Acid Reflux Disease – Symptoms, Causes, And Tips To Help Manage GERD

Acid reflux disease (ARD), which is also referred to as gastro-esophageal reflux disease (aka GERD) when the condition becomes chronic, is something that affects about 60 million people in the USA at least once a month.

This translates to about one out of every 14 people having an acid reflux attack every day.

Pregnant women are especially prone to this, particularly during the final trimester when around half of them will experience the problem because of the additional pressure on their stomach from the growing foetus (and because of the hormonal changes).

And each acid reflux attack typically lasts for two hours or more – which is a long time to be in discomfort and pain.

This article discusses what acid reflux is, its symptoms, its causes (which may not be what you think), and ways to help reduce or eliminate it.

Note that acid reflux, acid reflux disease, and gastro-esophageal reflux disease are used interchangeably in this article.

What Is Acid Reflux Disease?

ARD is usually experienced as heartburn (i.e. a burning sensation in your upper chest and throat), when acid that belongs in your stomach rises up into your oesophagus (aka food pipe or gullet).

So, why would stomach acid come back up?

Well, that’s because the sphincter that separates your oesophagus and your stomach is not working correctly – i.e. it opens when it should be closed. I’ll return to this in a short while.

Symptoms Of Acid Reflux Disease

I’ve already touched on heartburn, but there are several other symptoms that you need to be aware of, including:

• Asthmatic Symptoms. Coughing and wheezing, such as you would usually associate with asthma, can be experienced.
• Chest Pains. Although not a heart attack, it can feel like one.
• Difficult Swallowing. You may have trouble swallowing food or drink (which is known as dysphagia), or it may feel as though you have something stuck in your throat.
• Ear Infections. Although a link between your oesophagus and your ears seems unlikely, ARD can cause otitis media, which is a type of middle ear infection.
• Halitosis. When food and acid comes back into your oesophagus, it can cause bad breath.
• Helicobacter pylori. This organism can cause an inflammation in your stomach, and one effect of this can be a weakened LES.
• Hoarseness. ARD can affect your voice, making it sound raspy.
• Laryngitis. It can also cause you to experience inflammation of your larynx (aka “voice box”), which is often referred to as losing your voice.
• Lung Damage. This can also lead to pneumonia, in some cases.
• Oesophageal Cancer. Acid reflux disease has also been known to cause cancer in your gullet.
• Pain When Swallowing. Trying to swallow food can be painful, which is technically called odynophagia.
• Regurgitation. Food from your stomach can come back up, together with the acid. Somewhat crudely, perhaps, this is sometimes known as a vomit belch.
• Sinus Problems. About half of all GERD sufferers also experience problems with their nose and/or sinuses.
• Tooth Enamel Damage. If the acid rises up as far as your mouth, then it’s possible for it to damage the enamel on your teeth.

What Causes Acid Reflux Disease?

As I said above, ARD occurs when stomach acid escapes upwards, though the lower oesophageal sphincter (LES), into your oesophagus.

This sphincter opens when you are swallowing food, via the contractions in your oesphagus (a process known as peristalsis), and then it should remain closed while your stomach processes that food.

However, there are conditions that can cause that sphincter to open when it shouldn’t, and that’s when acid can go in the wrong direction.

So the question then becomes, what weakens this sphincter, or what temporarily causes it to open when it should be closed?

There are several reasons for this:

1. Aging. When we grow older, our muscles tend to weaken naturally, and this applies to the lower oesophageal sphincter too.
2. Bending Down. If you bend over, especially if you’ve recently eaten, then it can put pressure on the sphincter, making it more difficult for your body to keep it closed. (The same can happen when lifting objects.)
3. Diet. What we eat (or more accurately, what our gut bacteria digest) affects our mind and body in all sorts of ways, and the LES can be affected too. Consuming too many fats is one dietary issue, but I’ll address a range of foods you should avoid in a later section.
4. Drugs. There is a wide range of prescription drugs that can cause ARD, including some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), antibiotics, heart and blood pressure medications, asthma drugs, IBS medications, antidepressants, female hormone replacement drugs, and erectile dysfunction products.
5. Fungal yeast infections in your colon. Although your colon is some way away from your stomach, fungal infections there (e.g. Candida albicans) can transform to fungi, and those can weaken your immune system (which is primarily based in your gut) and create over 75 different toxins, some of which can lead to heartburn.
6. Genetic weakness. Some people can be predisposed to all manner of diseases and health conditions, and a weak LES is one of those.
7. Hiatal hernia. This is a condition that occurs when part of your stomach protrudes upwards into your chest area through the oesophagus.
8. Low stomach acid. This one may surprise you, because for years now, the medical profession has treated acid reflux on the basis that your stomach is producing too much acid, but recent research is showing that the opposite it true. I’ll talk about this later on in this article, as it’s worthy of additional explanation.
9. Nicotine. This powerful drug has been shown to weaken the LES.
10. Obesity. It is believed that being overweight, or obese, puts additional pressure on your stomach, thus making it more difficult for the LES to stay closed when it should.
11. Over-eating. In the short term, if you eat too much at one sitting (e.g. Thanksgiving dinner), then the same problems can occur as if you are overweight – additional pressure is placed on the LES because your stomach is full, and that can cause the sphincter to open when it should be closed.

