Almost everyone experiences heartburn once in a while after eating. In some people, their heartburn is frequent or severe enough to cause more serious problems and is considered a disease — gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD.
You’ve no doubt heard many myths about heartburn. Read on to separate the facts from these common heartburn myths. The truth might surprise you.
Myth: A high-fat diet is a major cause of heartburn.
Fact: Dr. Roberto Penagini, an Italian researcher, argues that meals high in calories, not necessarily those high in fat, are to blame.
Then again, this doesn’t mean you can pig out. Because each gram of fat has nine calories, compared with four calories for a gram of protein or carbohydrate, a high-fat meal is often the same as a high-calorie meal. But if you keep careful track of your calories, you might be able to enjoy a few more fatty foods without suffering the consequences.
Myth: You need surgery to correct chronic heartburn.
Fact: A long-term follow-up study recently showed surgery is no more effective than antacid medication. In fact, almost two-thirds of those who had anti-reflux surgery, called fundoplication, still took antacids regularly. People who had surgery were no less likely to get esophageal cancer, a major concern for those with GERD. And, for some unknown reason, they were much more likely to die from heart disease.
Although surgery is still the best option in some cases, such as when medication fails to help, you might want to think twice before undergoing the procedure.
Myth: If you suffer from chronic heartburn, you’ll never be able to enjoy chocolate again.
Fact: New evidence indicates a common anti-nausea drug can make your life sweeter. It’s called granisetron, and it limits chocolate’s effect on acid reflux. University of Michigan researchers discovered that chocolate prompts your intestinal cells to release the chemical serotonin, which relaxes the valve between your stomach and esophagus, allowing acid to creep back up. The anti-nausea medication stops serotonin in its tracks, so the valve remains a one-way door.
For now, if you suffer from GERD, you probably should still avoid chocolate. But keep your eyes open. As research on granisetron and acid reflux continues, this anti-nausea drug might become a widely used heartburn remedy.
Myth: Nighttime heartburn sufferers must sleep sitting up.
Fact: Relief might be as simple as rolling over onto your left side. A study conducted by the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia found that this position was best to avoid painful bedtime heartburn. On the other hand, sleeping on your right side does the most harm. While sleeping on your back causes acid to slip back into your esophagus more often, the acid takes longer to clear out when you sleep on your right side.
Your best strategy is to train yourself to sleep on your left side. Use a sleeping wedge behind your back to keep yourself in that position, if necessary. Your trips to dreamland won’t be interrupted by the nightmare of heartburn.
Myth: All chronic heartburn symptoms are alike.
Fact: Heartburn and GERD have several different symptoms. Not all GERD sufferers experience the usual burning in the chest. Many symptoms actually involve the head and neck. This often makes it difficult to diagnose GERD because the symptoms resemble other conditions, like laryngitis or asthma. These symptoms are becoming so common, especially in older people, that one doctor regularly gives his asthma patients a proton pump inhibitor, a strong acid-blocking medicine.
Unlike traditional heartburn, head and neck symptoms of GERD occur more often when you’re upright rather than lying down. They result from a malfunctioning of the valve at the upper end of the esophagus rather than the lower end, near the stomach.
One of the most common symptoms is the feeling of a lump in your throat. Other possible symptoms include a burning sensation in your mouth, neck pain, constant coughing, a feeling that youÕre choking, trouble swallowing, bad breath, sore throat, and hoarseness.
Halt heartburn. Now that you’re hip to these little-known facts, here’s a quick rundown of 10 steps you can take to prevent heartburn and GERD.
