Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Put an End to Acid Reflux- Tips to Stop Painful Acid Reflux and Heartburn

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) also know as acid reflux is a chronic disease that causes burning pain in the throat and chest or commonly known as heartburn.  This happens when the contents in your stomach travels back to the esophagus. The malfunction of the muscle at the bottom of the esophagus is one of the reasons why acid reflux occurs. Frequent heartburn is the main symptom of GERD and this condition can be really disturbing so it is important to know how to put an end to acid reflux to free yourself from painful heartburn and other symptoms.

Chronic GERD if left untreated may cause serious complications like inflammation or bleeding of the esophagus. You need to see your doctor if you are experiencing frequent acid reflux and heartburn.  Here are some helpful tips if you want to put an end to acid reflux.

Medications.  Your doctor may prescribe medicines to relieve acid reflux and heartburn symptoms. Antacids are the common medication to stop GERD but medications could have side effects like diarrhea or constipation so be sure to talk to your doctor about it. Your doctor may also prescribe H2RAs or Histamine type 2 receptor antagonists and PPI or proton pump inhibitors. Some medicines maybe taken only as needed but there are prescribed medicines that should be taken everyday for weeks or it may last for years. Follow your doctor’s advice if you want to put an end to your acid reflux.

Lifestyle change. Although you are taking medicines, you also have to evaluate if your current lifestyle is helping your health or making your condition worse. Most of the time we are unhealthy or we become sick because of the unhealthy practices we have. A lifestyle change is necessary if you want to put an end to acid reflux. Stop smoking and drinking alcohol. Lose weight if you are on the heavy side. Eat small frequent meals and chew your food slowly and thoroughly. Do not go to bed 3 hours after meal or as much as possible take small walks after eating to stimulate your digestive system but avoid exercise after meals.  Avoid wearing tight clothes instead wear lose-fitting clothes.  Elevate your head when you sleep but this cannot be accomplished by just using extra pillows, you need to elevate the head of your bed by placing 6-8 inches wood blocks under your bed posts.
Diet modification.  If you have GERD, diet modification is important if you want to put an end to acid reflux. There are foods that aggravate GERD so you must avoid them.  Common foods that worsen the symptoms of acid reflux include chocolates, citrus fruits, spicy foods, garlic, onions, fatty foods, caffeine, alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, junk foods, processed foods and tomato-based foods like spaghetti, ketchup, pizza and sauces.  Taking away those foods on your diet maybe difficult in the beginning but if you really want to put an end to acid reflux and avoid frequent heartburn, modifying your diet  is very important.

Medical procedures. When medicines and lifestyle change failed to manage GERD, surgery is the last option to put an end to acid reflux. A standard surgical procedure for acid reflux is fundoplication. The surgical procedure can also be done with the use of laparoscope, a tiny tube with camera that is inserted through a small incision in the abdomen. Recovery time is less for surgery with laparoscope than a surgery with large cut on the abdomen. Although not a surgery, endoscopic treatment is another medical procedure to put an end to acid reflux.  With endoscopic treatments, no incision or cuts are made in the abdomen but an instrument called endoscope is inserted through the mouth down to the esophagus to perform the treatment.

As we all know any surgery has side effects so surgery should be the last option.  It is important to explore all possible solutions before making a decision to go under the knife. Do you want to know how to deal with acid reflux and heartburn using natural methods? To know how visit Heartburn No More 


Magnifying Acid Reflux

Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), the medical term for “Acid Reflux” is defined as the product of abnormal reflux of gastric contents into the esophagus thus, creating a mucosal damage, likewise known as the chronic symptom.

This disease strikes adult primarily, while infants and children can also be affected. Normally spurred by eating certain foods, if not pregnancy, or taking a sleep right after eating a heavy meal, a large number of persons suffer from acid reflux at one time or another.

Heartburn or acid indigestion is another name that refers to acid reflux. Heartburn, the major symptom of Acid Reflux in the esophagus, is described to cause a burning uneasiness at the back of the sternum.

