Time for a quick medical lesson:
What Is Acid Reflux Disease?
The fabulous staff at WebMD helped me to understand what acid reflux is. Without getting too technical, it's basically when stomach acid moves up into your esophagus. This happens when a ring of muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter or LES for short doesn't close all the way or opens too often when food passes through it.
What Causes Acid Reflux Disease?
Ok, now that I understood that, I had to figure out what causes it. I was shocked to learn there are so many things that can lead to acid reflux. Some of the common risk factors include:- Eating large meals or lying down right after a meal
- Being overweight or obese
- Eating a heavy meal and lying on your back or bending over at the waist
- Snacking close to bedtime
- Eating certain foods, such as citrus, tomato, chocolate, mint, garlic, onions, or spicy or fatty foods
- Drinking certain beverages, such as alcohol, carbonated drinks, coffee, or tea
- Smoking
- Being pregnant
- Taking aspirin, ibuprofen, certain muscle relaxers, or blood pressure medications
As you can see, I highlighted a few of the risk factors. That's because these are the ones I believe sparked my episode. Starting backwards, I took ibuprofen a few hours before dinner and I am still taking a daily, low dose of blood pressure medicine - per doctor's orders for the next 3 months. I drank both coffee and tea earlier in the day. And I ate just about everything mentioned in the list of food except mint. Oh, but now that I think of it, I did have some mint flavored chewing gum too! Oy ve! The fatty food was my weekly splurge - which was fried onion strings with jalapeno peppers. Yummy, but I think I won't indulge in them for a while after what just happened.
What Are the Symptoms of Acid Reflux Disease?
In case you can't relate to the description of the symptoms I had, here are some other common one\:- Heartburn: a burning pain or discomfort that may move from your stomach to your abdomen or chest, or even up into your throat
- Regurgitation: a sour or bitter-tasting acid backing up into your throat or mouth
- Bloating
- Bloody or black stools or bloody vomiting
- Burping
- Dysphagia -- a narrowing of your esophagus, which creates the sensation of food being stuck in your throat
- Hiccups that don't let up
- Nausea
- Weight loss for no known reason
- Wheezing, dry cough, hoarseness, or chronic sore throat
How Is Acid Reflux Disease Diagnosed?
Here's the deal friends: If you have acid reflux symptom two or more times a week, it's probably a good idea to make an appointment to see a doctor. That is a feeling I would want to have twice in a lifetime, let alone more than twice a week! Of course there are several medication on the market to treat the problem, but being a holistic practitioner, I seek natural remedies first. Avoiding the triggers is what I always do first. Then I'll look for an alternative treatment and if all else fails, I turn to meds temporarily while still avoiding the triggers. Lifestyle changes are key when fighting any sickness or disease. If this doesn't work or if your symptoms become more severe, you physician may need to test and check for other problems.
Take care everyone. Until next time - keep investing in your health and wealth. Leave me a message here on the blog and tell me about how you're depositing into your account. You can also follow me on Facebook. Peace!
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