Taking Care of Acid Reflux: Is Getting Surgery A Good Idea For Acid Reflux?
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease or GERD is one of the common diseases, which are often difficult to diagnosis. Classic symptoms of GERD are heartburns and regurgitation, which is displayed in most GERD sufferers. However, GERD sufferers often have a wide range of symptoms, which can easily mask the true condition of the patient. In cases where there is no clear symptoms of GERD displayed by the patient, a physician would often prescribe first over-the-counter drugs or prescription medications and observe how the patient would react to the medication. Although most patient would soon find their symptoms gone with over the counter drugs, there are also those who continue to suffer even after taking the drugs for quite sometime.
The reason why physicians often try over-the-counter or prescription medications before subjecting the patients to extensive diagnostic test is that most of these test are quite invasive as well as expensive. However, in cases where the symptoms are not taken care of by prescription drugs given by he physician, further test should be conducted to ascertain the patients true conditions. In assessing the patient’s condition test such as x-rays with a barium swallow, an upper gastrointestinal x-ray series, an upper endoscopy, an esophageal manometry, or a 24-hour pH are often conducted.
In the event where the physician diagnose the patient to be suffering from GERD, the patient must be informed of the options he/she may have in managing his/her symptoms. More often, physicians would simply recommend change in lifestyle and the continued use of over the counter or prescription drugs. For those patients whose symptoms are rather severe and is causing them so much pain and discomfort, the physician may suggest surgery.
As surgery is invasive as well as expensive, one would ask if this is indeed the best alternative there is for people suffering from acid reflux. There are varying options on the matter and a continuing debate rage among those who believe that surgery is indeed the answer and those who think that it is not. According to some medical experts, surgery is a good alternative in curing GERD. These group of experts claimed that the procedure involved in GERD patients is safe and will totally eliminate the symptoms of the patients. This procedure, which is typically performed on GERD patients, is called the “Nissen fundoplication”.
How is this procedure performed? A “Nissen fundoplication” is a surgery in the upper part of the stomach called the “fundus,”. The “fundus” is located near the esophagus which acid reflux symptoms are usually associated. In this procedure, the “fundus” is wrapped around the lower esophagus to strengthen its barrier function of the lower esophagus. The idea is to tighten the lower esophagus in order to prevent gastreosophageal reflux thereby repairing the main physical irregularity that is often the cause of the symptom in people suffering from GERD. This kind of surgery is performed laparoscopically on the patient. At present, this procedure is considered to be safe and have good results of patients.
On the other hand, there are many who would not agree to surgery. A lot of experts would argue that change in lifestyle is still the best alternative and the procedures should never be performed unless done as a last recourse.