The symptoms may come as coughing, voice transformation, hoarseness, constant ear ache, or sinusitis. The complications brought upon by acid reflux may lead to esophageal ulcers or worse this can lead to esophageal cancer.

However, constant heartburn sensations do not necessarily mean that one has captured GERD already. The risk occurs when heartburn happened more than once a week, this occasion could possibly lead in developing GERD.

The usual cause of GERD is the increase in acidity or gastric acid production in the body, obesity, pregnancy, or tight-fitting apparels, these all can add to the problem. The yeast infections are also thought to be one of the causes of GERD-like symptoms.

An added ironical cause of the GERD is the insufficient production of stomach acid in the body. The explanation says that the valve, the hollow organ with a flap that insure the one-way course of fluid through the organ, once emptied triggers acidity in the intestines. If the valve fails to open, the contents of the stomach will be blended into the esophagus, and then irritation occurs.

Meanwhile, there are already several treatments for GERD today, one of which is the balance and healthy eating habits. Now if proper diet fails to work, one can shift to medication therapy or surgery as suggested by the doctors. Below are the lists of several selections of Acid Reflux treatment:

•    Proper Diet: the natural way to cure Acid Reflux is through change in their eating habits. A good number of people affected by GERD found success in following this method. Avoid the food ingredients which can intensify heart burn such as caffeine, soft drinks, and smoking. Avoid eating two hours before sleeping; likewise, avoid lying down after taking meal. These are the regular suggested change in lifestyle.

•    Another easy way to treat GERD is to elevate the head of the bed. The pharmacologic therapy, the combination of prevention of food two hours before sleeping and the rise of the head of the bed, there is a great chance for a patient to gain a 95 percent relief. The rise of the head of the bed is suggested to range for only 6 to 8 inches or 20 cm. Using this method the backflow of gastric fluids will be hampered.

•    Drug Treatment: Drugs reduce the secretion of the gastric acid, for instance and famotidine and omeprazole lessen the secretion of gastric acid and the Antacids counteract the acid.

•    Surgical treatment: the Nissen fundoplication, the standard surgical treatment for Acid Reflux, the medication process will only cover a short period of time. The function of this is to support the sphincter, a spherical bond of muscles that opens and closes to let the food or waste to pass, as well as stop Acid Reflux, and of course restore the hiatal hernia.

Heal Your Heartburn Through Acid Reflux Diet

Acid Reflux, another term for heartburn, is a disease which is created by a simple imbalance of chemical make-up in the body--the attack of acid reflux in the esophagus when it is supposed to be in the stomach only.

The fact that Acid Reflux, the acid indigestion, affects not just adults but also infants and children, make it essential for everyone to be aware of its symptoms and how it can be prevented.

Since the Acid Reflux is triggered by various foods like chocolate, citrus fruits, spicy foods, including fried and fatty foods. Together with the time of day the foods are eaten and over eating which causes excessive weight. Therefore, the key to avoid the heartburning uneasiness brought by the Acid reflux also lies on the foods—a manage diet.

Truth in studies show that a specific food can head out acid reflux, so it is vital that everyone must take a careful observation of their eating habits.

Nevertheless, any person who is suffering from Acid Reflux needs a diet that would suit to treat the illness, the foods that should be taken and those which should not be.

Now, you might be wondering what could be the best diet to observe to avoid acid reflux, the heartburn-free recipes that are fitted to an Acid Reflux diet.

It was distinguished that drinking milk can be a speedy cure to alleviate acid reflux trouble. Although, milk produces an action and encourages discharge of more stomach acid, causing then acid reflux.

So, people affected by heartburn should follow a diet wherein they eat a small meal during dinner and follow it up with a small snack before they go to sleep, crackers for instance.

Likewise, they should make sure that they their meal are rich in complex carbohydrates. This includes breads, rice and pasta; this fixes the excessive acid in the stomach, hence, giving it an easy feeling.

