Acid burping and a burning sensation in the throat. Anyone who suffers from heartburn is familiar with symptoms like these. Reflux disease is behind it in around 20 percent. Reflux and heartburn are not the same. Not everyone who has reflux has heartburn, and not everyone who has heartburn has reflux. Heartburn is the classic reflux symptom: three quarters of all reflux patients suffer from it. But a quarter of the patients have other complaints.
How Does Reflux Arise?
There is a complicated closing mechanism between the esophagus and stomach. It consists of one sphincter and the diaphragm, which is located around the esophagus. This lock has to open when you swallow something so that it can fall into the stomach and at the same time prevent anything from the stomach from flowing back into the esophagus.
It also has to allow it to open when you have to burp so that air can escape from the stomach. It has to open up when you vomit. So it’s not a one-way valve. For many people, however, its function decreases in the course of their lives.
When Does Heartburn Become a Concern?
There is no close association between the frequency of symptoms and damage to the esophagus. This means that you can have frequent and severe complaints without the esophagus being damaged. On the other hand, some patients with significant damage to the esophagus again have no symptoms.
If you have heartburn once a year after the Christmas goose, you don’t get sick straight away. Heartburn or other reflux symptoms reduce the quality of life. They are simply uncomfortable. People who have moderate to severe problems once or more per week find this a limitation. Then the line to disease is crossed.
Why Should Reflux Patients Lie on Their Left Side While Sleeping?
There are anatomical reasons for this: If you lie on your left side, gastric juice and contents also flow to the left side. The esophagus joins the stomach on the right. This means that for mechanical reasons alone, there is less likelihood that stomach contents will flow back into the esophagus. The legal position is, therefore, the most unfavorable position for reflux patients. There are even cushions or racks that make you lie on your left side at night.
Why Do Oily Meals Promote Reflux?
When you eat a large meal, the pressure in the stomach increases, and so does the pressure towards the esophagus. Fat stays in the stomach for a long time – longer than carbohydrates or proteins. Large, fatty meals can, therefore, promote reflux.
As you avoid oily foods and triggers like coffee, you can also try remedies like gastric inhibitors and antacids, which have proved effective in managing reflux.…