Occasional heartburn: no - antacids and habit changes (smaller meals, not lying down after eating, less late alcohol and coffee) handle it. Heartburn most days, heartburn resisting pharmacy treatment, or heartburn with food sticking, frequent vomiting, or unexplained weight loss: yes, per the NHS.
Frequent acid can inflame the food pipe, and a doctor can prescribe stronger suppressors and look for a driver. The swallowing-and-weight-loss pattern deserves a prompt visit, not an eventual one. And chest pain with exertion, breathlessness, sweating, or spread to arm or jaw is a heart emergency until proven otherwise - not indigestion. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, and can help you tell the difference.
What to do
Common questions
Should I see a doctor for heartburn?
Occasional heartburn after a big or spicy meal is a pharmacy problem, not a doctor problem - antacids plus the boring fixes (smaller meals, not lying down after eating, raising the bed head, easing off late-night alcohol, coffee, and fatty food) handle it. The NHS line for booking a visit: lifestyle changes and pharmacy medicines are not helping, you have heartburn most days, or other symptoms have joined in - food getting stuck in your throat, being sick frequently, or losing weight for no reason. That last trio matters: persistent reflux plus trouble swallowing or unexplained weight loss is exactly the pattern doctors want to see soon, not eventually. Most-days heartburn has its own logic even without red flags: frequent acid can inflame the food pipe, and a doctor can prescribe stronger acid suppressors and check whether something else is driving it. One caution that surprises people: chest pain you are calling heartburn that comes with exertion, breathlessness, sweating, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw is a heart problem until proven otherwise - treat that as an emergency, not a digestive one. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, that can help you sort routine reflux from the see-a-doctor kind.