Symptoms of Acid Reflux and How To Cope

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

Our body uses gastric and stomach acids to break down the food that we eat. Normally, after digesting in the stomach, the food is delivered by the digestive muscles to the intestines for extra digestion. But patients who have acid reflux, the acidic stomach contents are moved back to the esophagus, which then causes inflammation. Things like – cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, pregnancy, and fatty foods are some factors that can worsen acid reflux conditions.

Our present knowledge about acid reflux based on medical researches tells us that this condition is common in men as well as women and is more frequent in people of 40 years of age or more.

Symptoms of acid reflux vary, but based on the diagnosis of acid reflux patients, only 70% of those who have this condition manifest typical symptoms. Such of these symptoms include the following:

Heartburn:

This is a condition where the patient feels a painful burning feeling in the esophagus. The pain often develops in the chest and then gradually the neck or throat. This is most probable to occur in relation with these activities: after a heavy meal, lifting, bending over, and lying down. Studies show that about 75% of acid reflux patients experience the symptoms at night, where they tend to experience more harsh pain than those whose symptoms occur at other times.

Dyspepsia:

Research has also shown that approximately 50% of acid reflux patients have dyspepsia. This is a syndrome which consists of pain and distress in the upper abdomen, nausea after a meal and the feeling of stomach fullness, but it’s not necessarily so that those who have dyspepsia have acid reflux.

Regurgitation:

This is a situation where the gastric contents back up into the pharynx and sometimes as far up as the mouth. In cases where the acids have spilled into the tracheo bronchial tree, respiratory complications can occur.

There are many instances though, where acid reflux patients don’t manifest symptoms such as regurgitation and heartburn. Instead, they experience atypical or extraesophageal symptoms which include some of the following:

Throat Symptoms:

Although not common, acid reflux patients suffer from symptoms that occur in the throat. Hoarseness, the feeling of having a lump in the throat, a dry cough occurs for those who have acid laryngitis, a throat symptom. Patients can also have difficulty in swallowing, a condition known as dysphagia. In critical cases, the food may get trapped in the throat, which can result in a severe chest pain. Other throat symptoms are chronic sore throat and persistent hiccups.

Vomiting and Nausea:

When a patient suffers from nausea which persists for weeks, the symptoms may have acid reflux.

Respiratory Symptoms:

Coughing and wheezing are respiratory symptoms. These can result from stomach acids running over into the bronchial tree creating bronchial constriction.

Acid reflux condition can last for several months if not given proper medical attention and treatment. If you feel you suffer from any of these symptoms, it’s important that you contact your physician for an appointment to treat your condition.