01.14.06
Is There a Connection Between Asthma and Acid Reflux?
If your asthma is bad and no one knows why, some doctors would check whether you have or had acid reflux by conducting tests to measure the acidity in your gullet. In some studies, researchers have injected acid into the gullets of people with asthma, and it had a significant impact on their asthma and caused worse asthma symptoms.
Some people have a painful form of heartburn that can be relieved with antacid medicines. That is, special medicines which neutralise the acid. This is called acid reflux, and it happens mostly in people who are older and overweight. But it can happen in children and in all types of people.
Some research indicates that the symptoms of asthma may get worse when stomach acid rises up your gullet, which is what is happening when you have gastroesophageal reflux disease, also known as GERD, or more commonly, acid reflux.
There is also evidence to suggest that people who have asthma get acid reflux more often than people without asthma. This is probably because of the big pressure changes in the chest during breathing in people with asthma. These high pressures could force liquid to travel the wrong way up the esophagus (your feeding tube). Asthma affects your breathing passages, which are separate from your feeding tube (esophagus), but the pressure changes in your chest affect both.
In these cases, asthma sufferers seem to lose out twice: they suffer from asthma and they may suffer from acid reflux more often than non asthma sufferers.
However, this is not the whole story. If acid reflux really was an important cause of asthma worsening, then treatments against acid reflux should make the asthma better, however, this is generally not the case.
In the meantime, if you have asthma and you also have acid reflux, it could just be that careful treatment of your reflux will make your breathing better. Your doctor will probably try to improve your lungs by also treating your digestive ailments.
Now that you’ve read this article, don’t stop learning all you can about acid reflux and asthma. Look up a few more resources on the topic. Soon you’ll discover you have all you ever need to know!
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