Why does my stomach hurt?

Have you been diagnosed with silent GERD? Have you been put on acid blocking medications like proton pump inhibitors? This simple question of why may save you a lot of pain and haste down the road.

What is gastro-esophegeal reflux disease (GERD)? Damage to the digestive walls, especially when due to GERD certainly is due to acid, but not an abundance of acid, it is nearly acid in the wrong place. When approaching gastro-esophageal reflux disease we see that stomach acid starts to leak out of the stomach and into the "food tube." This acid begins to injure and erode the walls of the esophagus. Here is the MILLION dollar question… why? Isn't that an important question to answer. Certainly if it was too much acid production in your stomach we'd be seeing an intense amount of acid that starts pushing its way through your stomach's upper sphincter and into your esophagus. If we saw that occur you'd probably see you vomiting acid because your body is uncontrollably producing too much acid.

Why do most Doctors prescribe an acid blocker to treat GERD patients? To reduce the acid content of coarse. This caused a miss understanding for patients. This treatment procedure is considered an off label prescription. This is a legitimate aspect of your doctor's medical practice but it can create confusion. Acid blockers were originally intended to be used as short term acid reducing solutions when a patient had an ulcer. This allowed the stomach to heal without digesting itself. Western medicine found that patients with acid incorrectly damaging the esophagus (food tube) could be prescribed these medications and the symptoms of pain and damage to the esophagus would sometimes dissipate. Why is this a bad thing? The acid blockers were masking the symptoms, not curing a disease. Patients started taking medications that were never intended to be taken for long periods of time.

Lets return to the question of why? Why is acid getting into your esophagus? That is a better question. For some, the stomach is herniated and drooping, which chronically opens the upper sphincter. For others, it is microbes in overgrowth, which may have nothing to do with acid in the first place. Barry Marshal and Robin Warren were the first to discover the single microbe species h. pylori, a major bacterial cause of ulcerations. These bacteria have been demonstrated to dig deep into the walls of the stomach lining eroding away at its integrity. Want to know more about GERD, schedule a free consult and we can talk more about your case and what you can do about it.

Mark VanOtterloo Licensed Acupuncturist Diplomate of Oriental Medicine