Thanksgiving week is National Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease Awareness Week. While millions of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving by filling their plates – and stomachs – with lots of traditional foods, many of them will also deal with the after effects, including heartburn, indigestion, and other issues.
Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease, or GERD, is a chronic condition. Its most common symptom is heartburn, but other symptoms include chronic sore throat, laryngitis, hoarseness in the morning, bad breath, and others.
Doctor Michael Thorpe is a surgeon at Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion. His specialties include bariatric surgery, and he’s bringing a new procedure to southern Illinois that aims to help people suffering from GERD.
“This magnetic device, placed at the base of the esophagus, adds a resting strength to the bottom of the esophagus that when you swallow, because it’s magnetic beads, it will open up and the food will go through. And then when the food is through, it will come back together because of its magnetic properties and helps prevent the acid from going back into the esophagus.”
Surgery is not the only option available to patients suffering from reflux. Doctor Thorpe says changing your diet, losing weight, and exercising can all help. There are also lots of drugs available to treat acid reflux and other GERD symptoms.
“Gastroenterologists may have reservations for surgical procedures. There are complications from surgical procedures. That being said, not all reflux can be treated completely with medications and gastroenterologists.”
Thorpe says not all reflux is GERD – sometimes over the counter medicines are fine to treat occasional heartburn. Sometimes a prescription is required. He says it’s important to pay attention to your habits and needs, and contact a physician if you think you need more help.
“If it happens frequently during the week, if it happens after every meal or if you’re taking pills every week sometimes, if you’re eating spicy foods or you have to avoid certain foods – if you notice that you’re adjusting your diet because it’s causing you problems, you should talk to somebody. If you’re taking medications, and you’re increasing your medication because it’s not helping, you need to talk to somebody.”
Thorpe points out that changing diet and some social habits aren’t necessarily a bad thing. He says eating healthy, getting plenty of rest, drinking enough water, and exercising can go a long way to treating and preventing Reflux Disease.
American dietary habits can be blamed, in part, for additional cases of reflux and GERD in the United States. Thorpe says there are many contributing factors.
“The stomach is designed for certain sizes of meals. When you eat a very large meal, it can stretch the stomach. There are muscles in the stomach that prevent acid from going up in to the esophagus. When you stretch that, it makes it so the muscles stop working – or stop preventing the acid reflux. So when you stretch that out, you start getting reflux. So I think it’s the American diet. Obesity is a significant contributor to reflux.”
Reflux can also be hereditary – genetics can play a part. Thorpe says it’s important people get as much information about their own history as they can, and then talking to a physician about the symptoms and possible treatments.
And Thorpe says the LINX magnetic device is just one option available to patients. He says while magnets have made news in the past, when children swallow them and surgery is necessary to fix the problems they cause, this device avoids those potential complications because of its design and placement.
“This is a surgically placed, very precise positioning of the device. It’s on the outside of the tract, and it’s sized individually per person – every person gets their unique sized device. And because of that, the complication rates are extremely low and the success rates are very high.”
Thorpe’s team is preparing a public seminar on the new procedure, as well as reflux disease, on November 29 at six o’clock at Heartland Regional Medical Center. He says more information can help patients decide what options are right for them, and how they should proceed.
“An informed patient is one who knows all options and can decide for themselves what option is best. Is surgery for everybody? Absolutely not. But you can’t decide for or against surgery unless you have all the answers.”
You can find more information at www.aboutGERD.org, or www.heartlandregional.com.
