Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) is a common disease that affects a lot of people across the world, including the United Kingdom. According to studies, GERD is a chronic condition that affects roughly 30-40% of the UK population in the form of regular heartburn. If you’re currently experiencing gastroesophageal reflux disease, one question you most certainly want an answer to is – can GERD be cured?
Read on to discover all you should know about the burning question above, including how Ashcroft Pharmacy’s stomach acid tablets can help treat this disease.
What exactly is GERD?
GERD is a chronic condition, which is also known as chronic acid reflux. This disease occurs when the long, muscular, and thin tube that connects the throat to the stomach (also called the oesophagus) often becomes infected with acidic stomach contents. The infection leads to backwash, a situation where stomach contents flow backwards and up into the food pipe. When this happens, you’ll experience a sour taste in your throat and mouth.
No doubt, acid reflux is completely natural. Once in a while, it’s okay to experience it (as well as heartburn). However, when you start experiencing heartburn more than two times weekly for several weeks, the best you can do is to take antacids and other relevant heartburn tablets. However, if symptoms persist even after taking the right acid reflux medication, then you probably have chronic acid reflux or GERD.
If you have GERD, you need to understand that this disease isn’t dangerous or life-threatening. Instead, what is “life-threatening” is your inability to keep in touch with your healthcare provider for the appropriate treatments to get rid of the GERD symptoms and other related health issues.
What exactly are GERD symptoms?
Now that you know what gastroesophageal reflux disease is, let’s proceed by getting familiar with the symptoms of chronic acid reflux.
In most cases, anybody with gastroesophageal reflux disease will experience the following main symptoms:
- Recurrent heartburn
- Acid regurgitation
In some cases, someone might have GERD without experiencing heartburn. Instead, the GERD patient might experience the following symptoms:
- Swallowing issues
- Chest pain
- Morning hoarseness
- Foul breath
- Dry cough
How exactly can you treat GERD?
The good news is that you can treat GERD in several different ways. Lifestyle modification, acid reflux medication, and GERD surgery are the three most effective ways to tackle and address this health issue.
Lifestyle modification
Speaking of lifestyle modification; what we mean is that you need to change your way of living to reduce your chances of experiencing GERD symptoms. You can modify your lifestyle by:
- Avoiding smoking
- Reducing weight (recommended only for overweight people)
- Avoiding alcoholic drinks and coffee
Chronic acid reflux medication
Acid reflux medication is another effective way to treat GERD. Today, there are so many reflux medications available out there. One effective and popular example is Omeprazole tablets, which fall under the antacids & proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) category. H2 blockers are another effective example.
As effective as PPI drugs are, recent studies reveal that prolonged use of these medications can cause gastric cancer. This explains why you should always consult Ashcroft Pharmacy before taking the medication.
GERD surgery
Many people believe that drugs, such as “the purple pill” are pretty much effective to treat GERD and reduce their risk of having gastric cancer. While that’s true, it’s worth noting that certain reflux medications, which are effective in reducing GERD symptoms, will only increase your chances of having oesophageal cancer. Some good examples are antacids, PPIs, and H2 blockers.
The above-mentioned medications are no doubt effective in reducing the production of stomach acids. Unfortunately, they have zero power when it comes to stopping the backwash of stomach acids.
It’s pretty simple; stomach acid isn’t the only thing that could harm the food pipe. Bile, a stomach base, is another thing to be worried about. If antacids, PPIs, and H2 blockers can stop stomach acids, how about bile, which only surfaces because of the absence of acids? Yes, stomach acids are supposed to neutralize and render them harmless.
- The bottom line is that chronic acid reflux medications, such as these Omeprazole capsules, are only designed for short-term use.
- At most, you should only consider taking these medications for just six weeks out of 12 months (1 year).
If GERD still exists after this period, instead of continuously using PPIs, patients are advised to shift to a less invasive GERD surgery, known as the Nissen fundoplication technique. This technique involves wrapping the upper portion of your stomach around your lower oesophagus. This helps to strengthen the lower oesophageal sphincter and prevent further chronic reflux acid.