Does Acid Reflux Cause Bloating

Why Do People Stop Making Enough Stomach Acid

There is a specific type of cell called a parietal cell that produces stomach acid. Its function begins to diminish when its stressed. Various factors that can stress a parietal cell include:

• Overeating
• Stress
• Alcoholic beverages
• Fatty foods
• Smoking

The good news is that we can restore the function of the parietal cells. By eating a whole foods diet and supplementing certain digestive-enhancing remedies, the parietal cells can once again do their job.

Acid Reflux And Bloating

• How to Deal with Them?

Before answering the question of does acid causes bloating, it is better to know well about acid reflux and also bloating. Acid reflux may happen and cause the increase of the gas, so that it may also affect the condition of bloated feeling which may often be followed by frequent burping. It is also often stated that bloated feeling may possibly be one of the signs of acid reflux. On the other hand, actually, the bloating condition itself may also cause acid reflux. That will lead to an increase in the pressure of your abdomen. Then, that will because that pushes the content of your stomach to your esophagus.

Read also: Head Lock Muscle

Can I Do Anything Else To Avoid Dyspepsia

You can do quite a bit to help yourself feel better:

• If you smoke, stop smoking.

• If some foods bother your stomach, try to avoid eating them.

• Try to reduce the stress in your life.

• If you have acid reflux, don’t eat right before bedtime. Raising the head of your bed with blocks under two legs may also help.

• Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, don’t take a lot of anti-inflammatory medicines like ibuprofen, aspirin, naproxen and ketoprofin . Acetaminophen is a better choice for pain, because it doesn’t hurt your stomach.

You May Like: Can Peanut Butter Cause Heartburn

Otc Remedies For Acid Reflux

For people who experience heartburn or indigestion infrequently, perhaps in association with occasional food and drink triggers, OTC treatments to reduce the acidity of the stomach contents are available.

These liquid and tablet formulations are called antacids, and there are dozens of brands available, all with similar effectiveness. They may not work for everyone, and any need for regular use should be discussed with a doctor.

Antacids provide rapid but short-term relief by reducing the acidity of the stomach contents.

They contain chemical compounds such as calcium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, aluminum, and magnesium hydroxide. They can also inhibit nutrient absorption, leading to deficiencies over time.

Too Many Carbohydrates And Sugars

Most foods with carbohydrates will cause gas and some bloating. In general, carbohydrates like sugar and fiber are fermented as theyâre broken down in your large intestine. The process creates a buildup of gas in your colon, causing that bloating that is so uncomfortable.

Even healthy foods can contain carbs, like some fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy products. So, while making healthy choices, you may still find yourself experiencing some unexpected gas and bloating afterwards.

And then, of course, thereâs lactose, the sugar in dairy that makes it difficult for most of the population to digest it. People with lactose intolerance develop gas, bloating, and discomfort after eating dairy foods.

Don’t Miss: What Can U Take For Diarrhea While Pregnant

Bloating And Acid Reflux

Because bloating leads to increased abdominal pressure, it can cause acid reflux as it pushes stomach contents back up into the esophagus. More frequent swallowing — to get rid of stomach contents that have entered the esophagus — could make you swallow more air and cause more bloating. When you feel bloated, you may even try to relieve some of that pressure by belching intentionally, which can also cause some reflux of the acidic stomach contents up into the esophagus. This may be more likely to occur if your bloating is due to consuming a large meal or is a result of delayed stomach emptying, which can be related to certain medications or conditions.

