The Hidden Dangers of Acid Reflux
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If you’re someone that suffers from constant and chronic heartburn, that burning and pressure in your chest, then chances are that you have a disease called acid reflux. This is when the acids from your stomach actually regurgitate or spill back up into your esophagus, which doesn’t have the protective coating or lining that your stomach does to protect it from the damage that this acid causes.
This acid reflux may be caused due to a defect in the small valve that’s located at the top of your stomach pouch that’s designed to keep this from happening, or from eating too much foods or too spicy foods that cause your stomach to produce so much acid that it can’t help but to spill out of the stomach itself.In any case, while most people have heartburn at one time or another and typically don’t suffer a lot of consequences from it, acid reflux is a very serious condition that can be dangerous.
When your esophagus is constantly exposed to this dangerous acid it can cause a lot of damage that eventually cannot be fixed or healed. Imagine if you exposed your skin to acid on a regular basis! Obviously there would come a point when it just couldn’t repair or heal itself. With acid reflux, it’s much the same except that because the esophagus is an internal muscle, the damage can lead to internal injuries and other conditions.Strictures are one such serious condition caused by acid reflux. This is when those small erosions or holes caused by the acid eventually do not heal, and this can be very painful and dangerous.
When you eat and the food passes over the area of the esophagus that has these strictures, it can cause a lot of pain and discomfort. The sufferer can even feel as if he or she is choking. And because these holes or erosions are on the inside of your body, you can actually bleed through them and cause blood to back up into your stomach or other areas of the body. Many who have acid reflux wind up developing strictures and have difficulty eating and report being in constant pain because of it.Another serious condition caused by acid reflux is called Barrett’s esophagus, where the cells that make up the esophagus actually start to change because of being exposed to stomach acids. This change in cellular structure can actually develop into cancer at a later date, but one reason this is so dangerous is because there are really no symptoms to Barrett’s esophagus so the cancer is not typically detected until it’s too late. This isn’t to say that everyone that has acid reflux is going to get cancer, but there is a definite connection between the two. Of course acid reflux is also a very painful and uncomfortable condition. The pressure that you feel during a meal or after eating can be almost unbearable, and many report that it interferes with sleep patterns as well.
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Tags: acid reflux, gerd, heartburn, indigestion, symptoms of acid reflux
