Smoking cigarettes cause heartburn
Does smoking cigarettes cause heartburn?
I was wondering if anyone suffers from heartburn caused by smoking.
Nicotene, among other things, stimulates your body to create additional stomach acid you dont need. I quit in May of this year and im on 2 different prescriptions for acid reflux disease (the straw that broke the camels back).
My father had the same problem. He had ulcers, though, and the smoking just exacerbated the stress that he was already under, thus producing more stomach acid.
I never had heartburn as a result of smoking, and until last week, I was a smoker for 16 years. I had noticed heartburn now that I had quit, though. I think that it's just a temporary side effect to the nicotine withdrawal, though.
Smoking does make your heart beat faster, and will make you produce more stomach acid as a result. It normally will not cause any problems unless there is already a pre-existing medical condition (like peptic ulcers or a hiatal hernia).
He needs to quit smoking regardless, however, before you press him to quit, press him to go to a doctor specializing in internal medicine and get him to have an upper GI series done to point out any ulcers or complications that he may have in his gastrointestinal tract.