Take Supplements* To Heal Digestion:

The supplements I count on and have grown to trust to help heal heartburn, leaky gut and other digestive issues are:

• Plant-Based Enzyme Support: When were stressed and have leaky gut, our digestive enzymes are turned down, and when we take a PPI, our stomach acid is turned off. I find it is essential to take pancreatic enzymes in this situation to help digest your food and ensure that you get the nutrients from your food, not a food reaction. I would not include HCL at this time because it can be irritating when your tissue is already inflamed.
• DGL Powder: Which is herbal licorice and much different than candied licorice which contains gluten and sugar. It has anti-inflammatory properties and promotes healing of the esophagus, stomach and intestinal lining with incredibly small dosages.
• Heartburn Powder: Contains DGL, zinc, and aloe, which help to heal the esophagus and stomach.
• Leaky Gut Healing Powder: Contains Glutamine an amino acid which is essential for small intestinal cells plus DGL, arabinogalactan , and aloe.
• Magnesium citrate or oxide: if you tend to constipation, magnesium is a great tool to encourage regular bowel movements without creating a dependency or worsening bloating.
• Peptide Therapy For Stomach and Intestines: Peptides are uniquely capable of resetting specific tissue functions after stress exposure. They support our bodies to go back to digesting food appropriately and without pain despite periods of stress.

Read Also: Why Does Salad Make Me Poop

Can Acid Reflux Cause Nerve Pain

Acid reflux symptoms can be typical or atypical in nature. Tingling limbs and nerve pain are considered rare and atypical acid reflux symptoms.

Dr. Mark Babyatsky, a former department chairman at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, explained that inflammation from acid reflux can reach the lungs and trigger pneumonia.

As a result, the diaphragm can become inflamed, affecting the phrenic nerve, which is a nerve connecting the neck, lung, heart, and diaphragm. In this scenario, a patient can feel referred pain in the limbs, specifically the arms and shoulders.

Alternatively, nerve-related issues may be caused by pre-existing neuropathic conditions, leading to acid reflux. An example of this is gastroparesis. Gastroparesis is a form of diabetic peripheral neuropathy characterized by slow digestion. This leads to bloating, heartburn, and vomiting of undigested food.

If youre experiencing acid reflux symptoms with nerve pain, theres a high chance that your nerve pain is not reflux-related, especially if you are experiencing temporary reflux. Get in touch with a medical professional to find a separate diagnosis concerning your nerve pain.

Diagnosing H Pylori Infection

If your GP thinks that your symptoms may be due to an infection with H pylori bacteria, you may need to have a test for it, such as:

• a stool antigen test a pea-sized stool sample will be tested for H pylori bacteria
• a breath test
• a blood test a blood sample will be tested for antibodies to H pylori bacteria

Antibiotics and PPIs can affect the results of a urea breath test or a stool antigen test. Therefore, these tests may need to be delayed until two weeks after you last used a PPI, and four weeks after you last used an antibiotic.

Don’t Miss: Probiotic Align Side Effects

How I Do I Know If My Wind Burping Flatulence And Bloating Are Normal

The average person breaks wind up to 40 times a day. Anything less than this is normal. Often people believe that they have excessive flatus is because an embarrassing incident like a loud or smelly fart in public has led to the belief that something is wrong. However, if these events are severe, ongoing, troublesome or if you are worried about them you should discuss your concerns with your doctor.

In addition, if you develop burping associated with chest discomfort, especially discomfort associated with exertion, or if you have difficulties in swallowing you should seek medical advice.

If bloating is persistent or associated with weight loss, abdominal pain or diarrhoea you should see your doctor as it can be a symptoms of more serious bowel conditions.

Do You Have Laryngopharyngeal Reflux

Laryngopharyngeal reflux or LPR is a type of esophageal reflux that doesnt involve the tell-tale sign of GERD: heartburn. As a result, patients have a difficult time understanding the nature of their symptoms. In most cases, patients with LPR dont even know they have reflux, which is why the disorder is called silent reflux.

