February 4, 2011
Acid Reflux and Stress
Acid reflux has several medical names such as heart burn, acid indigestion and gastro-esophageal reflux disease, regardless they’re all associated with STRESS.
Everyone loves stress don’t they? NOT.
Stress is stressful. Just the thought of being stressed out stresses me out . . . at least it used to. I’ve learned how to not sweat the little stuff in life in order to better enjoy the bigger, more important things . . . like my health.
Acid reflux is unnatural; it’s what happens when you do unnatural things, but in a way I guess you could argue that it’s a natural response to an unnatural act.
Acid reflux is your inner intelligence getting back at you for not going with the flow. Seriously, we humans really do take everything for granted. Your mind/body is the most intelligent representation of Mama Nature’s handy craft in the entire world, and look what we do to ourselves.
We stress ourselves out in so many ways it’s not funny one bit.
We have dumped industrial pollutants into our oceans, lakes and streams. We’ve spewed noxious gases into the air . . . we stress out the world.
Then we take living soil, rich with more than 72 trace minerals and burn it up with chemical fertilizers until our foods have nothing but nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium . . . we stress out our food.
The result is biological stress caused from under-nutrition. It takes a bushel of tomatoes to equal the nutritional value of an heirloom tomato from 100 years ago.
Then we stress ourselves out . . . with radiation from the thinning sky, cell phone transmissions and nuclear fallout to boot. Add to that our desperately paced lifestyles, racing us around 24/7 just to pay the bills . . . it’s no wonder millions of people have acid reflux and acid reflux associated diseases.
Up to 44% of the United States adult population experience acid reflux, heartburn or acid indigestion at least once per month, 14% weekly and 7% daily. Acid reflux is one of the most common disorders today and it’s all from a dysfunction between the throat from the stomach.
When people are stressed in America, they eat more, or they eat the wrong food and often eat it at the wrong times. All this triggers acid reflux because the food isn’t being digested so it places stress on the barrier between the throat and the stomach called the diaphragm. Once the stomach is stressed from all the undigested garbage food in it and the diaphragm is stressed from the pressure forcing it up toward the throat . . . acid reflux happens.
You have a flap-like valve called a Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES), which normally keeps acid reflux separate from the throat. However, once the food pressure becomes great enough it warps this flap-like seal allowing stomach acid to reflux upward into your throat, lungs, sinus cavity and mouth . . . which stresses you out even more.
Bottom line acid reflux patients who are stressed report chronic acid reflux symptoms. Psychological factors may play a critical role, especially for patients without inflamed throats. There are further studies on understanding the brain/gut relationship and how a person’s perception of stress helps trigger acid reflux.
Considering all forms of stress and its relationship to acid reflux clearly shows that less stress equals less acid reflux.
You were born to heal,
Todd M. Faass
Health Advocate
Source: http://www.cns.med.ucla.edu/Articles/PatientArticleFl99GERD.htm
Filed under Acid Reflux by admin
September 21, 2010
Gastric Ulcer Causing Diarrhea
While the instances of a gastric ulcer causing diarrhea are few and far between, they do occur in a few individuals, most notably those suffering from Zollinger-Ellison syndrome or ZES. ZES is in fact one of the least common causes of ulcers, although one of the key symptoms is diarrhea. If diarrhea symptoms do appear, there may be a tumor in the pancreas and the duodenum. These tumors are known as gastrinomas, and they cause the production of excessive gastric levels. It is important to note that such tumors are often cancerous, so patients who notice that their gastric ulcer is causing diarrhea should seek diagnosis and treatment immediately. As part of the treatment, your doctor may prescribe anti acid medications in order to prevent the ulcers from recurring.
It is estimated that only 1 person in a million gets ZES each year. The figure is even lower in the category of ulcer sufferers, with only 0.1% to 1% ulcer patients being diagnosed with the condition. ZES generally occurs in people 45 to 50 years old, with men being more prone to the condition than women.