Chew your foods well, do not rush on eating, 20 minutes for each meal will do. Extract all the nourishment that you can get in your food.

Along with the diet, it is also advisable to keep yourself in a straight position during and after eating, for least 45 minutes.

Remove from your diet high-fat foods, this will tend to stay in the stomach longer, with this, the stomach will be forced to produce more acids for digestion.

In addition, avoid eating large meals; this will also stimulate the stomach to produce more acids to digest them.

One the medical specialists’ recommendations is to add more plant protein in your diet, like beans and lentils, in this process the animal protein that you have taken will be replaced.

Also, try to observe in your diet the time you spend for eating, the amount of your meal, your relaxation when you eat, and how thorough you chew your food. It is advisable that you take several small meals in a day, than you take large meals regularly, for instance six small meals a day will do than having three large ones. The procedure is simply breaking up the meal.

If you want additional information regarding proper diet to battle Acid Reflux, you can visit a nutrition-oriented health care practitioner like a dietician, naturopathic physician, or nutritionist. They can give you accurate dietary schemes that will fit your private health needs and objectives.

Symptoms and Natural Cure for Acid Reflux

How would a person know if he or she has acid reflux? How does acid reflux feel like? It is a burning sensation that affects the upper abdomen after a heavy meal when a person is already relaxing. Later, the pain goes up to the breastbone and to the chest. From this discomfort, it can lead to the inflammation of the esophagus, indigestion, hoarseness and many other symptoms.

Acid reflux disease is the condition that gives uneasiness to many adults including infants by causing sudden pains and burning in the chest. Its most common symptom is called heartburn. The condition is characterized by refluxing or backing up of the stomach acid into the esophagus. While heartburn can normally take place sometimes, it cannot be always rated as acid reflux disease. But if heartburn occurs twice to thrice a week, it is more probably a symptom of acid reflux.

In many cases, the symptoms of acid reflux disease occur after a fatty meal, when drinking liquor or beverages which contains caffeine, when lying down right after meal and worse when smoking. And because of these unpleasant sensations brought about by acid reflux, it can severely affect your health and your lifestyle. A number of people who suffered from this disease also suffered in the quality of lifestyle. Who would be enjoying life if there were a constant reminder of pain? The symptoms are so obvious that you do not need a doctor to diagnose it.

For this particular disease, there could be a variety of treatments that you can choose from.  Symptoms which occur less than five times in a month can easily be treated by over the counter medicines. The doctor can give you pieces of advice on the kind of medicine appropriate for you. However, if your body does not work well with the prescribed medicines, it would be best to shift to a new one or seek for another option. Medicines formulated from natural herbs have less or no side effects.

For cases of acute acid reflux, surgical treatment may already be recommended to you. The standard treatment that has been preferred for a long time is called nissen fundoplication. In this surgical procedure, the stomach is wrapped to reinforce the sphincter and thereby preventing the stomach acid from refluxing.

In any manner, the effective way of finding relief from acid reflux symptoms is the natural way. Some simple steps that can work together with your medications will effectively cast away your suffering from this disease.  A modified lifestyle will help you make things better. Things to be changed include your dietary habits, refraining from smoking and minimizing the alcohol intake. Salty foods have been found out to aggravate acid reflux disease as much as the fatty foods. Taking extra table salts in your meal can expose you to graver risks.

Obesity doesn't only harm the heart but can worsen acid reflux disease as well. The excess fat in the abdomen amplifies the pressure in it causing the stomach acid to rise up to the gullet. So diet must be intensively watched out so as to avoid the symptoms and the discomfort they caused.

Natural cure of this disease also includes exercise. Proper stretching can help reduce the pressure on your stomach and subsequently helping you fight the symptoms of acid reflux disease.

If you can follow the preventive measures against acid reflux disease, then you are on your way to beating acid reflux without turning to medications.

Diet to Prevent Acid Reflux

Acid reflux is the condition when the acid from the stomach travels back into the esophagus. This condition can be very harmful to the thr...