Acid Reflux

Acid reflux is also known as GERD or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. There are a lot of different symptoms, as well as a lot of different causes for acid reflux. Basically, the acid reflux refers to the way the acid of your stomach is regurgitated back into your esophagus, and this creates heartburn. Sometimes the acid reflux goes so far back into your esophagus that you can taste it in your mouth or the back of your throat. It’s unpleasant tasting and uncomfortable that well-named heart burn refers to the burning sensation you get near your heart, and right next to your heart where your esophagus is being burned by the stomach acid.

A lot of people feel this after a big meal, it comes and goes, perhaps after a large holiday dinner, you might feel a little acid reflux or a little heart burn. But people who have it all the time really struggle to feel comfortable. It’s particularly predominant in the developed world. Some studies say that 20 precent of the population in the Western world suffers from acid reflux a couple of times a week.

Sometimes you just have indigestion. In case you’re wondering whether you have indigestion, which could be caused by a number of different things, or acid reflux. Take a look at this checklist.

• Right after you eat, do you get a bitter taste in your mouth?
• Does your stomach feel bloated?
• After you eat, do you feel the need to burp?
• Is there a burning feeling just above your stomach?
• Do you have a sore throat?
• Did you ever feel that there’s food stuck in your throat?
• Do you suffer from constipation?
• Have you gone on diet and lost weight and not feel any change at all in the heart burn sensation you get?

In case you’re wondering "why me?", here are some things that may be the cause for your acid reflux;

• being extremely overweight,
• drinking a lot of carbonated drinks,
• smoking,
• having a large snack before going to bed,
• lying down right after eating a very big meal,
• having a hernia or peptic ulcers.

Sometimes, certain foods can set up acid reflux; these include chocolate, garlic, onions, and tomatoes. If you eat a lot of acidic foods, the acid helps your stomach acid deal with all the food, but what happens here is you end up with too much acid in your stomach, and some of it flows back up your esophagus.

There are some foods that you should avoid if you have a persistent acid reflux. We’ve already mentioned alcohol and carbonated drinks, and acidic foods such as lemons and oranges, for some people coffee sets off acid reflux deep fried foods and meat. And here’s one that might surprise you, drinking milk. A lot of people think that milk will soothe the stomach, but what happens is if you drink a glass of milk, and you already suffer from acid reflux, this simple glass of milk sets off a secretion of acid into your stomach. Some advice to avoid acid reflux is don’t lie down right after you eat, don’t eat too much in one sitting.

One of the ironies about acid reflux is that it is caused by having too much acid in your stomach, and if you eat food that’s hard to digest, your stomach is working a way at digesting it, and sending out acid to help with the digestion. If the food is really hard to digest, your stomach only knows that it should send it more acid, so it will send it more acid to keep on trying to digest, but the acid isn’t enough. It’s not that there isn’t enough acid, it’s just that the stomach needs more help than the acid. So the poor stomach sends out all this acid, trying to digest indigestible food, and the acid splashes back up your esophagus and there you go having heart burn.