that the contents don't re-flux up into the esophagus. Now any time you have a defect in any of those two areas, you're going to have re-flux.

So heartburn is a symptom of GERD, and basically it's a burning sensation that comes up into your chest, or close to your heart, so that's why it's got the name heartburn.