Search:

GERD Risk Factors that You Should Know About

Find out below what dangers may await you with this disease :

Although the most common symptom linked with GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) is heartburn, many different factors may be involved including being overweight, pregnant, asthmatic, diabetic, delaying the emptying of stomach contents, connective tissue disorders and hiatal hernias. However, it is the weakening of the lower esophageal sphincter muscle that turns out to be a common factor in most GERD cases.

Here are some other elements increasing the danger levels:

GERD can happen when this protrusion of the stomach is big enough to affect the lower esophageal sphincter muscle. This is the result of a hernia that may be hiatal or diaphragmatic in nature, where part of the stomach distends beyond its normal dimensions to invade the lower chest. Stomach juices flow back into the esophageal channel, resulting in serious heartburn.

As another consequence due to overweight, pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter causes it to malfunction and lets gastric acids reflux back to the esophagus, which engenders heartburn. GERD can therefore also come from being overweight. To avoid GERD, reduce any excess weight. Excess weight strains the stomach and the diaphragm that is in between the stomach and the abdomen.

Risk factors from lifestyle and bad diet habits :

Risk of GERD will also come from abuses of smoking, drinking or eating. A negative impact will also be engendered by a sub-optimal lifestyle and diet habits.

Experience also indicates that asthmatic respiratory and coughing problems increase the risk of GERD by boosting the pressure on the stomach. Asthma is also contributes indirectly because the medicaments that are used by doctors to enlarge the air intake also have a laxative effect on the lower esophageal sphincter muscle. This then leads to the back flow of gastric matter up to the esophageal cavity.

In a similar way, pregnancy also puts extra pressure on the stomach. Pregnant women therefore may be under significantly more danger of GERD. The risk is compounded by the fact that pregnancy triggers production of progesterone, a hormone that relaxes several muscles including the muscle of the lower esophageal sphincter.

Getting to the Heart of the Matter with GERD:

This is where holistic solutions bring much better results, because they tackle the fundamental causes and truly allow GERD to be reversed or even eradicated. Although treatments exist for GERD using classical medicaments, the holistic remedies alone bring lasting results. Conventional drugs unfortunately only treat external manifestations of the disease, and do not resolve the fundamental underlying reasons.

GERD is a complex condition and the causes are also multiple, including diet habits, lifestyle, genetically inherited characteristics and even candida infections. Taking a holistic approach is therefore important to treat the body as a whole. This is why the holistic cures work so much better to eliminate GERD.