What Is GERD or Acid Reflux Stomach Problems

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Watch more How to Prevent Stomach Problems Digestive Disorders videos: http://www.howcast.com/videos/504361-... • • So what is GERD? GERD is an acronym for gastro esophogeal reflux disease, • or acid reflux disease. They're very similar and they are • interchangeable terms. And it's exactly what it says. It's when the • gastric contents or the stomach contents reflux up into the esophagus. • Now, the stomach is normally very acidic. And it needs to be acidic to help • digest the food and help to clean the food and sanitize the food in • order to process it before it goes down to the small bowel. Now, the • esophagus is purely a transit to, basically, it gets the food from our • mouth to our stomach. So there's no real acid, chemical, or anything down • there except for a little bit of amylase which is produced in our • mouths. So it just basically helps the food travel down into the stomach. • Now, if you have the gastric contents reflux up into the esophagus, that acid comes up into the esophagus and that can feel like a burning sensation. It can • feel like a cramping sensation or pain and that's, basically, the • esophagus clamping down, so that the acid doesn't wash up into the • esophagus. The symptoms come from the esophagus spasming against the • acid, so that the acid doesn't continue to wash up into the esophagus. • So this can happen for a couple of reasons. If there's any defect at the • bottom of the esophagus or the top of the stomach, such as a hiatal • hernia, they don't have that nice tight seal the closes off the stomach • from the esophagus. There is a muscle that's at the base of the esophagus • called the lower esophageal sphincter. Now that sphincter is like a dam that • helps to keep the bottom of the esophagus closed and the top of the • stomach closed. There's also our diaphragm, which is a muscle that • separates our chest from our abdomen. And there's a small hole in that • diaphragm that the esophagus goes through to empty out into the stomach. • Now if there's any defect there, this part of the stomach can pop up into • the chest called a hiatal hernia. And then what that causes, again, that gets • rid of that nice tight seal, so you can get free acid washing up from • the stomach into the esophagus. • • • ?

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