Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
Gastroesophageal reflux is a
growing
concern for a large number of people
Gastroesophageal reflux is a growing concern for a large
number of people. Sufferers report symptoms including a burning
or stinging sensation, as well as other pain or discomfort in
the chest and / or stomach regions of the body.
Some people find relief in over the counter heartburn drugs
and use them to alleviate symptoms as the need arises. Though
there have been advances in common heartburn medicines and
their effectiveness, it seems like the plethora of over the
counter acid reflux drugs are barely able to keep up with
increasing numbers of heartburn patients.
Most people I know are still looking for a heartburn
medicine that will actually work effectively and on a
consistent basis. I’ve heard many of them remark that a new
acid reflux medication will work the first few times, but not
very well after that. It seems that a viable solution for some
is to cycle between a few different brands or types of
medicine.
There are also a host of prescription acid reflux
medications, as well as surgical treatment and endoscopic
procedures to repair damaged tissues or structural
abnormalities. While I’m sure there are cases where surgery or
consistent medication would be the best course of action, I
find it hard to believe that there is not another underlying
cause of the heartburn epidemic.
Did people simply not suffer from heartburn as much in the
past, or perhaps not as severely? It seems like if heartburn
was as inherent to the human experience as every other
television commercial portrays things to be, we would have read
about it in historical literature. Maybe people haven’t always
suffered from heartburn in the large numbers we see today.
Perhaps many chronic heartburn cases are related more
closely to the poor quality of food that many of us eat and not
that heartburn is just another condition of being human. But
it’s more difficult to realize simple cause and effect
relationships when the whole picture is clouded with a third
element: treatment of symptoms.
When we treat symptoms of disease with medications of any
kind, we’re not allowing our bodies to heal and assist us in
finding what it is that our body requires to heal, whether it
be sleep, water or particular nutrients, the body will lead us
to what it is that will set things right again. Symptoms are
the body’s way of alerting us to an imbalance, and treating the
symptoms only impede the body’s natural healing duties. Skip
the Zantac and eat some carrots or an apple instead.
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