The Problems With Low Stomach Acid

So, what’s the deal with low stomach acid (known as hypochlorhydria) causing GERD?

The theory is that when you have too little acid in your stomach, the signal to close your lower oesophageal sphincter is not sent, which means it remains open, thus allowing acid (and food) to go back up.

There are a number of reasons why you may not be producing enough stomach acid, including:

1. Age. This is one of many problems caused by our bodies aging.
2. Antacids and acid blockers. As their name suggests, these products are designed to reduce acid.
3. Candida overgrowth. High yeast levels in your digestive tract can affect acid production.
4. Diet. What you eat and drink can play a large part in how your various bodily functions work, and some foods can cause you to produce less stomach acid than you need.
5. Drinking Water At Meals. If you drink water while you’re eating, it can dilute the acids in your stomach.
6. Nutrient deficiencies. If you are not getting enough of certain crucial minerals (e.g. zinc) and vitamins (e.g. B complex), your acid production can be lowered. Note too that low stomach acid can also create mineral and vitamin deficiencies.)
7. Prescription medications. Some drugs (e.g. proton pump inhibitors such as Prevacid or Prilosec) can affect stomach acid production and, indeed, the common treatment for acid reflux is to administer drugs designed specifically to do just that.
8. Refined sugar. This substance depletes minerals and promotes the growth of bad bacteria, blocking absorption of minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients.
9. Stress. This is known to reduce acid production.
10. Substance abuse. Excessive use of alcohol, for example, can affect the balance of stomach acids.

Foods To Avoid

As mentioned above, there are some foods and drinks that you should try to avoid if suffer from, or are prone to, acid reflux, and these include:

1. Alcohol. This can irritate your stomach and relax the LES muscle, leading to reflux.
2. Caffeine. While it is not believed that caffeine can cause acid reflux disease, it can be a trigger.
3. Citrus Fruit. Examples include grapefruits, lemons, limes, and oranges, and the warning applies both to the fruit and to juices made from them.
4. High-fat foods. These are among the biggest culprits because they require more time to digest fully, and they are less easily eliminated from your body. Sadly, this means no French fries or ice cream! Note that omega-3 fatty acids, from fish and fish oil, are powerful anti-inflammatory agents and are therefore not a problem with regard to GERD.
5. Mint. Although mint can soothe an upset stomach, peppermint, spearmint and other mints can also worsen acid reflux symptoms.
6. Tomatoes. This includes tomato juice too.

It is also recommended that you avoid nicotine-containing products because nicotine weakens the lower oesophageal sphincter..

Tips To Help Manage Acid Reflux Disease

Here are a few things you can do to lessen the symptoms and/or help avoid suffering from this condition:

1. Apple cider vinegar. There are many benefits to adding ACV to your diet, as I discuss in this article.
2. Chew your food thoroughly. Not chewing food properly is a known cause of acid reflux.
3. High-quality sea salt. This includes both celtic and himalayan salts, which are full of nutrients that are not present in regular processed table salt.
4. Eliminate food triggers. This list includes alcohol, caffeine, dairy products, sugar, and wheat.
5. Eliminate processed foods. There are many reasons to cut these out of your diet, because of all the additives and other chemicals that are used, and reducing ARD is one of them.
6. Hydrochloric acid supplement. This can help you digest your food more easily, as well as killing the helicobacter organisms.
7. Optimize vitamin D levels. More and more research is pointing to vitamin D deficiencies as being associated with all manner of health issues. You can read more about where to get your vitamin D from here.
8. Take prebiotics / probiotics. Since most of your immune system is based in your gut, maintaining a healthy microbiome is essential to overall good health, as this article discusses, and that applies to managing GERD too – and eating fermented foods (e.g. kimchi, sauerkraut) is one way to do this.

An Acid Reflux-Friendly Smoothie

And finally, here’s a quick and easy-to-make recipe for a smoothie that can help with your GERD.

All you need to do is take the following ingredients and blend them:

• 1 cucumber
• 3 sticks of celery
• a handful of collard greens
• half a Granny Smith apple (other varieties of green apple will work too – green ones tend to have a little less sugar than red ones)

Then, before drinking this smoothie, stir in one to two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. (Since ACV is strong, I would suggest starting small and building up.).

(Thanks to Drew Canole and the Organifi team for this recipe – check out his YouTube channel here, where you’ll find a whole bunch of other videos to help you stay fit and healthy.)

Conclusion

There is a lot more to acid reflux / GERD than people first think, but the good news is that it is manageable, for most people, without prescription drugs that can make matters worse.

Although this article has focused largely on the issue of too little stomach acid causing GERD, don’t forget that too much acid can also cause problems. As with most things in life, balance is the key, which is why it’s important to eat healthily, get enough exercise and sleep, and try to manage any anxiety and stress that you may feel.

Finally, don’t forget to check out the 25 heartburn-friendly recipes I’ve collated from all over the web.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Acid Reflux Diet Plan
2. Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar
3. How To Stop Heartburn
4. Ninja Blender (which is the one I use)