Churn, burn, belch and taste, repeat, repeat, repeat. If this sounds like you, it could be you are in the throes of acid reflux disease. Acid reflux has the potential to cause serious damage to your throat, limit physical activity and affect your quality of life. Information is crucial to understanding just what acid reflux is, and what you can do to reduce or eliminate its effects.
Identification
When you swallow food, acidic gastric juices secreted by cells in the lining of your stomach get to work breaking down, or digesting, food into the component nutrients your body needs to survive. Digestion starts in the stomach and under normal circumstances progresses to the small intestine. Acid reflux occurs when the process works in reverse. Instead of partially digested food moving toward the small intestine, it moves backward, into your esophagus and mouth. This occurs because the sphincter muscles in your esophagus do not close properly, allowing this backward movement.
Causes
While many of the causes of acid reflux are factors you cannot control, some are the result of lifestyle and personal choice. Understanding what causes acid reflux can help you determine what to do about it. Medical conditions such as a hiatal hernia, peptic ulcers, insufficient acids in your stomach juice and asthma can all lead to acid reflux. In addition, acid reflux often appears during the third trimester of pregnancy.
Other causes of acid reflux include factors within your control. Smoking changes the composition of stomach juices, affects the digestive process and weakens sphincter muscles in your esophagus, paving the way to develop acid reflux disease. Eating spicy, acidic or fatty foods such as tomato-based foods, citrus fruits and fried foods can induce or worsen symptoms. Large portion sizes require more stomach juice to digest and can be a contributing factor. In addition, weight issues such as obesity can influence acid reflux.
Symptoms
The symptoms of acid reflux are easy to distinguish and difficult to ignore. These include heartburn, mild “backwash," or small amounts of stomach juice traveling back into your mouth, vomiting, chest pain, difficulty swallowing, hoarseness, and in extreme cases dental erosion and asthma, which can occur if stomach juices enter the airways in your lungs.
Effects
Prolonged bouts of acid reflux can damage the lining in your esophagus, causing swelling and ulcers. Swallowing even liquids can become difficult and painful. The National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse states that long-term effects of acid reflux can lead to a condition called Barrett’s esophagus. This is a condition where cells in the lining of your esophagus become abnormal and can be a precursor to throat cancer.
Prevention/Solution
Making lifestyle changes and getting medical attention are two important things you can do about acid reflux. Lifestyle changes recommended by the NDDIC include stopping smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, eating smaller portions more often versus one or two large meals each day and avoiding foods that trigger acid reflux symptoms. In addition, stop eating at least three hours before bedtime and place blocks under your bed to set the head of the bed at a 6- to 8-inch incline.
Make an appointment with your doctor or a gastroenterologist. Depending on the seriousness of your condition, treatment can include over-the-counter antacids that neutralize stomach acid or acid suppressants that include histamine. Histamine works by reducing stomach inflammation that leads to excessive acid production. Prescription medication can include proton pump inhibitors that work like a stronger version of an acid suppressant and prokinetics that work to increase digestion rates. In extreme cases, or in cases where medications cannot resolve the problem, your doctor may recommend a surgical procedure called fundoplication that works to repair and strengthen the sphincter muscles in your esophagus.
