Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease – or GERD – and Hiatal Hernia are two gastrointestinal disorders with very similar symptoms, and very different causes, which can occur separately or concurrently.

GERD is a result of frequent heart burn and acid reflux irritating the esophagus.? This can be caused by external factors, such as diet, medications, and health issues.? It can also be caused by an abnormal muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter – the muscle that allows food to pass into the stomach.? An abnormal sphincter is relaxed and allows passage of acid into the esophagus.

A Hiatal Hernia occurs when a portion of the stomach is displaced and either forced through the diaphragm – referred to as a Sliding Hiatal Hernia, or next to the esophagus – commonly known as a Para-Esophageal Hiatal Hernia.

Symptoms behind the Sliding Hiatal Hernia and GERD are strikingly similar.? They include heartburn and acid reflux, nausea and regurgitation.

Though there appears to be a link between the two conditions, it’s difficult to say one causes the other.? Not everyone who has a Hiatal Hernia has GERD and vice versa.

However, there are things that can be pointed to.? When a Hiatal Hernia occurs, it’s usually a result of the lower esophageal sphincter becoming very relaxed or loose (the same contributing factor to GERD), allowing the diaphragm to become displaced and the stomach to protrude.? Two things happen when this occurs:

1.?? The relationship between the sphincter and the diaphragm is altered, allowing acid to move in the opposite direction.

2.?? The junction between the esophagus and the stomach is pulled up, causing the muscles to become even more relaxed and cause reflux.

Treatments of a Sliding Hiatal Hernia and GERD are also very similar, as a Sliding Hiatial Hernia often isn’t serious and simply causes acid reflux.? Options include over the counter antacids or prescription drugs, diet changes, stress management, and if the problem is severe enough surgery for both issues is an option.

Medications and diet changes can help both conditions reduce the occurrence of acid reflux. ?Antacids and prescription drugs help neutralize stomach acid, thus reducing discomfort and damage.? Diet changes can help prevent production of too much stomach acid.

Stress management can also help reduce stomach acids for both conditions.? Excess stomach acids are produced during stressful situations.? People with Hiatal Hernia or GERD under high stress may benefit from simple de-stressing techniques such as deep breaths and counting to ten.

Surgery for a hernia involves pulling the stomach back to its normal position and making the junction between the esophagus and the stomach smaller, preventing recurrence and repairing the cause of the hernia.? Surgery for GERD can be done laparoscopically – a minimally invasive procedure, and involves attaching the stomach around the esophagus, and tightening that junction – preventing acid from entering the esophagus.

The two conditions clearly share several similarities, but science has yet to find a definitive cause and effect relationship between the two.? However, those with one, the other, or both conditions are facing nearly identical roads of treatment and healing.

The main symptoms of gastritis are loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, headache, and vertigo or dizziness. There are many things that can trigger gastritis and dizziness, but inflammation is the primary predator here.

Here are some of the things that can trigger dizziness from gastritis:

• Eating too much
• Eating quickly
• Eating animal fats
• Eating foods high in refined sugar
• Periods of high ongoing stress.
• Chronic fatigue
• Extreme exercise right after eating
• Smoking tobacco
• drinking alcohol
• Helicobacter pylori infections in the gut
• Side effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) like aspirin or ibuprofen

If you have been experiencing the symptoms of gastritis inflammation, like dizziness, after eating, then you need to see a health practitioner as soon as possible.

Keep in mind that the least helpful thing you can do to eliminate dizziness triggered from gastritis is to start taking antacids. Antacids have been proven many years ago to be nothing but a gimmick, and a harmful gimmick at that.

Don?t fall for the direct-to-consumer advertising you see on television or hear on the radio?do your due diligence and discover the truth yourself. In fact did you know direct-to-consumer commercials are illegal in every country accept the US and New Zeeland?? These commercials are geared to sell you on drugs as a solution to everything under the moon.

Truth is drugs aren?t a solution for anything. Drugs can be temporarily helpful only to buy you and the doctor time, while vigilantly seeking to uproot the cause of your dizziness and gastritis inflammation.

Any prolonged use of drugs is misuse and in many cases outright abuse.

Dizziness is one of the most serious side effects you can have from an illness or a drug. Dizziness is a sign you are in danger of losing complete control and may be a symptom of heart disease, ear infection or gastric inflammation (Gastritis).

If you are experiencing inflammation you are at going through a degenerative process that must be stopped before it can be reversed.

Here are some of the symptoms, or signs, of gastritis:

• Upper abdominal pain
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Hiccups
• Belching or gas
• Burning sensation in the stomach
• Dizziness
• Extreme weakness
• Shortness of breath

Simply cutting back on dangerous habits like smoking tobacco, drinking hard alcohol and over eating often help, if necessary you may need to eliminate all junk food, cut out all refined salts and sugars and take up a vegan diet for a month or more.

The idea is to help you restore digestive balance so that your immune system can heal whatever is causing the gastritis inflammation and dizziness in the first place.

If you aren?t ready to make a commitment to ridding your lifestyle of dangerous habits and oversights, then your doctor and pharmacist will be happy to take you on as a permanent gastritis customer.

After you?ve tried all that and finally decide your wealth is your health, you will stop at nothing to restore natural vitality and digestive balance.

Dizziness usually comes just before you pass out, or fall over and where and when you lose your balance may determine whether you live through the experience.

