Did You Know?

If you suffer from heartburn often, you may need to discuss your symptoms with your physician, especially if:

• You have heartburn more than twice a week.
• Your heartburn is getting worse.
• You awaken at night from heartburn.
• You’ve had heartburn on and off for years.
• You find it hard or painful to swallow.
• Your discomfort or pain makes it difficult to function.

GERD is a frustrating disorder because there is no single cause for it. It happens when esophageal defenses are overwhelmed by stomach contents that back up into the esophagus. GERD is the result of repeated or prolonged exposure of the lining of the esophagus to the acidic contents of the stomach.

• If there is tissue damage, it is called erosive GERD.
• If there is no tissue damage, it is non-erosive GERD.

Each individual may exhibit different symptoms of GERD. Although chronic heartburn and acid reflux are the most common symptoms, other symptoms may be any assortment of the following: belching, excess saliva, sensation of food sticking in the esophagus, chronic sore throat, laryngitis, inflammation of the gums, erosion of teeth enamel, source taste in the mouth and bad breath.

Importance of healthy sleep
Studies have demonstrated that up to 79 percent of GERD patients experience nighttime symptoms. Of those patients with nighttime heartburn, 75 percent reported that the symptoms affected their sleep and 40 percent stated that symptoms impacted their ability to function the following day. Getting enough good sleep is important for everyone, but it is especially important for those living with chronic disorders such as functional gastrointestinal and motility disorders. Lack of quality sleep can impact digestive symptoms.

In the last decade, the Neuroenteric Clinical Research Group has been working in the areas of GERD and sleep to decipher the exact relationship between the two disorders. An advancement that helped researchers better understand the impact of GERD on sleep was the incorporation of actigraphy (a watch-like device that can determine if patients are asleep or awake) with their pH test measuring acid exposure matched by time. This combined technique allows researchers to determine the relationship between gastroesophageal reflux events, symptoms, and sleep and awake periods. Their findings include:

• That the amount of time spent in bed prior to falling asleep is a vulnerable period for GERD to occur—the longer the time spent awake in bed, the greater the exposure to GERD.
• That during sleep, people with GERD tended to wake up multiple times; however, only half of these interruptions were associated with GERD. This suggests that GERD sufferers may wake up during the night with significant reflux but not display symptoms.
• That during sleep, people with GERD tended to wake up multiple times; however, only half of these interruptions were associated with GERD. This suggests that GERD sufferers may wake up during the night with significant reflux but not display symptoms.
• That deep sleep has been shown to suppress GERD.
• That minimizing the amount of time spend in bed awake is found to be important for those with GERD.
• That naps are associated with more shallow sleep, and therefore more vulnerable for GERD. The combination of napping after a meal may result in more severe GERD.