Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and The Part Played by The Lower Esophageal Sphincter

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and the part played by the Lower Esophageal Sphincter

The condition known as Gastroesophageal reflux disease is where the acids in the stomach return back up into the esophagus. The acid when it refluxes back into the esophagus can irritate and in some cases actually damage the esophagus lining. The failure of the Lower Esophageal sphincter (LES as it is more commonly known) is the actual reason why the acidic contents of the stomach make their way back into the esophagus.

The esophagus is the actual tube which joins the throat to the stomach. The LES is a muscle where the esophagus tube actually joins with the stomach. This muscle opens and closes and when functioning correctly should prevent the gastroesophageal reflux disease from occurring.

As discussed above the LES should tighten once food has been eaten and stop it from refluxing back into the esophagus. However, there are a number of reason why this Lower Esophageal Sphincter does not work correctly. One of the ways is that when the LES tightens it is actually still too weak to seal the contents in the stomach. Another cause is due to abnormal movements or known as transient LES and this does not follow any pattern and can happen at any time. This condition occur for a few minutes, therefore, allowing the stomach acid to escape.

Another failure of the LES which results in gastroesophageal reflux disease is where it does not actually tighten which allows the acid to freely go back into the esophagus.

The failure in some instances of the LES is not the only reason for Gastroesophageal reflux disease. It can also be caused by foods that are high in oil, also drinking caffeine and alcoholic drinks as well as acidic foods.

If you are concerned about your Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease visit http://www.gerdsymptoms.info/ where you can learn about a Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and much more.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 9:21 pm and is filed under Pain Management Doctors . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.