Word: heartburning
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Among the commonest ills of man, ranking close to constipation and headaches, is the wide range of supposed digestive upsets mistakenly described as "acid indigestion." Every day, millions of Americans complain of "heartburn" or "sour stomach." TV commercials spiel endlessly about "acid upset." Some sufferers try to dignify their complaints with such technical terms as hyperacidity and acidosis. By whatever name, the problem is a high-up bellyache, and those who suffer from it in the U.S. lay out $90 million each year for antacids and alkalizers...
Haunting Danger. Medically both heartburn and acid indigestion are vague terms, as hard to define precisely as to treat effectively. Heartburn ("pyrosis" in medical jargon) is a burning sensation felt somewhere behind the breastbone. In the vast majority of cases, the pain means only that the victim cannot digest food properly because he is emotionally upset, and he may have the pain without food. But there is always the haunting danger that what feels like heartburn may be nature's warning that the coronary arteries are shutting down. Many a man has died of a heart attack soon after...
Another serious condition that can be mistaken for simple heartburn is a hiatus hernia-a defect in the diaphragm where the gullet (esophagus) passes through, just above the stomach. This permits part of the stomach to poke upward into the chest cavity and spill digestive juices into the gullet. Pope Pius XII suffered from a hiatus hernia for a long time before it was correctly diagnosed and treated, and the condition is by no means rare...
...Teuber is a highly competent Deputy: rigidly controlled, beautifully articulate. At times I found him a bit too conscientiously odious; Lord Angelo, I suspect, should not pick his teeth and ears or twitch his mouth quite so often. One must preserve the distinction between heartache and heartburn...
...appreciate The Crucible without actually going to it (and if you haven't gone already, for Heaven's sake don't), you have to have savored a potato kugel heartburn. Potato kugel is a greasy dish made of ground potatoes, egg, and too much chicken schmaltz. Going down it is very smooth, but it keeps on insisting how good it tasted all evening long...