Acid reflux and its possibilities of treatment
- By:groshan fabiola
To treat gastroesophageal reflux you need to suppress the acid production in your stomach, the oral medication is used to reduce the amount of acid and to help the muscle’s function of the lower esophagus sphincter or stomach. Antiacids and other medications and lifestyle changes may help you with the acid reflux reducing.
Drug Treatments
First drug you are suggested to try is an H2 blocker drug, for example famotidine (Pepcid AC), cimetidine (Tagamet HB), ranitidine (Zantac 75), and nizatidine (Axid AR). If there appear no results then you are suggested to take omeprazole (Prilosec).
Next step in the treatment of the acid reflux is high-dose H2 blockers, with this treatment some patience have no symptoms at all. This kind of treatment is used in patients with moderate to severe gastroesophageal reflux.
The best solution is to continue treatment even if the symptoms are relieved, so as the condition will not return. If the treatment doesn’t give results then you should have some other tests: endoscopy and other tests to be sure that the cindition we are treating is gastroesophageal reflux, sometimes it may be mistaken with other diseases such as: bile problems.
Surgery
Surgery is indicated if patients have complications, if the recommended treatment has failed, in younger people, in patients with chronic gastroesophageal reflux, to improve regurgitation. Persistent condition of gastroesophageal reflux is more severe than considered before, and the safety of the long term medication is also uncertain.
But without medications, surgery by herself cannot cure gastroesophageal reflux and in some patients even after surgery the antiacids medication is necessary. In some patience there has been observed the return of the symptoms even after one year after surgery, so before having the surgery they must disscuss all the options of treatment with a surgeon and medical physician.
Patients with Barrett's esophagus have an increased risk of developing esophageal cancer and performing surgery for gastroesophageal reflux doesn’t reduce the possibily of developing cancer. So, the truth is that surgical procedures have many complications and high failure rates and do not always cure gastroesophageal reflux.
One of the risks is represented by the general anesthesia, of infection and internal bleeding. A complication that causes discomfort is gas-bloat which occurs because of the tightened low muscle of the esophagus which doesn’t allowed food to pass in the stomach. Doctors advise to eat small amounts of food at one meal and to chew it thoroughly.
Other treatment options are: open surgery, proton pump inhibitors drugs, diet modification. The surgery is not recommended to patients with dysmotility, pregnant women, esophageal cancer, extreme obesity, but where the medication fails the laparoscopic fundoplication is the only solution.About the author:
For more resources about acid reflux or especially about acid reflux symptoms please click this link http://www.acid-reflux-info-guide.com/acid-reflux-symptoms.htm