Treatment Guide for GERD
If you suffer from acid reflux, your main objective is to get a quick and effective remedy. You might not care about the cost or inconvenience; you just want that burning feeling to be gone. Fortunately, there are many treatment options available.
Acid reflux is also sometimes called GERD (or gastro esophageal reflux disease), and can affect people of all ages. Some of the treatment options include not just medications, but also lifestyle changes.
The basic lifestyle changes that might be recommended for people with acid reflux include losing weight if they are overweight, and changing their diet. Since some foods are more likely to cause acid reflux, these foods can be avoided so that the symptoms of acid reflux can also be avoided. Some foods to avoid include caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, tomatoes and spicy foods.
Other treatment options include medications and antacids. Today, many medications that previously required a prescription are available over the counter without a prescription. Some of these you can take before you eat and get relief within an hour and others are medications that you can take at the beginning of the day to avoid acid reflux symptoms throughout the day.
For relatively mild acid reflux, many people find relief with a combination of antacids and change in diet.
If antacids, change of diet and even non-prescription medications don’t work, many doctors will recommend prescription drugs. These drugs do require a prescription, but they are fairly easy to get, since most doctors are more than happy to provide them. There can be side effects to some of these medications, though, so not everyone can take them.
The only disadvantage of prescription medications is that they often can’t be used for a short period of time. Unlike antacids, which you can take only when you have symptoms, many prescription acid reflux medications require that you take them for the long term. If you stop taking the medication, the symptoms can return, so often it is necessary for the medication to be taken indefinitely. Sometimes, however, if you make solid lifestyle changes, you can go off the medication.
Finally, surgery is an option for some people. This is considered a solid option when the patient has other medical conditions that prevent the use of acid reflux medications or when the patient is fairly young and is looking at taking medications for the long haul. In that case, surgery can provide a better option which will save the patient money and a lifetime of medication.
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