LPR is caused by the same mechanism that triggers GERD. When the lower esophageal sphincter loosens, stomach contents travel back up the esophagus. In this case, stomach acids travel further up the pharynx, reaching the larynx and nasal pathways. As a result, a patient with LPR experiences symptoms like:

• Chronic cough
• Difficult swallowing feeling of persistent lump in the throat
• Post-nasal drip

Also Check: Probiotics And Ulcerative Colitis

Change The Way You Eat:

Feed your body in a way that support healthy digestion. This includes:

• Eat smaller portions. Its important to eat only as much as we can digest. Overfeeding even good bacteria causes gases and bloating.
• Eat at consistent intervals. Setting a routine helps to decrease stress caused by blood sugar fluctuations and unpredictability.
• Slow down to eat. Take time to sit, chew, set aside other tasks, and enjoy a relaxed mealall of which send the right signals to our bodies to digest.
• Breath. Deep breaths between bites of food and throughout the day can help mitigate acid reflux associated with a hiatal hernia.
• Incorporate protein into each meal. The protein trick is something I learned for my own body many years ago. Include 5 to 10 grams of protein in each meal to ensure that you have enough protein signal to the esophageal sphincter to close.
• Eliminate trouble foods from your diet. Either follow an elimination diet, or do a food panel and eliminate the foods that come back high. For bloating, you may need to pay special attention to FODMAP foods. And for histamine issues, eliminate foods that trigger histamine.

How To Stop Acid Reflux And Bloating Without Medication

04.09.2020 by Dr. Doni

Acid reflux and bloating can increase as our stress levels increase. Good health starts with digestion here are 3 ways to start healing digestive issues.

During periods of elevated stress in your life, you may have noticed a corresponding increase in uncomfortable digestive symptoms such as acid reflux and bloating. Thats certainly not a coincidence. As a naturopathic doctor hearing from many patients each week, I can attest that during this stressful time of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are experiencing these symptoms with their digestion.

Read Also: Microbiome Ulcerative Colitis

Diagnosis And Treatment Of Paraesophageal Hernia

The only way to know for sure whether you have a paraesophageal hernia is to see a doctor and undergo:

• A CT scan of the chest
• Esophagogram, which is an X-ray to determine if liquids go down the esophagus properly
• Esophageal manometry, which tests how well the esophagus squeezes food down the length of the esophagus
• Esophagogastroduodenoscopy , which is a fiberoptic scope like a colonoscope that can be inserted into the esophagus and stomach to see any abnormalities

Based on the findings of your tests, the doctor can recommend a variety of treatment options.

Low Stomach Acid Causes Heartburn Or Acid Reflux

The functional medicine approach has uncovered causal factors regarding heartburn and uses an approach to remedy it different from conventional practices. The functional medicine practitioner wants to treat the root cause of the problem. Drugs, such as Prilosec can just mask the symptoms instead of treating the cause of the problem, and many have severe adverse effects.

Heartburn, however, isnt caused by too much stomach acid, that is to say, too much HCl, as conventional practitioners have been taught heartburn is caused by not enough stomach acid. Acid-blocking drugs not only have adverse side effects, but they do not treat the cause of the problem, they just exacerbate it.

It may seem a little counter-intuitive that HCl is necessary, but it will make more sense with a little understanding of digestive physiology. There are several reasons HCl is important. The stomach acid we call HCl, or hydrochloric acid, is your bodys first line of defense against pathogenic bacteria and microbes. An optimum level of healthy stomach acid will kill pathogens and keep them from turning into an infection.

How Deficiency in Stomach Acid, or HCl Leads to Heartburn

Tips for Increasing HClBecause the gut is a first line foundation for physical wellness, achieving a healthy level of stomach acid is avery important step in supporting the health of your brain and body. If you suspect that you have low stomachacid, here are some tips for naturally increasing HCl production:

You May Like: Balancing Gut Bacteria Ulcerative Colitis

Acid Reflux Is Often Easily Treated With Diet And Lifestyle Changes

While reflux and silent reflux can be seen as an annoyance for many people, it can also cause serious health problems like ulceration, esophageal cancer, hormone imbalance and malabsorption of nutrients. To combat the annoying symptoms of reflux many people take an over the counter medication like Mylanta or are given a proton pump inhibitor prescription from their doctor for Pariet, Losec or Nexium.

These PPI medications often work in treating the symptoms of reflux but they are not addressing the underlying cause, in fact, they can make the situation worse as you become reliant on these medications when you stop the medications the symptoms become worse.

