| More Causes |
| Written by Thomas Gibson | |
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The esophageal sphincter functions as a blockade, preventing food from being regurgitated. It can be identified as the muscle which is tubular and expands from the lower throat to the belly. Lower esophageal sphincter surrounds the lower end of the esophagus and joins the stomach. The muscle which makes up the lower esophageal sphincter is active constantly, always contracting and closing the passage from the esophagus to the belly. The closing movements play a major role in keeping the stomach acids and food in your stomach. When one swallows saliva or food, the lower esophagus takes a break for a small number of seconds to permit the contents to pass through and then it closes again. Because of that, it is common for people with GERD to experience acid refluxes right after eating. Anomalies of the lower esophageal sphincter are typically found in people who have been diagnosed with GERD. One abnormality of the lower esophageal sphincter is the weakness of contractions which substantially reduces the likelihood to avert reflux. Another abnormality is the irregular relaxations of the lower esophageal sphincter which complicates the accommodation of swallowing and can last for a few minutes. The lengthened relaxations make it easier for reflux to take place. Typically, this will happen in people who have refluxes, after meals. A bloated stomach increases pressure which may also play a part in opening the lower esophageal sphincter; this happens more so in people with GERD than people without GERD. The diaphragm which borders the lower esophageal sphincter appears to be significant in the prevention of acid reflux. Since the diaphragm surrounds the lower esophageal sphincter, it serves as an additional support in the contraction of the sphincter. With that in mind, it will now lead us to another common cause of GERD which is hiatal hernia. Hiatal hernia is when the upper part of your stomach protrudes through the diaphragm due to muscular weakness of the diaphragm. Since the upper part of the stomach is squeezed by the diaphragm around it, acid reflux becomes very common due to increased pressure in the stomach. Another way hiatal hernias can lead to acid reflux is when the hernial sac is constricted from the esophagus above the lower esophageal sphincter and the belly below near the diaphragm. The sac may lead to the trapping of acids that the stomach produces for digestion. The acid is then kept closer to the esophagus and as a result, the acid can easily seep out from the stomach to the esophagus once the lower esophageal sphincter relaxes. As previously mentioned, sometimes the lower esophageal sphincter is not strong enough, and when that happens, the pressure of the contractions is not strong enough. When that happens, the lower esophageal sphincter will be too weak to keep the stomach acids from seeping back to the esophagus. This is abnormal and is very uncomfortable for the person with GERD. Most people who have GERD exhibit this symptom and you may be more familiar with its other name: heartburn. At night, acid reflux is more frequent than it is in the day, and this may be due to the fact that people don’t swallow while asleep. You see, swallowing saliva plays a small role in eradicating acid in the esophagus as saliva is slightly basic. As an added bonus, when a person does the act of swallowing, the esophageal muscles will contract. As the esophagus contracts, it narrows the lumen of the esophagus. These contractions are known as peristalsis, it is what transports the food from the upper esophagus to the lower esophagus directly to the belly to the intestines and so on. Though the above factors are the most common causes of GERD, there are still other causes that are not as common. One example of an uncommon cause for GERD is a birth defect like the irregular joining of the stomach and esophagus. The slanted adjoining of them can cause a flap of tissue to form. The flap will act as a valve and will shut off the belly from the esophagus, which is good but when the person also has hiatal hernia, the problem is made worse. The valve flap becomes distorted and can no longer assist in keeping the stomach acids from going up the esophagus. |
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