Fire in The Hole!\u00a0 That’s one way we describe heartburn\/acid reflux.\u00a0 Whether you call it heartburn, acid reflux, gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD), or dyspepsia, one thing is for sure, it usually begins with a warm, burning sensation that rises up the esophagus.\u00a0 Some people report experiencing an acidic taste, frequent burping and\/or a hoarse, raspy voice.<\/p>\n
Acid reflux is big business for the pharmaceutical industry considering that nearly 7% of the US population reaches for prescription and over-the-counter medications to relieve their symptoms.\u00a0 Insurance companies have even realized the billion dollar expense associated with treating acid reflux symptoms and have dramatically reduced their coverage of prescriptive medications forcing patients to purchase these medication ‘band-aids’ over-the-counter and out of their own pockets.<\/p>\n
Most physicians treat acid reflux the only way we were taught in medical school.\u00a0 This is basically the same way the last several generations of doctors were taught\u2026if someone has acid reflux, it must mean that they have TOO MUCH stomach acid.\u00a0 That’s probably what you have been told but there is another whole side of this hot story.\u00a0 In the world of functional medicine, acid reflux is many times a sign of TOO LITTLE stomach acid!\u00a0 When acid levels are too low, the condition is called hypochlorhydria (hypo = low, chlorhydria=hydrochloric acid).\u00a0 How crazy is it that acid could come up into your esophagus and throat because there is TOO LITTLE of it?<\/p>\n
Well, here comes the science facts… (1) the body produces its own hydrochloric acid (and it takes a bunch of energy to make it) (2) as we age, our bodies slow down overall and we tend to produce \u2018less\u2019 of everything- hormones, muscle, STOMACH ACID, etc.\u00a0 (3) the majority of people who suffer from acid reflux are over the age of 50.\u00a0 So, how could it be that as we age, we make less stomach acid but have so many people suffering from ‘too much acid’ problems like GERD?\u00a0 The simple answer:\u00a0 it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 We make less hydrochloric acid as we age.\u00a0 This low acid state makes the valve between the stomach and esophagus open up too quick (for reasons too long for this post, but trust me), the acid shoots up because the trap door is open and you experience your heartburn.\u00a0 Said simpler with an analogy, the acid (air conditioned air) is escaping because someone left the door open, not because the\u00a0 your acid (air conditioned air) all of sudden got so strong that it flew the door open and escaped out.<\/p>\n
To really throw you off, the most popular medications used for acid reflux called proton pump inhibitors (PPI) actually lower the low acid levels even more.\u00a0 This might help temporarily because the drug really dropped the stomach acid level, but the problem now is that there is too little acid left to digest the food, to kill the bacteria on the food, to activate your digestive enzymes, and do the many other vital functions of proper amounts of stomach acid.<\/p>\n
Said more medically, by taking a PPI, we\u2019re stopping the body from beginning the appropriate digestion of food.\u00a0 If this happens, food enters the small intestine in a less broken down form than it should.\u00a0 The small intestine is not prepared for food in this form and is not always able to fully utilize these undigested foods (btw, animal protein tends to be a big culprit).\u00a0 It gets worse as it goes downstream.\u00a0 The undigested food in the small intestine can trigger constipation, intestinal pain, severe bloating, and also can feed unhealthy bacteria and yeast leading to intestinal infections.\u00a0 What a mess and all could have been remedied with the right diagnosis!<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re interested in learning more about this topic, visit our Education Beyond Medication online medical community, LivingWellnessUniversity.com to watch the following Dr. Saxena Speaks!<\/strong><\/em> educational videos which also relate to this topic:<\/p>\n Acid Reflux:\u00a0 It Keeps Coming Up! Fire in The Hole!\u00a0 That’s one way we describe heartburn\/acid reflux.\u00a0 Whether you call it heartburn, acid reflux, gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD), or dyspepsia, one thing is for sure, it usually begins with a warm, burning sensation that rises up the esophagus.\u00a0 Some people report experiencing an acidic taste, frequent burping and\/or a hoarse, raspy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[62,31,61,17,66,65,16,64,63],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everyday-health-tips","category-medical-tips","tag-acid-reflux","tag-functional-medicine","tag-gerd","tag-healthy-living","tag-heartburn","tag-hypochlorhydria","tag-integrative-medicine","tag-ppi","tag-proton-pump-inhibitors"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nHeal Your Gut, Heal Your Body
\nDigestive Rehabilitation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"