Go To Smoking Home | Add to Favorites
Gerd Essentials
GERD stands for gastroesophageal reflux disease, a clinical condition that occurs when reflux of stomach acid into the esophagus is severe enough to impact the patient’s life and/or damage the esophagus. Gastroesophageal refers to the stomach and esophagus while reflux means to flow back or return. You see, when chewed-up food slides down the esophagus or swallowing tube, and into the stomach, there digestive juices begin to break down the food. A special type of muscle called a sphincter connects the esophagus and the stomach. The sphincter works like a gate. It opens up so food can get into the stomach, and then it closes again. This keeps the food and acidic stomach juices from flowing back into the esophagus. However, if the sphincter is weak or opens at the wrong time, there's a problem. Whatever's in the stomach goes the wrong way, which is back up into the esophagus. And because what's in the stomach is high in acid, this can irritate the esophagus. This condition is then called reflux.
GERD affects at least an estimated 5% to 7% of the global population. GERD is most common in adults over age 40 but virtually anyone can get GERD, even infants. Persistent heartburn is the most frequent symptom of GERD. It is an uncomfortable burning sensation behind the breastbone, most commonly occurring after a meal. This condition has nothing to do with the heart, but everything to do with the stomach and the esophagus. Eating too much and going to bed in a very full stomach can cause heartburn in a lot of people. The difference between GERD and heartburn is that GERD is a disease and heartburn is its most common symptom. Almost everyone has experienced heartburn. About 25 million American adults suffer daily from heartburn. Someone who experiences recurring, significant heartburn two or more times a week may have GERD. Frequent heartburn that disrupts one's lifestyle suggests the diagnosis of GERD. Another symptom of GERD is regurgitation. It is a sensation of acid backed up in the esophagus.
Early diagnosis of GERD is important to avoid complications in the future. A physician can usually make an easy diagnosis of GERD if the patient finds relief from persistent heartburn and acid regurgitation after taking antacids for short periods. Laboratory or more invasive tests, including endoscopy, barium-swallow radiograph, PH monitor examination, and manometry may be required if the diagnosis is still uncertain. If patients develop persistent GERD with frequent relapses, however, and it remains untreated, serious complications can develop over time. Such complications can include the following: ulcers, severe narrowing of the esophagus, erosion of the lining of the esophagus, precancerous changes in the cells of the esophagus, and problems in other areas, including the teeth, throat, and airways leading to the lungs
There are various methods to effectively treat GERD starting from lifestyle measures to the use of medication or surgical procedures. But initial treatment of GERD is with lifestyle changes. Eating anything within three hours before bedtime should be avoided, stop smoking, avoid fatty foods, decrease portions of food at mealtime, elevating the head of the bed or mattress 6 to 8 inches, and losing weight if overweight. It is essential for individuals who suffer GERD to change their lifestyle, and seek an accurate diagnosis with their physician to receive the most effective treatment available.
About the author:
You can find more informative articles at http://www.acid-reflux-info-center.com/
Source: Article Directory
National Effort To Prevent Childhood Obesity Is Underway
(ARA) – Obesity is an epidemic in the United States, especially among young people. Today, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in seven children is obese. In addition, there are three times as many overweight adolescents as there were in 1980. Another startling fact reported recently in the Washington Post is that the health care costs for overweight and obese individuals are rivaling the financial toll of smoking. Researcher...
Kevin's 52 Tips On Carpal Tunnel Syndrome And Wrist Pain.
Best Wrist Treatment's 52 Ways How To Deal With Wrist PainsThese tips when combined are a highly effective way to deal with wrist pains and many other repetitive stress related injuries. We gathered these tip and give them to you for free because we care about your well being and understand your situation. Put into practice these tips and you will go a long way protecting yourself from carpal tunnel and other rep...
How Your Smoking Affects Your Loved Ones
Your cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking doesn't only have an affect on your health. The U.S. Surgeon General's report "The Health Consequences of Smoking," released in 2004, states it has been proven that smoking (or living with a person who smokes) can cause disease in nearly every organ of the body, in men as well as women. This means that every time you "light up" you are potentially damaging the health of your children, your spouse and your loved ones.It is a fact that second hand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke or ETS) is a major cause of children's illness. As children have developing lungs and have higher breathing rates than adults they run the greatest risk of health...
|
 |
|
|
Smoking - 7 Little Known Facts About Cellulite
Cellulite is a condition for which cures are commonly sought. The lumpy, rippled skin which typically appears in the thighs and buttocks area known as cellulite is typically associated with a weight problem; however an individual need not be overweight to have cellulite. The condition is caused by water retention and circulatory problems that may resulted from a variety of factors including hormones.A weakening of the connective tissue located just beneath the skin can also result in cellulite. Although cellulite has been known to occur in men, it is much more typical in women.Millions of dollars are spent each year on cellulite treatment creams and other types of products to eradicate cellulite, a condition that is considered to be unattractive and believed by many women to be a rare conditio... |  |
| Smoking - Who Else Wants To Quit Smoking Once And For All?