Acid Reflux Bad Breath

GERD bad breath is an unpleasant manifestation of chronic heartburn. When stomach acid ends up in the mouth cavity, it can erode hard tissues and tooth enamel. This creates cavities that trap food where bacteria can feed and multiply.

Often, your dentist can tell whether bad breath is caused by acid reflux or because of poor dental hygiene and smoking that also cause dysbiosis of the oral microbiome. GERD patients tend to have teeth erosion, redness around the tonsils, tongue and gum irritation, and sour breath.

TIPProper dental hygiene and over-the-counter medications can usually alleviate bad breath in a week or so.

Also Check: Omeprazole Sweating

Acid Reflux And Headaches

While there are no studies showing that gastrointestinal disorders can lead to headaches, there are publications that illustrate how gastric problems, in particular acid reflux, can coincide with headaches.

A study involving 43,782 patients studies the possible prevalence of headaches in patients with gastrointestinal problems. Compared to diarrhea and constipation, patients with acid reflux symptoms report higher prevalence of headaches.

Another study involving 1,832 migraine patients were tested for heartburn and GERD symptoms. Of the group, 22% reported GERD diagnosis, 11.6% reported heartburn, and another 15.8% reported previously undiagnosed reflux symptoms.

These studies show that patients with acid reflux problems also tend to experience headaches, although there are no clear reasons why. Although unclear, doctors confirm that treating gastrointestinal problems also alleviates headache symptoms, which is how acid reflux-related headaches are treated.

Donât Miss: Accuflora Probiotic For Yeast Infection

How To Fix Bloating Indigestion Constipation And Acid Reflux

I recommend three things for these gastrointestinal issues. The very first thing you should do is use apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is highly acidic, which will help get your stomach pH level to between 1 and 3. The second thing I recommend is betaine hydrochloride. This is a natural acidifier. You can actually find both of these in the form of a single concentrated capsule for easy use. Use apple cider vinegar and betaine hydrochloride right before you eat to help acidify your stomach.

The last thing I recommend is purified bile salts. This helps to boost your bile if your body isn’t producing enough. As I mentioned earlier, bile is vital for breaking down food, so this will help with digestion issues and constipation.

Keep in mind that as you get older, your digestive system stops working optimally. Your stomach’s acidity diminishes, which makes digestion much more difficult. If you already have some of these digestive issues, give these tips a try and see how they work for you.

Up Next:

Recommended Reading: Pantoprazole Side Effects Weight Loss

What To Know About Gerd

• GERD is a condition in which the acidified liquid content of the stomach backs up into the esophagus.
• Causes of GERD are complex and may involve multiple factors.
• GERD may damage the lining of the esophagus, thereby causing inflammation , although this is uncommon.
• Symptoms of uncomplicated GERD include:

Read Also: How Can I Lose Stomach Fat Without Losing Weight

How Is Gerd Treated

Treatment for GERD depends on how severe symptoms are. For some people, treatment may just include lifestyle changes, such as changing what they eat or drink. Others will need to take medicines. In very rare cases, when GERD is particularly severe, a doctor will recommend surgery.

These lifestyle changes can help ease the symptoms of GERD or even prevent the condition:

• quitting smoking
• losing weight if you are overweight
• eating small meals
• avoiding carbonated beverages
• avoiding foods that trigger reflux

It also can help to not lie down for 3 hours after a meal and to not eat 2 to 3 hours before going to bed. Doctors sometimes also recommend raising the head of the bed about 6 to 8 inches. Before you start a major bedroom makeover, though, talk to your doctor and your parents about the best sleeping position for you.

If symptoms continue, doctors might prescribe medicine, such as:

• H2 blockers, which can help block the production of stomach acid
• proton pump inhibitors, which reduce the amount of acid the stomach makes
• prokinetics, which help the esophageal sphincter work better and the stomach empty faster. This can prevent reflux episodes.

Don’t Miss: Peanut Butter Heartburn Cure