Acid Reflux

What is Acid Reflux?

Acid Reflux, also referred to as Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) is a condition characterized by persistent heartburns which don’t respond to the usual medications given for them, swallowing difficulties as well as coughing and wheezing in an asthma-like manner in a person in whom asthma is not present. In children the disease usually manifests in the young one persistently spiting up after every feeding.

What Causes the Condition?

The condition is caused by a malfunction of the oesophageal sphincter, which can be visualized as some form of a valve which is meant to stop food and other contents of the stomach from going back up the oesophagus - the oesophagus being the tube that connects the stomach to the mouth. The exact causes of this malfunction have not been established, but the disease has been seen to present more commonly to obese people, people with hiatus hernias, people suffering from certain forms of sclerosis as well as people using certain medications, Predinsone (which is used in the treatment of conditions like Crohn’s disease and asthma) being a common culprit.

How is the Condition Treated?

Treatment for acid reflux usually centers around the use of lifestyle modifications, with the use of medications and surgery also being employed in the treatment of the more serious cases of the condition - which in the case of the gastroesophageal reflux disease happen to be the majority, as almost every person who suffers from the condition undergoes untold pain and frustration, and will usually be willing to give almost anything to get well from the condition.

Lifestyle modifications employed in the treatment of this condition include change of diet (where foods that are known to exacerbate the condition like carbonated soft drinks, foods high in fat and the whole range of highly acidic foods are avoided), as well as what is called positional therapy (where patients are advised to lie on their left sides when sleeping, and to sleep with their head and upper bodies slight raised – as these have been known to reduce the incidence of the disease).

Medications used in the treatment of this condition include pantoprazle and rabeprazole (used to inhibit the production of gastric acid so as to at least reduce the pain of GERD), antacids (used to reduce the acidity of the gut and thereby reduce the horrors of GERD as the acidic contents go up the esophagus) and Carafate (used to repair the damage already caused by GERD to the esophagus).

Surgical interventions for the condition include using part of the upper stomach to strengthen the esophageal sphincter, whose weakness, as mentioned, is the root cause of acid reflux. Rather than do this however, the doctor might consider using an artificial device called an Esophyx to strengthen the valve between the stomach and the esophagus. The risks of surgery aside, doctors typically advocate the use of the surgical intervention for the disease to the continual use of medication for a long time, especially given that most of the medications used in the treatment of GERD are highly potent substances whose long term use could leave the patient with obnoxious side effects.

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