acid reflux Disease”>acid reflux Disease Symptoms: Knowing your Body

acid reflux disease is a condition in which the stomach acids abnormally reflux into the esophagus. This phenomenon is irregularly experienced by most people, most especially after eating.

The human body will create gastric and stomach acid to help digest the foods we eat. A normal, healthy functioning system, is one where the stomach digests the food and then it continues on to the intestines to be broken down more. However, people who experience acid reflux disease it is because, the stomach contents move back up the esophagus which makes them feel bloated. Cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, pregnancy, and fatty foods are some factors which worsens acid reflux conditions.

Our present knowledge about acid reflux based on medical research, tells us that this disease is common in men as it is in women. There is no sexual preference. Still, it is most commonly reported to be found in people that are of 40 years of age or older.

Symptoms of acid reflux may be typical or atypical. But based on the diagnosis of acid reflux patients, only 70% of those who have this disease manifest typical symptoms.

Typically, esophageal symptoms and concern indicators are related with the esophagus. Such symptoms include the following:

1. Heartburn. This is a condition in which the patient feels a painful burning feeling in the esophagus. Heartburn usually begins in the chest area, but can also migrate to the neck or throat too. Some of the known factors that trigger it are associated to laying down, bending or lifting after eating a heavy meal. Based on one study, about 75% of acid reflux patients experience this symptom at night. Often when it occurs in the evening, it is much more painful then those whose symptoms happen at other times of the day.

2. Dyspepsia. Dyspepsia occurs in 50% of the people that experience heart burn. Dyspepsia is upper abdominal fullness and feeling full earlier than expected with eating. It can be accompanied by bloating, belching, nausea or heartburn. It is not a rule however, that those who have dyspepsia have acid reflux.

3. Regurgitation. When regurgitation occurs, it is from the gastric contents backing up into the pharynx area and sometime will go into the mouth. In cases where the acids have spilled into the tracheobronchial tree, respiratory complications can be stimulated.

There are many instances, though, that acid reflux patients do not manifest symptoms such as regurgitation and heartburn. Most commonly they experience the atypical symptoms that usually include some of the following:

1. Throat Issues. Throat symptoms are not as common however, some people with acid reflux do suffer from such things. People with acid laryngitis have problems with hoarseness, can feel like they always have a lump in their throat and often have dry coughs. They can also have a condition known as dysphagia, which makes it very difficult to swallow. In critical cases, the food may get trapped in the throat or even choke, which can result in a severe chest pain. Other throat symptoms are chronic sore throat and persistent hiccups.

2. Feeling Nausea and Vomiting. When a patient suffers from nausea which persists for weeks, he may have acid reflux. In some rarer cases; vomiting has occurred, even as much as once a day.

3. Breathing Difficulties. Some people have been known to have respiratory symptoms of wheezing or coughing. When the stomach acids back up into the tracheobronchial tree it creates bronchoconstriciton. Bronchoconstriction is the constriction of the airways in the lungs due to the tightening of the surrounding muscles, with consequent coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath

Proper medical attention is needed to treat acid reflux disease or it can last for months. Drug treatment may only be required for a short time. But when the symptoms tend to repetitively occur, the drug treatment may have to be reapplied.