acid reflux?
im 16 years old and the doctors said i have acid reflux, i've had it for about 2 months they put me on prevacid(i threw up tons and the prevacid stopped me) but, what is acid reflex what should i change my diet to, and how can i get rid of it, and i how do i know if i have it forsure, and what happens if i dont take my pill for a day?
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Acid Reflux is basically heartburn on steroids, the valve that separates your esophagus and stomach is either damaged or working improperly (not as bad as it sounds) and/or excessive acid production in the stomach. The acid gets up into your esophagus and causes irritation and such. Repeated heartburn and vomiting are some of the surest signs, if you really want to be sure then get an endoscopy, but if the doctor says you have it and the prevacid is helping, then its pretty certain. The best thing to do is stay on your meds and avoid coffee, alcohol, acidic foods, eating anything or drinking milk within 3 before going to sleep, and eating excessively large meals. Prevacid just prevents the production of acid in the stomach, if you dont take it the symptoms will likely come back. There are some medicines to treat it, they work to build up and strengthen the stomach/esophogus barrier. The best thing to do would be to to talk to your doc about the other meds and avoid acidic food.
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I assume that you know a bit of human anatomy.
From the throat , the tube that leads to the stomach is called the oesophagus.
At the junction between the oesophagus and the stomach there is a sphincter (say a kind of valve) which we call the gastro-oesophageal sphincter. This prevents what has gone to the stomach reentering the oesophagus.
Sometimes it happens that this sphincter becomes incompetent and as a result what is swallowed may reenter the oesophagus.
This can specially hapen when you are in a lying down position because of the effects of gravity. When this happens
acid which nornmally produced by the stomach enters the oesophagus and acts as an irritant and with time cause ulceration.
Therefore you have to take the treatment given and with time
perhaps in3 months things may come back to normal.
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But it is best to get a simple investigation called gastroscopy done by a gastro enterologist to view the affected region,
and make a proper diagnosis
It's when your esophagus doesn't close properly. Here's what helps in addition to the prevacid. 1.) don't eat spicy food 2.) don't eat a lot at one sitting 3.) no coffee, coke, etc.
4. Don't lay down after eating for at least an hour or more, and 5.) Use malanta or one of those antacid over the counter things. Almost better than the prevacid if you ask me.
well there is lots of ways to PREVENT it, go on line and look some things up to see what the do's and don'ts are....don't go off the medication it was given to you to help.