Heartburn Medication can WORSEN Your Acid Reflux
Jeff Martin
Medication for Heartburn is INEFFECTIVE Over Time. Find Out the Truth on Heartburn Drugs from an Ex -Heartburn Patient Who's Tried All of Them.
Classical treatments are often used for alleviation by millions of people enduring the pain and discomfort of symptoms of gastro esophageal disease, the most frequent of which is by all accounts heartburn. A massive seller at the moment, one of these medications for heartburn, Nexium, even became the number three worldwide for drug sales, clocking up over $5.7 billion in 2005
1. The mounting number of GERD (Acid Reflux) patients in the western world will only continue. In 2006 alone, there were approximately 25 million acid reflux patients with recurrent heartburn in America. 2. Drugs for GERD are marketed with huge financial resources, advertising and publicity, and by physicians prescribing them to patients. 3. Consumers can now purchase such drugs over the counter, a big change from the prescription that was required before. A decade ago, the Food and Drug Administration agreed to over the counter sales of Pepcid AC, Tagamet HB, Zantac 75 and extended a number of other medicaments from the prescription-only list.
With the popularity of such heartburn medicine still increasing, the question is whether such drugs have the desired results when it comes to resolving the basic cause of this medical problem and if the alleviation justifies the secondary effects. Before any final judgment on the matter, we'll rapidly review the nature of acid reflux disease and heartburn, its most frequent manifestation.
The process associated physiologically with GERD is the abnormal amount of exposure of the esophagus to digestive juices. A factor that contributes to this problem is a weak lower esophageal sphincter (LES). The LES is a circular muscle behaving as a valve where the esophagus meets the stomach. When acid reflux disease happens, the LES fails to shut as it should, allowing stomach matter to flow back into the esophagus to cause heartburn. Another factor that worsens GERD is poor evacuation of gastric juice by the esophagus.
As well as those local reasons for acid reflux, there are also inherited characteristics (not under our control) and other internal factors and co-factors that create the environment contributing to acid reflux. These internal factors must be treated otherwise there is no solution in the long term for this medical complaint.
Any GERD medicament will fall into one of four categories:
1. Antacids, an example being Alka-Seltzer, bringing relief of a few hours by the neutralization of acid in the esophagus. Upon taking the antacid, the neutralization of the stomach acid begins instantaneously, to limit the esophageal corrosion. 2. Alginates relieve symptoms by creating a "wrapper" that wraps around the stomach contents to decrease reflux. 3. H2-receptor antagonists such as HB, Zantac 75 and Pepcid AC are preventing the stomach cells from leaking acid, actually stop the gastric system and the stomach from producing acid. Patients must use H2-receptor antagonists ahead of any heartburn if relief is to be effected. 4. Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) such as Nexium, which stop the "proton pump" in gastric cells from functioning in order to prevent acid being generated.
So we see that adopting medication as the unique solution to treat heartburn is really unsatisfactory, because it only works on the symptoms, but misses the root cause of GERD. Neglect of causes such as these can worsen your condition over time, leading potentially to even more medical complications. Such treatments for heartburn may also have serious side effects. Headaches, diarrhea and for some patients, osteoporosis, have all been identified as potential additional ailments. Also, their long-term impact is poor and the chance of long term dependency physically therefore more pronounced.
Were you aware that your discomforting and painful heartburn symptoms of GERD could be permanently and completely eradicated without having to use any heartburn medication? Via a holistic approach, with the use of particular herbal and vitamin adjuncts, at the same time as observing a complete set of dietary principles, detoxing and Candida control protocols), your medical condition can be cured naturally and permanently.
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