How long can an acid reflux last? The more the stomach is stretched by food, the higher the tendency to reflux. The tendency is also increased by eating fatty meals as fat delays gastric emptying.
A simple way to change that is to use a pillow under the mattress or to raise the head of your bed by 10cm (4 inches) with blocks or a house brick under the bed frame.
Another possibility is to measure the acidity in the lower end of the oesophagus during a 24-hour period. This will give an indication of how often and how long the reflux episodes last.
The symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux can resemble those of a peptic ulcer, chest pains (angina pectoris), muscle pains, back problems, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, gallstones, pancreatic disease etc.
If the symptoms are not frequent less than five times a month they can be treated with over-the-counter medications such as antacids and histamine antagonists.
In most cases, antacids successfully control the symptoms. If simple antacids are insufficient to control the symptoms, then tablets to reduce acid secretion will usually be tried.
This often starts with medicines called proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole (eg Losec), lansoprazole (eg Zoton) or pantoprazole. These are simple to use, usually taken once a day and can be taken long-term if required.
Other treatments available include histamine H2 antagonists such as ranitidine (eg Zantac) or cimetidine (eg Tagamet), although these are now used far less frequently than they used to be because of the effectiveness of proton pump inhibitors.
Severe cases of gastro-oesophageal reflux which don’t respond to other treatment can be treated with a short course of prokinetics, which speed up the emptying of your stomach, meaning there’s less opportunity for acid to irritate your oesophagus.
Swallowing forces temporarily break the magnetic bond to allow food and drink to pass normally through the sphincter at the bottom of the gullet but the magnets then close this immediately after swallowing to restore the body’s natural barrier to the reflux of acid and bile.
A simple way to change that is to use a pillow under the mattress or to raise the head of your bed by 10cm (4 inches) with blocks or a house brick under the bed frame.
Another possibility is to measure the acidity in the lower end of the oesophagus during a 24-hour period. This will give an indication of how often and how long the reflux episodes last.
The symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux can resemble those of a peptic ulcer, chest pains (angina pectoris), muscle pains, back problems, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, gallstones, pancreatic disease etc.
If the symptoms are not frequent less than five times a month they can be treated with over-the-counter medications such as antacids and histamine antagonists.
In most cases, antacids successfully control the symptoms. If simple antacids are insufficient to control the symptoms, then tablets to reduce acid secretion will usually be tried.
This often starts with medicines called proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole (eg Losec), lansoprazole (eg Zoton) or pantoprazole. These are simple to use, usually taken once a day and can be taken long-term if required.
Other treatments available include histamine H2 antagonists such as ranitidine (eg Zantac) or cimetidine (eg Tagamet), although these are now used far less frequently than they used to be because of the effectiveness of proton pump inhibitors.
Severe cases of gastro-oesophageal reflux which don’t respond to other treatment can be treated with a short course of prokinetics, which speed up the emptying of your stomach, meaning there’s less opportunity for acid to irritate your oesophagus.
Swallowing forces temporarily break the magnetic bond to allow food and drink to pass normally through the sphincter at the bottom of the gullet but the magnets then close this immediately after swallowing to restore the body’s natural barrier to the reflux of acid and bile.
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