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Acid Reflux Doctor Online for Heartburn and GORD

Lying in bed after a late dinner, chest burning and a sour taste creeping up your throat, is where most people first meet reflux. Talk it through in a phone or video GP consult. The doctor rules out warning signs first, then works out tests, a treatment review or a gastroscopy referral.

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Educational Hub for chronic and lifestyle-related diseases where the main themes are digestion, metabolism, and general health.

Reflux GORD Heartburn Acid Reflux

Important Information

Our doctors provide assessment and treatment when clinically appropriate. This service is not for emergencies.
If you are in urgent need of help, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 000 in an emergency.

Heartburn most weeks usually means GORD

Acid reflux is stomach acid leaking back into your oesophagus, the food pipe, because the valve at its lower end relaxes when it shouldn't. Most adults feel it now and then after a big meal. healthdirect's GORD page describes GORD as reflux happening more than twice a week. Some people hardly get heartburn. A croaky voice each morning, or a dry cough that lingers, may be the only clue.

Burning behind the breastbone most weeks Waking up coughing, or with acid in your throat Heartburn remedies from the chemist have stopped doing much. Hoarse mornings and a lump-in-the-throat feeling

Chest pain gets a 000 call before anyone blames reflux

Heart pain and reflux can feel almost the same. Don't guess. Telehealth fits adults whose heartburn is familiar, tends to follow meals and comes with none of the signs listed here.

Chest pain lasting more than a few minutes, or pain in the jaw, arm, back or neck with breathlessness: call 000

Vomiting blood or passing black, tarry stools. Go straight to an emergency department.

Food or tablets sticking when you swallow, or weight dropping without trying, calls for an in-person GP check today.

Late dinners and a flat bed feed night-time reflux

Gravity does a lot of the work. Lie down on a full stomach and acid has an easy path upward, which is why so many people feel worst around midnight. The Better Health Channel's indigestion page also lists large meals followed by bending, coffee, alcohol and advanced pregnancy as common triggers.

Raise the head of the bed with blocks or a wedge. Extra pillows mostly just bend your neck.

Leave a few hours between dinner and lying down

Gastroscopy goes through a gastroenterologist, with your GP writing the referral

Your story does most of the diagnostic work with reflux, so a phone call is a sensible first step. Expect questions about when the burning hits, what you'd eaten and whether it wakes you. Mention the medicines you already take. Some aggravate reflux. Camera tests belong to specialists, and your GP organises that step if it's needed.

A gastroenterologist referral for a gastroscopy, written when your GP thinks the oesophagus needs a closer look

Blood tests for anaemia or other causes, ordered through a pathology referral

Review of your current reflux treatment. New prescription treatment gets added only where your GP sees a reason.

Note when the burning starts and what you ate first

Scribble a few days of notes on your phone before the consult. Memory blurs. Written times show the GP your pattern in a minute or two.

When the burning or sour taste hit, and the meal or drink just before it
Every medicine and supplement you take, including anything bought for heartburn.
Sleep: propped up or flat, and whether coughing wakes you
If you're pregnant, how many weeks along you are

Check in again if the burning outlasts the plan

Referral letters and pathology forms land in your inbox once the consult wraps up. The specialist rooms book the gastroscopy itself. healthdirect's gastroscopy guide explains it's usually done under sedation and can show inflammation, bleeding or an ulcer. Book a review if heartburn keeps returning after the changes. Swallowing that gets harder means an in-person visit sooner.