Treatment
The treatment depends on the severity and duration of the complaints, as well as the patient’s circumstances. The first priority is to change eating and living habits in order to cure or prevent initial symptoms such as heartburn or mild reflux esophagitis. The change must include the avoidance of risk factors, i.e. a low-fat diet and, if possible, abstention from alcohol and nicotine.
In addition, little time should be spent lying down during the day and sleep with a raised headboard can also be done at night to relieve the symptoms. Additional exercise can further stimulate the muscles of the intestine and alleviate reflux. Instead of drinking coffee, water or soothing teas should be drunk.
If the changes do not help to get the symptoms under control, an attempt at therapy with proton pump inhibitors should be made. The best known are “Pantoprazole” and “Omeprazole“.They stop the production of gastric acid in the mucous membrane cells of the stomach and thus also reduce the acid load of the oesophagus. In mild reflux esophagitis, the drugs are initially taken for 2 weeks.
Irritations and mild inflammations can often heal within this time. Drugs of other groups of active ingredients, for example so-called “antacids” or “prokinetics”, can also reduce the amount of acid in the stomach. In the case of advanced damage or severe inflammation, however, surgical procedures must sometimes be used.
The most common operation for this disease is “fundoplication”, a procedure that narrows the stomach entrance and replaces the sphincter muscle at the lower end of the esophagus. Nutrition in reflux esophagitis plays an extremely important role in the development of the disease. Some foods influence not only the amount of acid in the stomach, but also the strength of the sphincter muscle at the entrance to the stomach and thus both essential criteria for the development of the disease.
The most dangerous foods in the development of reflux esophagitis are coffee, nicotine and alcohol. Especially alcohol has an additional negative effect on the movement and strength of the muscles of the upper digestive tract. Furthermore, all foods that are particularly sour or have a high energy content, such as fatty foods, should be considered.
Sweet drinks and lemonades also represent an undreamed-of danger in the development of heartburn. Light foods and foodstuffs such as potatoes, salads, low-fat fish and meat, non-carbonated water and wholemeal products are particularly gentle. These foods should also not be eaten quickly in large portions. Also luxuriant food before going to bed is a danger for the esophagus, as is inactivity after eating. Short exercise such as walking helps to stimulate digestion and bridge the phase of high acid secretion in the stomach.
