Acid Reflux - How To Treat It And Why You Should Soon

[Music] wow [Music] hi welcome to another episode of talking with docs i'm dr brad weining and i'm dr paul zalzel hi i'm dr naveen arya dr aria's a gastroenterologist has joined us for another educational video and today we're talking about a very very common topic one of the most common ones he sees in his office what's that topic heartburn heartburn indigestion indigestion reflux okay so what is what is heartburn what's reflux so basically it's a sensation of burning in the chest right and you feel like it some people have regurgitation some people get burping so those are the signs and we all get it you know this is very common we don't want to talk about it but this is what we all get i see a lot of commercials on tv and you can see the guys sort of face going around after you had some hot wings yeah or beer beer i don't have wings often but when i do i will get hardwood after so look heartburn's very common right it's a very common symptoms and we actually don't even think about it we take a papa tums or we gave us gone we go to the counter right but some people we also some people have it a lot more more frequently a lot of people have it at night it wakes up at night they can actually have chest pain a lot of chest pain so they think it's a heart attack right we see that a lot in the emergency department people come in with chest pain and it's actually heartburn after they do all their cardiac investigations so we we have to realize yes it's a very common uh symptom but it's also very important to know to talk to your family doctor or your gastroenterologist about your symptoms of heartburn does it have anything to do with the heart like it's called heartburn is there any involvement of the heart no i haven't no humor misnomer misnomer because i bet you i bet your people are having chest pain and they're and they want to heart the cardiology you got the heartburn uh cardiologists they yeah they they see a lot of chest pains yeah so so it starts with history so when so someone comes in though and you do a physical exam you can't feel heartburn right like as a doctor you can't go and say oh i think you got heartburn no it's really you have to tell us okay it's a symptoms right there's no physical exam for heartburn there's you can do an ultrasound or a cat scan it's all going to be normal so heartburn is a symptom and it is a symptom of acid coming from the stomach into your esophagus okay and why is this important so we do need to know there are some people who heartburn can lead on to changes in the cells so you can get damaged into your esophagus it can produce pre-cancer cells called barretts which can lead on to esophageal cancer okay so heartburn can cause cancer that is the key so the longer you've had heartburn or symptoms or the if you're older you also should be checked but the problem with cancer again especially in the gut is you can have esophageal cancer and have no symptoms so for example i have patients who say doctor i'm dying of heartburn every day in digestion there's got to be something wrong i we do a gastroscope which is a scope through your mouth into your stomach and esophagus and there's nothing there right then i have people like myself i have heartburn once a year i go in there's a cancer you have cancer not yet but i'm i'm saying you're getting it you're saying that it's not necessarily related to the frequency of the heart correct but there is an association between heartburn and cancer doesn't mean you have cancer enough you have heart the vast majority of people with heartburn do not have cancer correct is that correct however heartburn can be a sign of that there's something there because it's really the acid that's going from the stomach damaging the esophagus that can change the cells that can lead on to cancer so it can be a sign of it and it can actually be something that a risk factor for it or a cause of it okay so get that heartburn dealt with is what you're saying correct so at the end of the day if you've had heartburn once in a while talk to your family doctor there are medications but really lifestyle modifications is the key so let's talk about lifestyle okay so not you but some of us have to lose some weight right weight loss you get killed today you're lean and mean but what are the four things though that cause acid caffeine okay okay i take it caffeine chocolate i love chocolate because of the caffeine chocolate in fact i like to have caffeine and then chocolate good luck good luck with you yeah uh alcohol our favorite you're hitting home here right and mint chewing gum mint interesting right which i take after i've had caffeine and chocolate i'm not here well those four things actually increase our risk of acid going in uh to from the stomach to the soft it's causing damage okay so hold the phones i knew about the chocolate i knew about the cap i knew about the alcohol mint chewing gum mint and then eating slow more frequently not late at night those are the good lifestyle modifications uh almost like steak so you know just needs smaller steaks but the fact is you can you can adjust your lifestyle and your symptoms can go away okay so say you adjust your lifestyle and maybe you're taking some over-the-counter medication or even prescription medication from your family doctor do you still need to do further testing who needs the upper endoscope or the gastroscopy to look at and say hey how about your heartburn right so the fact is that good question that's a great question actually and for my gastroenterologist i feel everyone needs it but but at the longer you've had symptoms so if you've had heartburn in your 20s and you still have it in your 30s so we say if you've had heartburn or symptoms of reflux for 10 years you should get a check right if you over 50 and you've had new onset symptoms or the symptoms are coming on a new um first for the first time then you should get a check okay if you're having problems swallowing food the heartburn is not going away something is wrong you know your own body we listen as physicians to you so we need to hear from you if you're worried but there is a thought in the states of one time endoscopy a scope in your stomach to look if you have damage if you have damage in the esophagus then you def then definitely need to have beyond medications long term if you if there's nothing there then we can more be at ease saying this could be a lifestyle modification which is to control the symptoms so there's so there's a school of thought that says everybody over 50 or no everyone who have symptoms of heartburn everybody has symptoms but we obviously can't in canada socialize medical socialized medicine we can't practice like that but the fact is if longer time you've had symptoms higher chances you're going to have symptoms uh or damage of your esophagus which could lead on to something more sinister okay so we don't want everyone to panic if you have heartbreak not at all you heard him say 10 years if you've had heartburn for 10 years then consider start with lifestyle modification treat it first treat it first talk to your doctor but really if you're worried talk to your family physician to be referred to a gastroenterologist to have a conversation right and and really the test is there's no preparation for this one right you just don't eat after midnight again you come into the hospital you go they put you to sleep it takes five minutes to do this test grab this one yeah really a little trouble swine a little bit that's all the mint gum you've been having well i mean hard to know like because i don't i don't have one coffee a day like i don't eat a lot of chocolate i don't drink a lot of alcohol it's just but there's a genetic but there's a genetic component to it there's also you know the junction between the soft and stomach maybe looser yeah right so we don't know everything you know just because you have a plant-based diet means you could be the most unhealthy person right absolutely we're better okay you could be but you're not that is a ton of useful information the take-home message is don't ignore your heartburn treat it talk to your doctor and then maybe you would require a referral but don't panic this talking heartbreak a lot see you tomorrow is your plant-based diet plant-based diet is that mostly smoking plants wow wow he does have a lot of gas i'm feeling a lot of gas smelling a lot of gas right now i got to work with these two so if you like this video please like it subscribe to our channel and remember you are in charge of your own health and your own heartburn and thanks to dr ari for joining us again oh thanks for having me thank you you

Channel: Talking With Docs

Views: 70,699

Keywords: heart burn, reflux, GERD, cancer, acid, stomach ache, Heartburn, Gastroesophageal reflux

Id: MU-N7-ifIuc

Length: 8min 55sec (535 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 17 2021