Acid reflux causes

I am having a pretty good week as far as my acid reflux is concerned. Not had to take any extra medication for about 5 days even on the lower dose medication that I am taking.

The cause of GERD is pretty complex. There are quite a few different causes of acid reflux disease and any number of them can be operating in an individual at various times. But also a person my have all the symptoms but never actually have heartburn.

Some people produce an excess amount of acid but this is actually not the main contributor of GERD. The main problem seems to be the Lower Esophageal sphincter (LES) which is the valve that opens to allow contents into the stomach, but shuts off to prevent the contents returning into the esophagus (normally).

In my own case the LES is not operating properly because I have a hiatus hernia which seems to prevent the valve from closing properly. But other people have different problems with the LES.

The LES is a ring of muscle surrounding the base of the esophagus where it enters the stomach. It is very active most of the time relaxing every time we swallow and then contracting to close off tightly preventing food returning. One of the problems is abnormal relaxations, called transient LES relaxations; they can happen when not swallowing and can last for a lot longer than the normal opening and closing, up to several minutes. This prolonged relaxation allows stomach acid to reflux into the esophagus causing heartburn.

A second problem with the LES is weakening of the muscle where the contractions are weak and are not strong enough to prevent reflux.

One other problem is esophageal contractions. When we swallow the muscles of the esophagus cause a ring like wave starting in the upper esophagus and travel downward to the lower esophagus contracting to push food etc into the stomach.

When this is defective food is not pushed into the stomach in people with GERD and the contractions are also too weak to push acid back into the stomach. This reduces the clearance of acid from the esophagus which is worse at night when trying to sleep.

More on my acid reflux medication

There is no one out on holiday this week in Cyprus that I have to entertain so I have reduced my dose of Omeprazole back down to 10mg. Omeprazole is the Proton Pump Inhibitor drug which I take to prevent acid reflux.

I have been digging around a bit further about what problems this acid reflux medication can bring and found that it is so good at doing its job that it may actually be too good at it. The Proton Pump Inhibitor stops the production of stomach acid which is one of the main ingredients in giving us heartburn and the onset of GERD, but in actual fact stomach acid is a needed and necessary thing.

Not only does the stomach acid break down our food for digestion, but it also kills off bacteria and other nasties in the food we eat. By reducing the production of acid in the stomach we allow bacteria to flourish in the GI tract. This in turn could lead to pneumonia if the bacteria is aspirated.

The powerful and long lasting effect of Proton Pump Inhibitors makes them one of the best selling drugs in the world. But another problem this makes is that it also inhibits the absorption of essential nutrients including calcium and folic acid.

Calcium is needed by the body for healthy bones and teeth so it should be supplemented so that you get correct levels into your body.

Folic acid is another nutrient that needs to be supplemented. The folic acid is needed by the body to utilize vitamin B12. Proton Pump Inhibitors interfere with the absorption of vitamin B12 because it is usually taken in through food and passed through the stomach when digested by stomach acid. It is thought that by drinking cranberry juice with your meals it increases the absorption of vitamin B12. Taking a supplement of vitamin B12 daily of up to 50 mcg will probably protect you against depletion of the vitamin.