Perhaps it is not a coincidence that Heartburn Awareness Week is the same week as Thanksgiving. Many Americans overeat at Thanksgiving dinner and then end up with heartburn or acid reflux.

Dr. Amanda Swingley with Ascension St. Vincent in Indianapolis says some people live with chronic heartburn all year along, but it often takes a holiday like Thanksgiving for them to finally call their doctor about it.

“Some people, they wait too long to come in before being seen and they’ve got significant inflammation and strictures and some people, it can be very hard to control their reflux and it can be very hard to see them suffer with it because it can be significant. We see quite a bit of increased patients coming in with complaints of heartburn and the traditional symptoms of reflux, such as heartburn. There are lots of symptoms that people might not think are related to reflux like chronic cough, or hoarseness and things like that. So we do see an increased number of that at this time of year with the holidays,” said Swingley.

GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease, happens when the contents of your stomach moves up into your esophagus. It’s also known as heartburn or acid reflux. It’s one of the most common diseases gastroenterologists encounter. About 1 in 5 people experience it.

“The main thing is to not overeat if you’re prone to having problems with reflux. The more you put in there, the longer it’s going to take to get out and it’s likely to have more reflux issues. Then on top of it, alcohol definitely around the holidays can increase the amount of reflux someone is having,” said Swingley.

Untreated heartburn that doesn’t get better with medicine may lead to cancer, difficulty swallowing, and sores in the esophagus.