Acid Reflux Disease Treatment
Acid Reflux Disease Treatment should always begin with healthy lifestyle choices. A few changes can significantly decrease the occurrence of acid reflux symptoms. Instead of pigging out in one sitting, eat small frequent meals. Eating large meals can expand your stomach and amplify upward pressure against the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). The next thing you should do is limit your intake of acid-producing foods and beverages.
If you want to get rid of your condition, you have to say good-bye to your vices of smoking and drinking. Cigarette smoking simply slows the production of saliva, which is one of the body’s defenses against damage to the esophagus. Smoking can also stimulate the production of acid in your stomach. It can also weaken your digestive valves, injure your esophagus and slow down digestion. On the other hand, alcoholic beverages increase the production of stomach acid, make the esophagus more sensitive to stomach acid, and cause erratic swallowing contractions. Alcohol can also cause peptic ulcers and hinder the healing of ulcers that are already present.
There are certain drugs you can take for acid reflux disease treatment but you should always ask your doctor before taking anything. Antacids are your first option since they are over-the-counter remedies that effectively neutralize acid in the stomach. Most antacids contain alginic acid and sodium bicarbonate. When alginic acid and bicarbonate are combined, they will create a foam barrier that floats on the stomach acid, reducing the number of reflux episodes.
Histamine H2 receptor antagonists are a class of drugs for acid reflux disease treatment. Examples for these are nizatidine and famotidine that lessen the amount of acid in the stomach. These drugs are also used to treat peptic ulcers and prevent the ulcers’ reappearance and to treat acid indigestion, occasional heartburn or sour stomach. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are another set of prescription medications that stop the release of acid in the stomach and intestines.
If all the aforementioned treatments don’t work, the possible acid reflux disease treatment is undergoing a radio-frequency treatment. This treatment is a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure done on an outpatient basis. With the use of an endoscope, the doctor will send radio-frequency energy to create thermal lesions in the uppermost part of the stomach and the LES. This will lead to tissue constraint and will thicken the muscle wall in these areas. The patient will have reduced occurrence of acid reflux because the LES doesn’t relax when it shouldn’t and pressure in the LES is increased.
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