First, let’s make sure it really is heartburn – a burning pain behind the breastbone, often worse after meals, at night or when bending over.

It’s caused by the acidic contents of your stomach refluxing up into your gullet – sometimes so high that sufferers can taste acid in their mouth. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with your heart.

The first step in extinguishing heartburn involves lifestyle changes. Go easy on the spicy foods, ditch the fags and avoid anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen. Too much alcohol – especially binge drinking – is a no no, as is eating too late at night.

But the most important step, if you’re overweight, is to lose some lard. This, in itself, might solve the problem.

If you get night time symptoms, try putting some blocks under the feet of your bed at the head end. This results in you sleeping on a slight slope, which helps because acid, like water, can’t flow uphill. Forget about propping yourself up with pillows, though. That simply bends you in the middle, which makes matters worse.

Follow all that advice and you might end up celebrating – though not with a boozy curry, of course. On the other hand, you might still feel the need to self medicate. In which case, the usual over the counter antacids can help.

But if you’re having to shovel them down by the bucket load, you might benefit from something stronger, such as ranitidine or omeprazole.

Both are available from the chemist – though if you need them regularly, you might find it cheaper getting them on prescription, so have a word with your GP.