Various GERD Causes and its Symptoms

GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease is a condition where the content of the stomach including the acids that are used to digest the foods, refluxes back into the esophagus thus causing verities of symptoms.

Causes:

1.    Overweight or obesity is one of the primary causes for the GERD. Since there is an increase in weight by adding up muscles and fats, there will be an increase in pressure in the abdomen in case of obesity. These increased in pressure will, in turn, try to put more pressure and eventually the reflux of the acids into the esophagus will occur. Since the valves are already weakened, the acids will rush more and more and will start the irritation.

2.    Medications could also trigger a reflux of the acids and it has been seen in many cases such as using antihistamines, sedatives etc. They somehow, in different ways, add up in adding pressure in the abdomen due to which, the sphincters will fail to work properly and hence it will reflux back.

3.    Smoking is also another reason for GERD. Smoking does exert its effect indirectly on the sphincters and thus, the sphincters get weakened over the period of time. Since the sphincters are starting to fail to do their job, hence, it is evident that sooner or later, the reflux with taking place.

4.    A hiatal hernia could be one of the reasons due to which, the GERD can happen. In the case of a hiatal hernia, this is a condition, where a part of the body protrudes out and then shows different types of symptoms with that type of protrusion. Hiatal hernia symptoms would be different which itself varies from person to person and hence, it is a bit difficult to diagnose that it was hiatal hernia which may trigger the pain. A hiatal hernia caused by GERD could be treated by a diet which could give relief to the person more or less. The hiatal hernia diet could improve the lifestyle of the person.

5.    Since the acid reflux due to the pressure increasing, the pregnant woman could also face the GERD which is occurring due to increased pressure inside the stomach and thus the acids refluxes into the system. This is the same cause as the obese. In both these cases, the additional muscles and fats will bring the increased pressure state. Hence various causes could trigger GERD and it’s very difficult to tell the actual reason behind it as the symptoms of the GERD is similar to those of various other diseases.

The treatment of GERD includes various steps which involve different means to treat it.

1.    Medicines such as antacids, H2 blockers, and proton pump inhibitors have been shown to work well against GERD.  Special mention needs to be one in case of proton pump inhibits which has been found to be very effective against GERD.

2.    Surgery could be an option for GERD, but it is taken as the last resort when diet or medicines both fails to resolute anything.

3.    Diet could also improve the condition. RefluxMD has such diet recipes which you could employ.