Heartburn is felt as a burning sensation plus pain in the stomach and chest behind the breastbone.
The symptoms of heartburn include bloating, gas, and nausea, often accompanied by shortness of breath and an acidic or sour taste in the throat and mouth.

Heartburn is caused when hydrochloric acid, which is use to digest food, is released up the esophagus.
On its way up the acid can irritate the sensitive tissues in the esophagus and throat.
In normal stomach function, the esophageal sphincter muscle contracts and prevents the stomach acid from passing up into the esophagus.

Heartburn occurs if this muscle is not functioning properly and allows the acid to slip past it resulting in when heartburn symptoms.

Other names used include Gastroesophageal reflux disease ,dyspepsia, chronic heartburn or acid indigestion.

If left un treated, repeated flow of acid through the esophagus can scar and produce changes in the cells lining, sometimes causing cancer.

A hiatus hernia develops when the stomach bulges up into the diaphragm, this condition can also cause heartburn.
Other triggers for heartburn are alcohol, smoking and eating acidic foods.

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Esophagus Camera Pills allow people with heartburn or other esophageal problems to swallow a tiny camera to let doctors see what is wrong

The esophagus pill camera helps physicians look for gastroesophageal reflux disease and other problems.

It’s better accepted by patients because it’s a lot easier.
Patients do not need to be sedated for the procedure, and it’s not nearly as scary as swallowing an endoscope.

An endoscope is a long, flexible tube that requires that patients be sedated wheras people who are given the pill camera do not require sedation.

The pill passes through the body naturally and painlessly within 72 hours.

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Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease — GERD.

I was interested in this recent report that Gerd suffers often wait for two years before seeking treatment.

People are suffering with distressing symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) for an average of two years before seeking treatment or any care and advice from their primary care physician.

Results from the Burning Desires survey, revealed today, indicate that this may be due to a perception amongst sufferers that while over-the-counter medications are effective, prescription medications will not help.

This is despite the fact that prescription medication in the form of proton pump inhibitors has been proven to provide relief from one of the main symptoms of GERD - heartburn - within five days in most people.

Symptoms such as heartburn place a considerable burden on sufferers’ lives, with more than 80 percent of those surveyed having made lifestyle modifications, such as avoiding certain foods, to try to control their symptoms as part of the treatment.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Professor Roger Jones, Wolfson Professor of General Practice, King’s College London said that the results of the survey highlight that many GERD patients are suffering unnecessarily.

“There is a mistaken belief amongst many GERD sufferers that prescription medications will not be able to help them, as they feel they can control their symptoms with over the counter remedies. However, these remedies only relieve occasional heartburn and should not be relied upon for long-term symptom control.
It is important that sufferers visit their physician to discuss their disease as they may be prescribed a more effective treatment, such as proton pump inhibitor therapy, which can have a significant impact on controlling symptom severity and improving quality of life.”

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Rather than an acid reflux disease diet, this is a list of things to do, or avoid to treat reflux.

Avoid fatty and spicy foods, peppermint, chocolate, and caffeine. These foods all loosen the lower esophageal sphincter which increases acid reflux.

Avoid alcohol. Alcohol loosens the lower esophageal sphincter which is the valve between the stomach and the esophagus. This will make reflux worse.

Avoid carbonated beverages. These increase burping and promote reflux.

Eat small, frequent meals and take your time.
Food in a stretched stomach are more likely to back-flow into the esophagus. Hurried eating or drinking also can cause increased gas.

When heartburn is active, limit foods that are acidic including tomatoes, citrus fruits or spicy foods which can further irritate your esophagus.

Eat your evening meal long before you go to bed.
Lying down soon after eating can promote more severe reflux.

Angle up the head of your bed. A rigid foam wedge beneath the mattress or wooden blocks beneath the legs at the head of the bed should raise your head six inches above your foot level.
There is a foam wedge available specifically for this.

Keep up adequate saliva production.
Chewing gum will help.
You should also drink plenty of fluids.

Lose weight if you are obese. A large abdomen increases the pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter, limiting its chances of staying closed.

Ask your doctor if other medications might be worsening your reflux.
One option if you have reflux is to start and stop your medicine on an intermittent basis, based on symptoms. Each time symptoms return, treat yourself for two to four weeks with a medicine that works for you.
This strategy has worked well in tests.

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Gastroesophageal reflux disease, hiatal hernia, acid reflux and GERD are different names which relate to a common condition, usually in conjunction with a weakness of the ring of muscle (hiatal hernia) that prevents stomach acid from backwashing up into the esophagus.

GERD often causes cough, severe heartburn, gas and other annoying symptoms.
The condition can be treated with drugs, such as Pepcid AC.

If symptoms persist despite therapy, you should seek out a gastroenterologist, as chronic reflux may lead to a premalignant condition known as Barrett’s esophagus which we discussed yesterday.