The diagnosis and treatment of ZES begins with the examination of patients suffering from gastric ulcer causing diarrhea. Once H. pylori and a history of NSAID use (both common causes of gastric ulcer related diarrhea) have been ruled out, the doctor will then look into the possibility that it is indeed ZES that the patient is suffering from. In almost all cases, the diarrhea occurs long before the characteristic ulcer symptoms appear. The ulcers related to the condition typically occur in the second, third, or fourth section of the duodenum or the jejunum.
Patients suffering from ZES are also a lot more likely to develop Gastro-esophageal reflux disease or GERD, and the effects of this condition may be more severe than in patients that do not have ZES. GERD itself may cause a number of complications aside from ulcers, including a narrowing of the esophagus.
Since the ulcers that result from the condition can be stubborn and hard to treat, treatment options for ZES tend to be quite involved. In most cases, the patient will have to undergo surgery so the tumors can be successfully removed. At the same time, the patient may also be injected with an intravenous proton pump inhibitor that will help reduce the production of gastric acids. This is a far better treatment option than what was available in the past, when the removal of the stomach was the only alternative.
Another option you may want to consider is the one presented by Refluxremedy.Com. The site offers a safe and effective alternative treatment to gastric ulcer causing diarrhea that will ease your symptoms quickly. And since the method relies on all natural means, you will be able to avoid the side effects and medication interactions that may occur even with over-the-counter medications. For this reason alone, Refluxremedy.Com is worth considering over traditional ulcer treatment methods.
September 15, 2010
Hiatal Hernia With Back Pain
For people who suffer from hiatal hernia with back pain, life can be pretty miserable indeed. It can seem as if every little thing could potentially bring on an attack, and there are even times when the wracking pain occurs with no discernible trigger. The fact is that the root causes of a person’s hiatal hernia with back pain have probably been going on for a long time before the earliest symptoms were detected.
There are many different causes of back pain from a hiatal hernia, and they may at times be unique to the individual. Some cases may be brought about by an injury resulting from lifting a heavy object, a blow to the abdomen, or even something as seemingly insignificant as tight clothes or a poor posture. Improper lifting of heavy objects is the most common of these causes, and it typically results when the person does not exhale during the lifting. This can cause the stomach to press into the esophagus.
As serious as the condition is, it can bring about even more painful and bothersome complications such as Gastro-esophageal Reflux. This condition occurs when a hernia presses the lower esophageal sphincter out of place.
A circular strip of muscle that can be found at the bottom of the esophagus, the lower esophageal sphincter is usually aligned with the diaphragm, allowing food and liquid to pass into the stomach freely. In a normal person, the diaphragm keeps the sphincter closed in between swallows. If the person is suffering from a hiatal hernia however, the sphincter moves up above the diaphragm, causing less pressure on the valve. This causes the sphincter muscle to remain open even while swallowing, causing stomach acid to rise up into the esophagus.
There are actually three types of hiatal hernia: the sliding hiatal hernia, the fixed hiatal hernia, and the complicated hiatal hernia. The most common type is the sliding hiatal hernia, which occurs when the herniated section of the stomach moves in from the chest. This condition doesn?t usually turn into a hiatial hernia with back pain, and the patient may not even be aware of the hernia’s existence.
In a fixed hiatal hernia, the upper section of the stomach is caught in the chest. As serious as this may sound however, the patient may not even notice any symptoms whatsoever. Nevertheless, this may cause a lot of esophagus related problems in the future.
The complicated hiatal hernia is obviously a lot more serious, and it is this condition that is often referred to as hiatal hernia with back pain. In more severe cases, the entire stomach may even move up into the chest which can result in even more serious complications, some of which may require surgery.
Before your hiatal hernia with back pain has a chance to get worse, you may want to check out www.refluxremedy.com. The site offers a totally natural remedy to treating your hiatal hernia and various other esophageal concerns. Check out the site today and you may just be able to get rid of your hiatial hernia for good.
Filed under Hiatal Hernia by admin