What Causes Acid Reflux
Acid reflux is caused by weakness or relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter . Normally this valve closes tightly after food enters your stomach. If it relaxes when it shouldnt, your stomach contents rise back up into the esophagus.
Stomach acids flow back up into the esophagus, causing reflux.
Factors that can lead to this include:
- Too much pressure on the abdomen. Some pregnant women experience heartburn almost daily because of this increased pressure.
- Particular types of food and eating habits.
- Medications that include medicines for asthma, high blood pressure and allergies as well as painkillers, sedatives and anti-depressants.
- A hiatal hernia. The upper part of the stomach bulges into the diaphragm, getting in the way of normal intake of food.
Heartburn And Back Pain At Night
Nighttime heartburn is one of the most important symptoms for people who suffer from reflux.
More than this, its one of the most significant causes of deteriorating quality of life.
Heartburn with back pain during the night might be a sign of different conditions.
They vary from the simple bad sleeping position to more concerning health issues and many more.
However, heartburn at night is not related to back pain.
People who suffer from heartburn must not try to elevate their legs or knees during the night , because the opposite should be done instead .
Diagnostic Tests/lab Tests/lab Values
Diagnostic tests are not typically needed unless the symptoms are severe. Physicians will order diagnostic tests to diagnose GERD or other complications if there are severe symptoms, the symptoms are not relieved with medications or the symptoms returned. Severe symptoms include dysphagia, odynophagia, bleeding, weight loss, anemia, and those at risk for Barrettâs esophagus. Commonly used diagnostic tests used to diagnose GERD are discussed below.
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Can Indigestion Cause Chest Pain & How To Quickly Get Rid Of It
A person having chest pain often wonders if it is a heart attack or heartburn. Heart attack and heartburn are two different things and both need to be treated as soon as possible. Thus it is necessary to detect whether the chest pain occurred due to indigestion or it is due to a cardiac problem. So, it is important to understand if indigestion can cause chest pain and how to quickly get rid of it to find relief.
Can Gerd Cause Asthma
We dont know the exact relationship between GERD and asthma. More than 75% of people with asthma have GERD. They are twice as likely to have GERD as people without asthma. GERD may make asthma symptoms worse, and asthma drugs may make GERD worse. But treating GERD often helps to relieve asthma symptoms.
The symptoms of GERD can injure the lining of the throat, airways and lungs, making breathing difficult and causing a persistent cough, which may suggest a link. Doctors mostly look at GERD as a cause of asthma if:
- Asthma begins in adulthood.
- Asthma symptoms get worse after a meal, exercise, at night and after lying down.
- Asthma doesnt get better with standard asthma treatments.
If you have asthma and GERD, your healthcare provider can help you find the best ways to handles both conditions the right medications and treatments that wont aggravate symptoms of either disease.
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Symptoms Of A Headache Due To Acidity
It can be difficult even for doctors to differentiate whether youre having a headache because of acid reflux, GERD, or one of the many other causes of headache.
Treating the root cause rather than symptoms one by one is a whole philosophy in medicine. You can take medicine to treat headache pain, or you can treat whats causing it. In the case of headaches linked to GERD, people who
There are a number of remedies that you can try to improve your acid reflux at home. Keeping GERD under control can help stem other symptoms related to the condition, like headaches.
Can Acid Reflux Cause Nerve Pain
Acid reflux symptoms can be typical or atypical in nature. Tingling limbs and nerve pain are considered rare and atypical acid reflux symptoms.
Dr. Mark Babyatsky, a former department chairman at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, explained that inflammation from acid reflux can reach the lungs and trigger pneumonia.
As a result, the diaphragm can become inflamed, affecting the phrenic nerve, which is a nerve connecting the neck, lung, heart, and diaphragm. In this scenario, a patient can feel referred pain in the limbs, specifically the arms and shoulders.
Alternatively, nerve-related issues may be caused by pre-existing neuropathic conditions, leading to acid reflux. An example of this is gastroparesis. Gastroparesis is a form of diabetic peripheral neuropathy characterized by slow digestion. This leads to bloating, heartburn, and vomiting of undigested food.
If youre experiencing acid reflux symptoms with nerve pain, theres a high chance that your nerve pain is not reflux-related, especially if you are experiencing temporary reflux. Get in touch with a medical professional to find a separate diagnosis concerning your nerve pain.
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Your Pain Is Worse When You Lie Down
Because heartburn is caused by stomach acid that creeps back into your esophagus, your symptoms can worsen when you lie down or bend over. “If you’re sitting up straight, gravity helps keep food in the stomach,” says Dr. Coyle. “If you lose the gravity, you’re more prone to reflux.”
A qjuick fix? Many people with chronic heartburn often raise the head of their bed, so they’re not laying completely horizontal. Eating meals right before bedtime is also something that should be avoided if you have recurring heartburn.
