Acid reflux disease, commonly referred to as GERD Gastroesophageal reflux disease, is a condition where by the liquid content of the stomach refluxes into the esophagus. This liquid can harm the lining of your esophagus. Although visible signs of irritation occur in a minority of patients. The regurgitated liquid usually contains acid and pepsin which are produced by the stomach. Pepsin is an enzyme that begins the digestion of proteins in your stomach. The refluxed liquid also may contain bile that has gone-up into the stomach from your duodenum. Acid reflux disease involves more than 20% of Americans. Some 80% of the 60 million Americans who have been diagnosed with acid reflux disease recount being worse at night, and three in four say they routinely wake up from sleep because of it.

This relationship between sleep apnea and acid reflux makes perfect sense because when you’re awake, gravity helps keep acids required to digest food down where they belong, in the stomach. But when you’re lying down, these acids can leak back into your esophagus, damaging the lining and significantly growing the risk of esophageal cancer.

Some researchers think that sleep apnea results in airway pressure changes that can cause acid reflux to occur, yet other researchers assume that the reflux of acids may be caused by spasms of your vocal cords that can then lead to sleep apnea.

Common Causes Of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a widespread disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep.

The Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They often occur 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Usually, Typically, normal breathing then begins again, occasionally with a loud snort or choking sound.

Sleep apnea usually is a chronic that disrupts your sleep 3 or more nights a week.

This problem causes poor sleep quality that sometimes makes you tired during the day. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

When we’re awake, your throat muscles help keep your airway stiff and open so air can flow into your lungs without restriction. When you’re asleep, these muscles are more relaxed. Normally, your relaxed throat muscles will not keep your airway from staying open to let air into your lungs.

Acid reflux is usually a chronic condition. Once it begins, it usually is life-long. If there is injury to the lining of your esophagus then it is a chronic condition. There are many different acid reflux treatment options. One of these is Prilosec.

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 11:27 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.