Can a particular bra cause heartburn?

[Beekman]

Or at least exacerbate it?

Had indigestion a few times in my life but each time I’ve wore a particular new bra, a I’ve had awful heartburn. It’s a soft, comfy bra that I wear round the house and doesn’t feel tight when on but within an hour of putting it on today, I could feel acid in my chest. As soon as I took the bra off, the pain subsided and I’m fine now.

I’m under the care of a cardiologist (I live in the US now so it’s not as dramatic as having one in the UK) and everything was fine at my last check-up a couple of weeks ago.

Can a bra that is not particularly tight cause heartburn? Never happens with any of my other bras.

Yes - this happens to me too. I have to wear bras a size up around the chest so it doesn’t do this. I’m also pretty sensitive to tight clothes so I think it’s a similar issue!

I have problems with chronic indigestion but I have to think very carefully about what I wear and bras are a big issues. I wear a bigger back size than I really need and keep bra extenders in my bag so I can take the pressure off a bit when things are bad. Tight high waistbands with no stretch are also a problem.

You’ll probably find it’s cause by gas that’s making you bloated in your upper stomach area. Then the bra is trapping it there so it can’t escape.

Thanks for the replies. It could well be trapped gas. Weird it happens with the soft, “comfy” bra and not the structured, underwired ones but I guess these bras have a much wider band that’s probably gentler on my system.

I think there’s something about elasticated bands that can be worse. It’s like the pressure is spread over a narrower width and they can feel tighter than something you can alter with different clips. Like even though they can stretch, they’re always trying to squeeze back to the smallest it can be.

I used to get horrendous costochondritis for about four weeks at least twice a year. Until I stopped wearing a bra! The underwiring and my rib cage were having a serious disagreement.