Can Pain Between Shoulder Blades Be Caused By Acid Reflux
Acid reflux is a fairly common condition in the United States, with over 15 million Americans experiencing heartburn each day. While acid reflux has a variety of symptoms, it rarely progresses to anything an antacid cant fix. But for serious cases of acid reflux, it can manifest in some extremely painful and difficult to manage symptoms, most of which arent typical of your usual episode of heartburn.
So can acid reflux cause symptoms like acute pain between your shoulder blades? It can, but it usually means its progressed beyond simple heartburn and into Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, or GERD. While it can require more treatment than acid reflux, the chest and back pain it causes can be managed.
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Can Allergies Affect Your Mood
How can allergies affect your mood or energy level? This is one of the best-hidden Allergy Symptoms. Most of us when thinking about allergies, we think of some typical symptoms such as sneezing, itchy eyes, shortness of breath, and nausea.
But did you know that food, seasonal and chemical allergies can create emotional symptoms like anxiety, irritability, compulsions, confusion, palpitations, sweating, trembling, inability to concentrate, or mental fog? In the middle of the twentieth century, asthma and allergy were often seen as psychosomatic illnesses.
: Food chemicals and season allergies can cause mental hidden allergy symptoms in some sensitive persons. Stress can also affect allergic reactions. Allergies attack your immune system and this happens without you even notice it. A weak immune system will make your anxiety levels to rise. The good thing is that you can treat allergies that cause these mental and emotional symptoms. This is how: 1) Natural allergy medicines and allergy tests. 2) Relax, its normal to have negative thoughts when you feel down.
What Further Tests Might I Be Offered
The most common investigation for those suffering with indigestion is an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy , which is a day case procedure in hospital. This involves swallowing a thin flexible tube with a camera on the end so that the endoscopist can view the inside of your oesophagus, stomach and duodenum and check for inflammation or infection. Although it is not especially pleasant, most people can tolerate just a few minutes of discomfort by having ananaesthetic spray to the throat. If you are apprehensive or feel you have a sensitive throat, there are alternatives to make the procedure less daunting.
If you are being offered an endoscopy you should check that your doctor has first ruled out Helicobacter pylori infection or other mild conditions as the cause of your indigestion. If this is the case, then the doctors may feel that it is safest to check that you do not have a more serious condition which may only be picked up via endoscopy. The final decision is always up to you, but it is worth considering that if you have a serious problem behind your indigestion a few minutes of discomfort during endoscopy can prevent you from having more invasive treatment in the future as well as giving you a better chance of a full recovery. Advances in endoscopy techniques and devices mean that this procedure is becoming more comfortable all the time.
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Treating Cervical Ligaments With Prolotherapy Published Research From Caring Medical
Prolotherapy is an injection technique that stimulates the repair of unstable, torn or damaged ligaments. When the cervical ligaments are unstable, they allow for excessive movement of the vertebrae, which can stress tendons, atrophy muscles, pinch on nerves, such as the vagus nerve, and cause other symptoms associated with cervical instability including problems of digestion among others.
In 2014, we published a comprehensive review of the problems related to weakened damaged cervical neck ligaments in The Open Orthopaedics Journal. We are honored that this research has been used in at least 6 other medical research papers by different authors exploring our treatments and findings and cited, according to Google Scholar, in more than 40 articles.
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Gas And Gastrointestinal Problems
Most of the time, gas is no more than a minor annoyance.
However, gas occasionally produces intense pain that makes the entire abdomen feel full and tender. This pain can radiate to the back, causing back pain and bloating. Minor gastrointestinal problems, such as stomach viruses, may also cause intense gas pain.
Sometimes, GI issues can cause muscle pain. This can happen after straining to have a bowel movement or repeatedly vomiting.
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Heartburn With Back Pain: A Couple Of Symptoms To Consider
People who suffer from heartburn and acid reflux can report back pain after eating.
In addition, back pain can also be present in conjunction with other typical symptoms of acid reflux.
referred pain
This means that you can experience pain in a part of the body that is not the real source of that pain.
In order for you to better understand how things work, you can refer to a very interesting study about the possibility to induce referred pain by the simple pressure of other areas of the body.
In short, you can press a specific body part and youll feel pain in another one.
Something very similar also happens in people who suffer from reflux and heartburn, when they feel pain in their back .
Something very similar happens when a heart attack occurs.
We know that heart attacks and acid reflux have nothing in common, however, both conditions can present a referred pain in the back.
How Do I Know Im Having Heartburn And Not A Heart Attack
Chest pain caused by heartburn may make you afraid youre having a heart attack. Heartburn has nothing to do with your heart, but since the discomfort is in your chest it may be hard to know the difference while its going on. But symptoms of a heart attack are different than heartburn.
Heartburn is that uncomfortable burning feeling or pain in your chest that can move up to your neck and throat. A heart attack can cause pain in the arms, neck and jaw, shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, dizziness, extreme fatigue and anxiety, among other symptoms.
If your heartburn medication doesnt help and your chest pain is accompanied by these symptoms, call for medical attention right away.
