Dear Friend,
If you've ever had heartburn, you know that it's an incredibly uncomfortable condition. People who suffer from GERD (gastrointestinal reflux disease) have that awful feeling ALL THE TIME. Sadly, for many patients with GERD, the common prescription drug treatments like Prilosec, Nexium, and Prevacid do nothing. And when "proton pump inhibitor" drugs fail, there aren't many options left. Many patients, desperate for relief, turn to surgery.
But GERD is not a simple medical problem, and surgery is not the answer. For more than 10 years, surgeons have been putting suffers of chronic GERD under the knife at the staggering rate of up to 35,000 patients a year. The surgical procedure, known as laparoscopic fundoplication, involves taking the top of the stomach and wrapping it around the lower part of the esophagus to create a barrier for acid reflux. This procedure isn't terribly effective, yet surgeons turn to it time and again.
Fortunately, the medical community is finally starting to acknowledge that non-surgical options could be just as beneficial as surgery. The procedures, called "endoluminal therapies," involve the insertion of an endoscope (a long, flexible tool) into the esophagus.
In the practice known as "full thickness plication," the endoscope is used to stitch the junction of the stomach and the esophagus to tighten it. The other procedure is "radiofrequency therapy which applies heat in order to make the function of valve between the esophagus and the stomach more efficient.
One of the lead researchers in this study, Dr. Louis Jeansonne IV of the Ochsner Medical Centers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, still believes that medication is "the first thing people should try for reflux." And it doesn't mean he's ready to abandon surgery as a GERD treatment.
"Surgery is still the most effective treatment in people who don't have relief with medications," Jeansonne says. And that's where the good doctor and I part company.
Studies have indicated that that patients who have undergone surgical procedures for GERD were much more likely to die during the 10 years after their operations than patients treated with medication alone. Many of the deaths were due to heart disease, which researchers found perplexing since they could not explain how surgery for heartburn, which involves the esophagus and not the heart, might cause disease of the heart itself.
As painful as GERD can be, you're better off exhausting all treatment options before you subject yourself to a risky surgery that may not even work. Here are a few other options to consider:
I have found that freshly squeezed cabbage juice, one 8-ounce glass as often as needed, can often be remarkably effective at relieving the symptoms of GERD.
Not long ago, I read a study that said that chewing gum had a positive effect for many GERD patients. The theory is that chewing gum causes a significant increase in salivary volume, and saliva is rich in esophago-protective factors, including epidermal growth factor, mucin, proteins and prostaglandin E2.
Give it a try and let me know if it works for you.
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
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