When Heartburn and GERD Start With the Nerves

Have you ever had that moment where your chest suddenly feels like a tiny flamethrower is living inside it and your stomach feels like it is trying to digest itself?

You know… that slow creeping burn that starts in your gut and then suddenly boom… fire.
If you live anywhere around Westerville, Lewis Center, or North Columbus and have ever found yourself eyeing that purple Nexium box thinking, “This is just who I am now…” then keep reading.

Because what if heartburn actually has less to do with food…
and more to do with your nervous system?

Most People Do Not Come In Asking for Heartburn Help

At inThrive Chiropractic here in Westerville, most adults walk through the door because their mid back hurts, their posture feels off, or they slept funny and now turning their head feels like a professional sport.

But then during the exam or consultation we ask:
“Do you ever deal with heartburn or reflux?”

And the response is almost always some version of:
“YES but how in the world did you know, Doc?”

The short answer

That means your stomach begins operating like someone slapped the full power button and walked away. Which leads to… well… lava throat.

What Most People Do First

If you go the medical route, the typical plan looks like this:

• Tums
• Nexium
• Pepto Bismol
• Pepcid
• Hope and prayer

And yes… sometimes those things calm the fire down.
But they do not actually address why your stomach is acting like a dragon in the first place.

Let Us Talk About Stress

Here around Columbus, life moves fast.
Work deadlines
kids’ sports
traffic on Polaris Parkway
and the great debate of
Do we really need another Target?
(Answer: emotionally yes. Financially probably not.)

When the nervous system is stressed, it switches into self protection mode.
That means digestion gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list because your brain believes you may need to run, fight, or escape something.

Your stomach is not supposed to process a steak dinner when your nervous system thinks you are being chased by a wild animal or a toddler with permanent marker.

Why Chiropractic Helps

At inThrive Chiropractic we look for what we call nerve interference in the spine.
Think of your nervous system like a breaker box.
Stress overloads it, switches flip, and suddenly the stomach gets confused.

By restoring motion and reducing interference in places like, the upper neck, vagus nerve region, and mid back

The stomach begins to calm down, acid production normalizes, and digestion wakes back up.

The wild part, half the time people do not come in for heartburn relief, but once it starts improving, their reaction is priceless.

You can literally see the lightbulb moment of
“Wait a second… my stomach feels calmer. How is adjusting my spine doing THAT?”