Symptoms and relief

Gastroesophageal reflux is a problem affecting about one person out of three, but often remains unrecognized or mistaken for hyperacidity, heartburn and difficult digestion.

This is because the disorder can appear in both newborn babies as well as in healthy adults during the 3 hours following meals – heavy meals in particular. Reflux becomes pathological when the number of incidents increases (at least once a week), based on the quantity and quality of the material flowing back from the stomach to the esophagus, causing the typical symptoms related to the disorder.

The insurgence of gastroesophageal reflux takes place when the valve located between the final part of the esophagus and the stomach, which should close the stomach, stops working properly: in normal conditions, it should remain closed despite gastric pressure and open only when food bolus needs to transit from the esophagus to the stomach during deglutition. If the strength of this valve is not sufficient to overcome gastric pressure, then substances from the stomach are likely to flow back to the esophagus: namely semi-digested food bolus together with acid juices produced by the stomach.

Causes involved in the insurgence of gastroesophageal reflux are to be traced in the patient’s lifestyle, such as smoking habits, use/abuse of drugs, anxiety and stress, as well as certain predisposing factors, such as pregnancies, overweight, hiatus ernia, etc. All these factors add up to the malfunctioning of the valve located in the lower part of the esophagus, which allows food being digested to flow back into the esophagus; other elements to be taken into account are also: a slowed down gastric emptying (the longer foods remain in the stomach the higher the chances of having reflux); an alteration of both salivation and pH level of the saliva, as well as altered esophageal peristalsis.

Typical symptoms of this disorder are regurgitation and continuous belching, also at night; heartburn and epigastric pain, chest pain and breastbone pain, excessive salivation, pain during deglutition.

If not adequately treated, the problem of gastric reflux can lead to serious consquences: gastric juices flowing back from the stomach up the esophagus irritate and harm the esophageal mucosa, causing lesions to both esophagus and nerve endings located in this area. Not only: it can involve other anatomical districts as well, causing heart problems (arrhythmia is as example), inflammation in the vocal cords and therefore hoarseness and respiratory problems, should material from the stomach reach lungs and bronchi, causing asthmatic abscesses, dry and persistent coughing.

Treatment of reflux with conventional medicine

Given the spread of gastric disorders, it is clear that the number of “conventional” remedies to treat the disorder is fairly high. There are, in fact, several medicines classified as “antiulcer”, the principal ones being antiacids, proton-pump inhibitors and H2 – antagonists.

However, as often happens with official medicine, the method adopted to solve the pathology causes serious negative effects on the patient’s organism.

Antiacid medicines: these are mainly Aluminium Salts, Calcium, Sodium and Magnesium, which react with Hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach, thereby neutralizing acidity in excess; these are symptomatic medicines eliminating symptoms related to increased acidity only, without intervening on root causes. Despite their being widely used, to date an ideal antiacid medicine has not yet been discovered: many side-effects are possible, particularly related to the presence of the above mentioned metals, which consumers know well enough about.
Surely, the principle element responsible for side effects of antiacid medicines is Aluminium: usually present as “Aluminium hydroxide”, it causes disorders in several anatomical districts. It has, in fact, been proven that Aluminium weakens tissues in the digestive tract: it “kidnaps” vitamins and other nutrients, inactivating them and making them unusable by the organism, besides causing constipation and other intestinal disorders. Morever, excessive intake of Aluminium can cause symptoms of poisoning such as constipation, colic, loss of appetite, nausea, dermatological disorders, muscular spasms in the lower limbs, excessive perspiration and loss of energy.

At any rate, main side effects caused by this metal can go far beyond what one might think: as a matter of fact, researchers have found out that one of the most widely used forms of Aluminium as an antiacid, namely Aluminium Hydroxide gel, can reduce the level of phosphate in the bloodstream, causing bone dissolution, pain and muscular weakness. Frequent ingestion of the metal reduces bone mass as well as diminishing matrix and bone formation. What’s more, small quantities of soluble Alumium salts in the blood gradually cause poisoning, characterized by motor paralysis and numbness in certains parts of the body, with a degeneration of kidneys and liver.

Anatomical changes in nervous centres, as well as symptoms of gastrointestinal inflammation may also appear. All these symptoms are the outcome of the body’s efforts to eliminate the poison.

Morevoer, Aluminium is strongly involved in certain behavioural disorders: in fact, aluminium ions easily settle on body fat and in the brain, causing disorders in the Central Nervous System; in the long run, this situation can cause the insurgence of pathologies such as saturnism and mood swings; in addition, it has recently been highlighted that infinitesimal quantities of Aluminium in the brain are connected to epileptic seizures, senile dementia, convulsions and Alzheimer disease.

Sodium, too, bears negative effects, involving different body districts: the first and foremost harmful effect is surely water retention, with symptoms ranging from superficial skin imperfections, to much more serious problems such as hypertension. Other side effects are systemic alkalosis, constipation or diarrhea, belching, “acid refluxes” due to hyperneutralisation of gastric acidity resulting in recovery of the gastric mucosa’s secretory activity, which can cause further increase in the level of acidity of the stomach’s pH.

Proton pump inhibiting medicines (PPI): these are anti-ulcer medicines par excellence, usually prescribed initially in all cases of heartburn and gastritis. Their mechanism of action provides for the irreversible block of the so-called protonic pump producing hydrochloric acid, but not only that: in fact, proton pump inhibitors block the acid secretion induced by gastrin and this, in turn, causes an increased secretion of gastrin itself, which leads to hypergastrinemia.
High levels of gastrin can cause hyperplasia of cells in the gastric fundus containing histamine. In the animal world, hyperplasia has often developed into gastric carcinoma. Apart from presenting numerous side-effects, these widely used medicines markedly alter digestive processes, with disastrous consequences at gastrointestinal level.

It has moreover been highlighted that proton pump inhibitors interfere with the absorption of calcium and vitamins (besides medicines) and are responsible for the heightened risk of hip fractures: hence, they are definitely harmful when it comes to safeguarding the skeleton’s integrity.

H2 Antagonist medicines: these molecules inhibit gastric acid secretion induced by histamine and, to a lesser extent, secretion mediated by gastrin and Acetylcholine. H2 antagonists inhibit basal and nocturnal acid secretion, as well as secretions stimulated by food. However, side-effects generated by these medicines are all but minor: H2 Antagonists, in fact, have an antiandrogenic effect that can cause gynecomastia (growth of breasts in men) and impotence; moreover, certain molecules in particular have shown negative effects on the central nervous system, such as anxiety, panic, mental confusion and memory lapses.
The most significaticant side effect, however, regards the ability of these medicines to inhibit P450 Cytochrome. This leads to other medicines previously taken remaining longer in the bloodstream, with heightened toxic effects as a result.

What’s needed, therefore, is an entirely different approach, aiming to solve the problem rapidly, yet without interfering with physiological digestive mechanisms,while maintaining efficiency and balance of the entire digestive tract.

Nature can help you in case of reflux