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How to Take Care of Your Acid Reflux Problem

By: Irsan Gao

You may have known that acid reflux is not as common as the common cold, but to those who are suffering from this, this disorder can be far more problematic. Most commonly, people with this disorder, suffer from recurring chest pains, heart burns and even nausea. In severe cases, this medical disorder may lead to laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (that is, a disorder manifesting as a build-up of gas in the throat) and even to cancer of the esophagus.

So, what is acid reflux really? This condition is characterized by recurring and painful symptoms (mentioned earlier), and damage to the mucous layer lining the esophagus and also the adjacent organs especially if there is regurgitation or vomiting of food which may be aspirated (sucked) into the respiratory tree, causing severe damage and pain.

The symptoms actually vary from one individual to another, depending on the age of the patient, the severity of the condition and the presence of comorbid (coexisting) disease(s). Still, I have come up with signs and symptoms that would highly suggest the presence of such a condition.

For adult patients, the most common symptom is heartburn. The affected individual would usually experience an excruciating pain in the chest area, the throat and sometimes even some parts of the jaw. This may also lead to persistent coughing which is due to aspiration. Other symptoms that may manifest in the patient include hoarseness of voice, difficulty swallowing and nausea.

When this disorder is present among children, the physician may have a hard time diagnosing the child’s condition. Nevertheless, symptoms including failure to gain much weight, recurring respiratory problems, bad breath and frequent crying most often manifest in the pediatric patient. Failure to gain weight is caused by recurrent vomiting and rejection of foodstuff given.

Physicians have three treatment strategies to deal with this disorder. The first strategy is for mild to moderate cases of acid reflux and has two components: lifestyle modification and diet. With regards to diet, foods like milk, carbonated soft drinks, chocolates, fatty foods, coffee, onions, milk, oranges and tomatoes should be avoided. This rule should be followed strictly a few hours before sleeping. The lifestyle modification component is focused on smoking cessation and weight reduction.

In the second strategy, in addition to the components of the first strategy, positional therapy is obliged. In this mode of therapy, the patients with the condition are advised to sleep on their left sides. In this approach, incidence of acid reflux at nighttime is greatly decreased. In addition, elevating the head of the patient, either by elevating the upper part of the bed or by adding an extra pillow, reduces the increase of gastric acid production, as confirmed by recent studies. Also, it is likely that constant stooping can cause acid upsurge.

In the third strategy, specific surgical interventions are considered.
Since there is no single drug that can treat acid reflux and since physicians know best, acid reflux patients should be obliged to seek medical attention. A combination of prescription drugs would usually be given to such patients. And such drugs mostly just alleviate the symptoms.

Article Source: http://www.healtharticlesworld.com

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