So to cure your gastritis, as with any degenerative health issue you need to see the value of living a life not only free of symptoms, but one that nurtures nature balance, not dizziness.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist

You have muscles that protect you from one of the most dangerous caustic acids in the world?your stomach acid.

Gastric acid, or stomach acid, is so dangerous it can actually burn glass, so imagine what gastric acid is doing to millions of people who suffer from gastric reflux.

Another word for gastric reflux is Laryngopharyngeal reflux.

People, who suffer from acid indigestion, heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) in fact, usually suffer from a mineral deficiency which leads to a gastric acid shortage. The ironic thing is that people who suffer from a gastric acid deficiency are hard to tell from people who suffer from an over production of gastric acid. The root causes are different; however the damaging effects remain pretty much the same.

Before gastric reflux can fully develop, a build-up of gastric acid eventually weakens the muscles that protect the throat and vocal cords from the gastric acid reflux.

The gastric reflux happens because as a result of a gastric acid deficiency the food in the stomach becomes stagnant and piles up to the roof of your rib cage where the muscles of the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES) are trying to protect you.

Because of the lack of stomach acid, food remains undigested and goes through a toxic form of fermentation. As these toxins build-up the starving body desperately strives to produce random spurts of corrosive gastric juices. These gastric juices are released at the top of your stomach lining and sit there bubbling and churning away at a massive amount of fatty foods and all the rest of it.

Unfortunately the gastric reflux builds-up in the LES muscles, weakens them and is forced upward. Gradually the same thing happens to your larynx, or voice box, this is the stage defined as gastric reflux.

Basically the flow of gastric acid and powerful digestive enzymes becomes reversed as gastric acids are allowed to reflux upward . . . chemically basting the once sensitive lining, tissue and muscles of your throat, voice box and mouth area.

This degenerative process is also called GERD, or gastro-esophageal reflux disease. It is from the build-up of gastric acid in your larynx which causes Laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPR).

When LPR is persistent enough it can cause a non-cancerous growth on the back of your vocal cords, called a granuloma.

Symptoms of LPR can include:

• A choking sensation
• Sore throat
• Voice changes
• A sensation of something caught in the throat
• Frequent coughing and throat clearing
• A sour or bitter taste in the mouth

Those symptoms of acid reflux, acid indigestion and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), such as heartburn, burping and chest pressure are not always experienced as symptoms of gastric reflux, or LPR.

To avoid build-up of gastric reflux on your vocal muscles don?t start treating just the symptoms, learn how to address the root cause.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist

Acid reflux, sometimes called heartburn, happens when stomach acid is allowed to flow up into the lower esophagus.? This can cause discomfort and pain for the sufferer.? Although there is no one sure and fast cure for heartburn, there are many ways to alleviate its symptoms.

Medicine

• Over the counter medications like Tums or Mylanta may help by neutralizing stomach acid. However, they can also have some nasty side effects, like constipation or diarrhea when over used.

• Prescription medicines can help attack heartburn in many ways.? Some, called foaming agents, help prevent heartburn by coating the stomach.? Others, known as H2 blockers (like Pepcid and Zantac) and proton pump inhibitors (like Prilosec and Nexium), prevent production of acid in the first place.? Prokinetics (like Reglan) can help strengthen the muscle that prevents acid from moving into the esophagus (called the lower esophageal sphincter), as well as help push food through the system faster ? preventing pressure buildup and reducing acid reflux.

Natural Remedies

• Apple cider vinegar has been found to be very helpful in relieving and preventing heartburn.? As little as 2 to 3 tablespoons can help relieve acid reflux, and when added to a cup of water, can help prevent future attacks.

• Ginger is also a widely used remedy.? It can be found in many forms ? pill, candied and tea ? and, like apple cider vinegar, can help alleviate heartburn, or prevent it when taken before a meal.

• Among the helpful bacteria in yogurt, unflavored yogurt is said to contain the kind that helps tighten stomach walls.? This in effect, prevents acid from backing up into the esophagus.

• Drinking chamomile or fennel tea may also help.? However, it should be sipped at a warm temperature, not gulped while hot.

• If nothing else works, drink a glass of water.? It will help flush the system and dilute the acid in the stomach.

Daily changes

• Smoking has been shown to aggravate acid reflux.? Quitting may help soothe symptoms.

• Wear loose fitting clothes.? Wearing tight clothes puts pressure on the abdomen causing acid to back up.

• Sleep with a few pillows under your head, and take naps in a more vertical position, like in a chair.

• Eat smaller meals more often.? Also, avoid eating right before going to bed.

• Extra weight can put pressure on the stomach, so overweight people may try losing a few pounds.

• Monitor consumption of over the counter pain medications and supplements.? Some NSAIDS ? like aspirin and ibuprofen ? as well as vitamins ? iron, calcium and potassium for example ? have been shown to exacerbate heartburn and acid reflux.

Surgery

Generally, surgery is not necessary and used as a last resort.? However, if dietary changes and medications are not helpful, a procedure called fundoplication may be necessary.? It involves wrapping part of the stomach around the lower esophagus, tightening the muscles there and preventing acid backups.? The procedure can be done laparoscopically as well as through an open incision in the abdomen.

For more information on finding relief for acid reflux, please read our Reflux Remedy Report.