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You Have Sharp Chest Pain
Clearly, chest pain is a telltale sign of heartburnbut it can also be a sign of a heart attack. In fact, many people mistake heartburn for a heart attack. While you definitely shouldn’t diagnose yourself, there are a few ways to tell if your chest pain is heart attack or heartburn related.
In heart-related chest pain, for example, the pain will feel more like a tightness or pressure in your chest, and may spread to the back, neck, jaw, or arms. It’s also often associated with sweating, dizziness, nausea, difficulty breathing, or an irregular pulse. Heartburn-related chest pain, on the other hand, is typically a sharper pain that may be precipitated by eating a fatty or spicy meal and is affected by change in position .
Still, if you’re having chest pain and your’e worried, check with your doctor just to rule out a heart attack, says Walter J. Coyle, MD, gastroenterologist with Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California.
Severe Heartburn With Back Pain
Severe heartburn is a more serious condition that occurs when reflux and related symptoms are more frequent.
We can consider severe heartburn with back pain as a more concerning condition, even though the presence of back pain is not typical.
When acid reflux goes untreated for a long time, all its related symptoms become more persistent and begin to show up more frequently.
Things are very similar to what happens for GERD and back pain: in fact, more symptoms make the affected person more vulnerable to stress, anxiety, and he/she can make bad decisions in the matter of eating habits and lifestyle.
Treating acid reflux and related symptoms in the most seamless way, by eating the right foods, adopting the proper lifestyle, and then include in your diet some natural remedies that are proven to work is essential to avoid those cascades of events that can lead to the appearance of other symptoms.
In the paragraph below you can find some valuable advice.
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Stomach And Back Pain At The Same Time
For most of us, its not uncommon to have an occasional stomachache or acute back pain. But what does it mean if both are happening at the same time? This could be a coincidence, but it may also be concerning to notice two disconnected symptoms. The combination of pains may make daily activities difficult or be distracting. If the pain reaches this level, it may be a good idea to visit an Atlanta MRI center to rule out any serious conditions that could cause both problems at the same time.
Why Omeprazole Is Your Best Treatment Option For Acid Reflux
With moderate to severe cases of acid reflux, making simple lifestyle and dietary changes may not be enough to curb your symptoms. The good news? Prescription drug Omeprazole has been proven to be incredibly effective treatment, alleviating all symptoms!
Take control of your treatment by speaking with one of our online doctors today. They can help you discuss your best course of action, including prescription medication Omeprazole.
The best part? Omeprazole works the same as brand name acid reflux medicationsat a fraction of the cost! It works by reducing stomach acid, effectively preventing recurring episodes of acid reflux. Plus, most adults, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, can safely take Omeprazole.
Schedule a virtual doctors appointment, today.
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Back Pain And Abdominal Bloating
A number of possible reasons exist for the co-occurrence of spinal pain and abdominal bloating. Bloating can occur for a number of reasons, ranging from very benign causes like overeating or eating fatty foods to more serious concerns like autoimmune disorders and cancer.
As far as foods go, there are quite a few different types of food that cause bloating, which can trigger pain in stomach and back. Foods rich in oligosaccharides can cause abdominal bloating, as can strawberries, apricots, prunes, Brussel sprouts, dairy products, sweeteners, and whole grains. When these foods cause fiber to get backed up in the digestive system, bloating and constipation can occur, making it crucial that you drink plenty of liquids to keep the fiber moving.
Tummy Pain Or Back Pain
Tummy pain or back pain are common symptoms of pancreatic cancer. The pain may start as general discomfort or tenderness in the tummy area and spread to the back.
Some people have no pain at all, and pain can vary from person to person. For example, it may come and go at first but become more constant over time. It can be worse when lying down, and sitting forward can sometimes make it feel better. It may be worse after eating.
If you are over 60, have lost weight and have tummy or back pain, your GP should refer you for an urgent CT scan or ultrasound scan within two weeks.
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Can Acid Reflux Cause Fever And Chills
Sustained esophagus damage from bile regurgitation can lead to esophagitis, which is the inflammation of the esophagus. Esophagitis can also be caused by infections, abuse of oral medication, and allergies.
Reflux esophagitis is a complication of acid reflux, leading to tissue damage and inflammation. Patients with infectious esophagitis may experience fever, chills, muscle aches, and headaches. Dealing with acid reflux trigger often alleviates esophagitis symptoms.
On the other hand, acid reflux alone doesnt cause fever and chills.
If you are not diagnosed with GERD or esophagitis but are experiencing fever and chills with reflux symptoms, get in touch with your doctor immediately to get more information. You could be experiencing a severe bacterial infection and need antibiotics to get well.
Thoracic Vertebral Compression Fractures
Compression fractures are those that happen when the spine squeezes down to a shorter height. They can occur as a result of metastatic cancer or osteoporosis.
These fractures can cause interscapular pain.
Since fractures in this region aren’t as common as those in the cervical or lumbar spine, the diagnosis may be delayed.
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