Acid Reflux can affect millions of Americans every year. It’s a common term and a lot of people just think Acid Reflux is heartburn. Acid Reflux is actually the common term for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). It’s a permanent condition where the esophageal sphincter between the stomach and esophagus doesn’t fully close and therefore your stomach contents can make a one way trip into a round way flight.
Heartburn vs. Acid Reflux
Many people consider heartburn to be the same thing as Acid Reflux. This patently isn’t true. Heartburn is one of the symptoms of acid reflux. Heartburn is simply a pain in your chest. Heartburn is caused by your diet, but also is increased and worse if you are a smoker, overweight or eat an inordinate amount of spicy foods. Acid Reflux is a disease often caused by a lot of those same issues. Acid Reflux is chronic however and has a lot of different symptoms that can be showing off. People may think that they have multiple issues with Heartburn as one of them when really everything is being caused by Acid Reflux.
Acid Reflux Symptoms
- Heartburn - Considering heartburn is often confused with Acid Reflux, it’s unsurprising that it’s one of the major symptoms. Heartburn is one thing, but it shouldn’t be a consistent problem that requires constant attention.
- Regurgitating Food or Stomach Contents - In addition to heartburn it’s likely that sometimes you will regurgitate food or stomach acid. It’s uncomfortable and sometimes unexpected.
- Chronic Sore Throat - With the esophagus doing all that extra work, it’s not surprising that you could end up with a consistent sore throat. Your throat is taking a lot of punishment due to Acid Reflux so when that occurs it’s definitely time to consider a change of diet to work on reducing the punishment.
- Nausea - Feeling ill to your stomach and close to vomiting can sometimes be a symptom of Acid Reflux. That being said, it seems like Nausea is a symptom of 80% of diseases sometimes so it may be tricky to recognize that this is being caused by Acid Reflux and not something else.
Diet
When handling acid reflux your diet tends to be one of omissions rather than one of addition. There are specific foods that can trigger your acid reflux. When trying to figure out what foods trigger it for you, it’s best to keep a ledger of your food intake and your flare ups. That way you can cross check and figure out which foods are causing you the most problems. Some of the more common foods that you may need to cut out of your diet are:
- Alcohol
- Chocolate
- Fatty Foods
- Coffee
- Spicy Foods
- Orange Juice
- Onions and Garlic
- Tomatoes
Yea, that’s a veritable who's who of some of the most enjoyable foods out there. Unsurprisingly it’s the joyful foods we often know are bad for us mostly on there. Tracking your diet will help determine the trigger foods and keep you away from them allowing you to enjoy the rest of the foods you love.
