What Is Acid Reflux Disease and What Are The Signs?

Did you know that despite much of the press Acid Reflux Disease is getting these days, many people still aren’t clear on what it is? If you think you might have this condition, it’s important to know what exactly it is and what many of the symptoms are so that you don’t chalk this condition up to the average case of heartburn and don’t seek treatment.

Acid Reflux Disease and Your Digestive System

Acid reflux disease doesn’t affect your entire digestive system, just the upper digestive system; namely the esophagus and stomach. When you suffer from this digestive disorder, the muscle at the bottom of the esophagus doesn’t form a tight seal, which will allow acid to climb into the esophagus. This can cause the painful burning sensation you might be commonly experiencing.

While the stomach is specially lined to be able to handle the acids, your esophagus is not and over time, untreated acid reflux can cause severe pain due to sores or damage to the esophagus, which doesn’t have the special protective coating. If you wind up suffering from this condition, it’s likely that you will feel it in the form of heartburn.

Signs of Acid Reflux Disease

If you think you might have this condition, you need to know many of the acid reflux symptoms can cause so that you can seek the treatment which is right for you.

• Frequent heartburn, or chronic heartburn that occurs more than two or three times weekly is one of the most common symptoms.
• The burning feeling under the breastbone or up in the chest area.
• Burning chest pain when exercising or bending over
• Symptoms become much worse after you eat or lie down
• Trouble sleeping
• Asthma which becomes worse with heartburn
• Scratchy or rough voice when you are suffering from heartburn

You should know that you might also experience symptoms which feel more like you’re having a heart attack, which should prompt you to seek medical attention immediately for your problem.

What Can You Do?

You might be surprised to find that there are many things which you can do to work towards healthy digestion right at home to stop your acid reflux disease in its tracks. By eating smaller, healthier meals and making sure to drink plenty of water, you can help to ease your symptoms and by identifying the “trigger foods”, you can actually avoid acid reflux altogether.

Also, you should know that smoking, drinking alcohol and coffee can actually make your symptoms worse, so if you think you might be suffering from acid reflux, you should consider avoiding these things and sticking to a correct acid reflux diet.

Acid reflux is uncomfortable and in some cases severe, so you need to know what the symptoms are and how to treat this condition so that you can stay healthy, happy and acid reflux free for life.