25 years ago ,after a fabulously greasy bacon and egg breakfast washed down with 3 cups of coffee, I had my first attack of Acid Reflux. It was a very sharp burning sensation in my chest ,extremely uncomfortable, to a degree where it made breathing very difficult. I popped a couple of TUMS and thought that would be the end of it not knowing at the time it was just the beginning. A week later my wife drove me to the ER because the pain in my upper chest and difficulty breathing felt like symptoms of a possible heart attack. After a normal EKG and other tests they ruled out those possibilities and the doctor said I probably had an Acid Reflux/Gerd attack and set up an appointment to get scoped (esophagogastroduodenoscopy) by a gastro specialist.
The procedure was fairly easy because they gave me some very relaxing, wonderful sedatives and then stuck this skinny bendable device (gastro scope) with a video cam on the end to see if indeed I had some issues down in my esophagus. What they found was my Lower Esophogeal Sphincter (LES), which is simply a sphincter muscle not unlike the anus only in your lower esophagus wasn’t functioning properly and secondly, part of the stomach was pushing up through (Hiatal Hernia) the LES causing additional acid to rise up into unwanted territory.
This muscle, when working properly, tightens up and doesn’t allow stomach acids from spurting back up into your esophagus and throat after eating. When the LES doesn’t function properly (or is damaged) and it allows this acid to move up into areas it is not supposed to go, namely your throat, it‘s “Houston ,we got a problem!”
It is also worse if it is coupled with the Hiatal Hernia as in my case. There are certainly varying degrees of this disease and my story and dealing with it. A good friend got esophageal cancer from not dealing with it. It is a serious but very common problem . After years of my and many of my friends dealing with this disease I felt it was time to build a website that included all information regarding Acid Reflux/ Gerd .
There will be no stone unturned regarding symptoms , home remedies , diet , medications , surgery, and everything pertaining to this disease. I would also like it to be a place where you can share your story and possibly give added insight which may help others . I sincerely hope you find the help you need on this site and if there’s something we didn’t cover please write a question and we’ll try to answer it…
Sincerely Steve Webb
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