Most of us know that smoking is indeed a habit that can have many serious implications on our health but there is a tendency to view the problem lightly. It’s important that every smoker be aware of the facts concerning smoking and so I have included certain facts and figures that I hope will serve as eye openers.I don... | |
| Smoking - How 40,000 People Reversed Heart Disease
How 40,000 People Reverse Heart DiseaseWritten by the Editors at Weight Loss Buddy Press in colaboration withHans A. Diehl, DrHSc, MPH, FACN, CNSIt is well known that about two-thirds of the U.S. population is either overweight or obese. The U.S. Surgeon General has stated that approximately 75% of Western diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, gout, arthritis, excess weight gain, hypertension, diabetes, some cancers, impotence, diverticular disease, constipation, heart... | |
| Smoking - Get The Background Information On Osteopenia And Osteoporosis
A diagnosis of osteopenia means that your bones are getting thinner, weaker, and less dense. It’s time to find an osteopenia treatment or your next stop will be osteoporosis. Osteoporosis means that your bone density is dangerously weak and there is an increasing possibility of fracture. One out of two women and one in eight men over age 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime.It’s the fractures that are dangerous. Hip fractures are the ones that often lead to death because you need lengthy bed rest to recover. Lying down for long stre... | |
| Smoking - Tips To Improve Your Asthma
1. Practice breathing from the diaphragm or abdomen instead of the chest. When you are breathing correctly the belly will push outward on breathing in, and contract or tighten when breathing out. The chest and shoulders do not rise up.2. If you do start wheezing or getting short of breath try to breath slower while relaxing the rest of your... | |
| Smoking - Trans-fats: Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Fire
Summary: In an attempt to get away from saturated fats nutritional science created a whole new product: trans-fats. Trans-fats have been accused of contributing to the heart disease epidemic of the 1990s. There is a lot of buzz these days about trans-fats. Most of us are aware that they present a health risk. Some researchers have even hypothesized that the pervasive nature of trans-fats is to be blamed for the heart disease epidemic of the 1990’s. That is to suggest that much of our current problem with heart disease can, at least in part, be traced back to the fact that trans-fats are almost everywhere in our foods. It would also seem to s... | |
| Smoking - Quit Smoking: 21 Shocking Smoking Facts, The Tobacco Companies Don't Want You To Know
Smoking is a global problem. It is estimated that one in three adults smoke, with over 1 billion people smoking worldwide. The majority of these smokers reside in countries on the low end to the middle of the socioeconomic spectrum. Of this majority, about 80% live in low and middle-income countries. The total number of smokers worldwide is expected to keep on increasing each year.The worldwide popularity of tobacco use varies by social class, historical era, and c... | |
| Smoking - Impotence
Impotence facts in menIn medical terminology it can be defined as the inability to have an erection of the penis adequate for sexual intercourse also called erectile dysfunction which affects as many as 18 million men in the United States between the ages of 40 and 70. Until recently, doctors thought impotence was mainly rooted in psychological causes. Now it is believed that 50 to 70 percent of all cases are caused by physical problems. Age is not the only factor for Erection difficulties, as it�s true that Erection tend to increase with age but still there are so many other r... | |
| Smoking - Ocular Nutrition And Eye Health
Understanding can be one of the ways to support your vision. As early as age 30, our eyes and vision can begin to deteriorate. Wind, dust, chlorine fumes, automobile fumes, smoking, freezing temperatures and physical injury are examples of threats to healthy eyes and good vision. Long hours spent at a computer screen and the vibration from driving have a cumulative negative impact on eye health over time.Healthy vision is related to the health of the individual parts of the eye – the cornea, iris, macula, lens, optic nerve, pupil, retina and the vitreous humor. And making good ocular nutrition and eye health food cho... | |
| Smoking - How Do I Stop Smoking?
For many people around the world, the question they ask themselves every day is, “How do I stop smoking?” Unfortunately, many of these people will never actually have the opportunity to quit. They will have one excuse or the next to purchase another pack of cigarettes. The will power to stop smoking is often weak, and buried under a lot of stress and worry. But, there are ways to get yourself off the drugs and into a great situation to improve your health.We all know that smoking leads to man... | |
| | Smoking - | |
|
|