The diagnosis of GERD is made during X-rays of the upper gastrointestinal tract or by endoscopy (viewing the esophageal and gastric linings through a fiber-optic tube).

www.zoomwhiteteeth.com

Treatment for Barrett’s Esophagus
Abbott Northwestern Hospital’s Virginia Piper Cancer Institute today announced the availability of a new tool to treat Barrett’s esophagus.
Barrett’s esophagus is a precancerous condition affecting the lining of the esophagus, the muscular tube that carries food, liquids and saliva from the mouth to the stomach and is caused by chronic heartburn or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease)

. Approximately two million U.S. adults have been diagnosed with Barrett’s esophagus, and studies show the number may be much higher.

If left untreated, Barrett’s esophagus can lead to a dangerous type of cancer called esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is currently the most rapidly rising cancer in the United States.

For the first time, a proactive approach to treating Barrett’s esophagus is available through Abbott Northwestern’s new Esophageal/Gastric Cancer Program. Abbott Northwestern is offering the Halo360 system, which removes Barrett’s esophagus and allows the growth of new, healthy cells.

GERD affects 50 percent of the U.S. population monthly and 20 percent weekly. Barrett’s esophagus occurs when acid exposure causes the protective cells lining the esophagus to break down and undergo genetic changes that set the stage for cancer.

There are few treatment options for Barrett’s esophagus sufferers.
An endoscopic surveillance procedure every one to three years to monitor the progression of the disease is the most common approach to Barrett’s.
The lifetime risk of developing cancer for a patient with Barrett’s is similar to the risk of developing colon cancer for a patient with a colon polyp, which is removed immediately upon diagnosis.

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Severe acid reflux is quite common among children and an operation on 13-year-old James White to alleviate the backflow of acid from his stomach into his esophagus was viewed by Doctors from 36 countries last week.

The operation was filmed from an operating room at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver and transmitted via the Internet to doctors’ computers around the world.

The procedure was the first non invasive pediatric procedure to be webcast.

Dr. Steve Rothenberg, chief of pediatric surgery at the Mother and Child Hospital has performed about 1,500 of the surgeries and was eager to spread information on the technique to colleagues around the world.

If babies have it, it causes problems with the lungs, keeping them from eating and growing well.

St. Luke’s treats it aggressively to get the children out of the hospital, preserve lung function, alleviate asthma and avoid eating disorders.

The new laproscopic procedure requires just a small incision in the navel for the camera and four other quarter-inch incisions up the thorax for the instruments, which is a major breakthrough from the previous procedure which involved a big open incision, 5 inches wide.

The old operation was very painful, with a high incidence of lung infection but now, patients are up and about after 2 days.

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Acid Reflux symptoms are varied, and can range from a harsh burning sensation in the upper abdomen that radiates through the chest and into the throat and neck, to belching and a nauseous sensation.

All symptoms above can mean Gastroesohageal Reflux Disease or GERD.

This is a condition in which stomach reflux or acids surge upward to the esophagus.
Other symptoms can include vomiting, difficulty in swallowing, chronic coughing or wheezing, hoarseness, sore throat, or even sleeping difficulty.

If you are suffering from heartburn the first thing you should do is take a good look at the foods you are consuming.
Over consumption of fatty foods and refined carbohydrates like biscuits, cakes and white bread can affect digestion and and cause reflux symptoms.
Other irritants include salt, spices, sugar, curries, coffee, fizzy drinks and alcohol.
If you feel that you are not over indulging in any of these foods, and reflux symptoms persist, see your doctor, as untreated gastric reflux can damage the esophagus and even lead to cancer in extreme cases.
Doctors can now conduct an impedance pH test which will determine whether your reflux is acid or not.

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I came across some interesting acid reflux comments on the website
http://www.earthclinic.com

There is a page which has some good results with apple cider vinegar….also pickles and pickle juice.

It may sound weird but I have included just one of the stories below.

I’ve tried so many drugs for acid reflux, and now acid reflux has given me sleep apnea.

The drugs work for a while, but take days to take effect. In addition, they have side effects, and are expensive.
When I get heartburn now, I use vinegar, especially wine or apple cider vinegar.
My acid reflux and heartburn then disappears almost immediately.

I don’t have to wait hours or days, and it’s cheap and healthy.

www.profitcourse.com

Acupuncture versus acid reflux: 40% cut in sphincter relaxations brings hope for relief.

I noted that this Research was performed by Duowu Zou, Wei Hao Chen, Katsuhiko Iwakiri, Rachael Rigda, Marcus Tippett and Richard H. Holloway of the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Australia which is in my little part of the world.

BETHESDA, Md. (August 30, 2005) – Even the U.S. National Institutes of Health doesn’t know what causes gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. And NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) says there’s an unclear relationship between GERD, heartburn and hiatal hernia (HH).
Patients may have only one out of three, any two out of three, or all three.
Nevertheless, clinicians know that all three often occur together and that a variety of lifestyle changes, medication, surgery and recently approved devices and an implant are imperfect solutions.

An encounter between a Taiwanese gastroenterologist wanting to study acupuncture and an opening at the Royal Adelaide Hospital resulted in two experiments looking into how the traditional Eastern approach might affect transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations (TLESRs). Since TLESRs are “the most important mechanism of acid reflux in normal subjects and patients with GERD,” they were targeted for study.

The paper describing the study, “Inhibition of transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations by electrical acupoint stimulation,” appears in the August issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.

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