Medslant Acid Reflux Newsletter

Acid Reflux: It may not always be what you eat

The common theory is that if you suffer from acid reflux disease or GERD, your diet must consist of spicy foods and you are a smoker and/or a drinker. Anish Sheth, MD, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor of surgery at Yale University, says it isn't true. According to Dr. Sheth, if you experience reflux on a daily basis, you most likely have a medical condition that is causing it. He believes that lifestyle choices may account for only occasional heartburn. The following seven medical conditions are the most likely culprits:

1. Sphincter has low pressure the sphincter muscle is the barrier between the esophagus and the stomach. If it has a defect, it cant lock the acid. So if the sphincter muscle has low pressure, you have acid reflux. Pregnancy, blood pressure and depression meds can lower sphincter pressure but Sheth says that most of the time doctors dont know what causes the low pressure. If necessary, there is a minimally invasive surgery called fundoplication that can provide relief.

2. Pregnancy elevated progestin hormones and increased pressure of the growing uterus predisposes the woman to reflux. But the good news is that once the pregnancy is over, the reflux usually disappears.

3. Hiatal hernia Approximately 40% of Americans have a hiatal hernia where the upper portion of the stomach moves upward into the chest and although they don't necessarily cause reflux, they can. Hiatal hernias can also be repaired with minimally invasive surgery.

4. Gastroparesis a condition in which the stomach takes too long to empty its contents.

5. Obesity it increases pressure in the stomach area so for people with no other medical causes, the presence of obesity will often cause reflux.

6. Bisphosphonates this class of drugs prevents and treats osteoporosis and can cause reflux and/or esophageal irritation which feels like heartburn. It is always worth a quick review of any long term use meds to determine if acid reflux is one of the side effects.

7. Lifestyle if you only have heartburn occasionally, lifestyle changes may provide all the benefits you need. Sheth suggests the most common lifestyle changes: identifying and eliminating your trigger foods, losing weight, stopping smoking and head elevation.

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When and How to Call Dr. Google

At least 75% of us look for health information on line and for those of us with high speed connections, 1 in 9 find help on line. According to Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project and reported by John Schwartz in the New York Times, most people use their on line health searches to affect a decision about how to treat a condition or illness. But sometimes changing the way you search can be helpful. Using Google, Web MD, and Wikipedia and other sites of general interest will certainly provide helpful information. But sometimes just by adding a word like community will take you to sites that can connect patients. Sites like patientslikeme.com can allow you to compare notes with others who have similar problems. There are medical research sites such as PubMed - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed - that offer access to scientific works, research and studies. There are also disease specific sites such as americanheart.org (American Heart Assoc) and cancer.org (American Cancer Society) which are more focused. There are sites that help people manage conditions such a sugarstats.com for diabetes and drx.com which compares drug prices. The important thing is to sift through the information to find the nugget you need. Add specific words to your searches until you find exactly what you want. And then, be sure to discuss your findings with your own doctor.

Please keep the phone calls and emails coming to 1.800.346.1850 and customerservice@medslant.com. I love hearing from you.

We at MedSlant wish you and yours a wonderful 2009 filled with good health, happiness, peace and prosperity.



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