It usually starts an hour after I eat: a burning sensation that hovers somewhere behind my breastbone. If I have an antacid on hand, the burning subsides. If not, it builds until I'm in fiery agony. I still remember one awful night 25 years ago, when I ate a greasy lump of fried dough on a train in Yugoslavia. It felt as though I had swallowed a vial of hydrochloric acid. Actually, that's not too far from the truth. The stomach is essentially a bag filled with powerful acid. If it weren't for a lining of protective cells, the stomach itself...
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