February 19, 2025 • 27 mins
Heart Burn vs Heart Attack learn in our episode today the vital difference!!
Heartburn
- Cause: Occurs when stomach acid backs up into the esophagus.
- Symptoms: Burning sensation in the chest, often after eating or while lying down. It may be accompanied by a sour taste in the mouth or regurgitation2.
- Relief: Usually relieved by antacids.
Heart Attack
- Cause: Happens when blood flow to the heart is blocked.
- Symptoms: Sudden chest pain or discomfort (pressure, tightness, or squeezing), often spreading to the neck, jaw, back, or arms. Other symptoms can include shortness of breath, nausea, cold sweat, and lightheadedness2.
- Emergency: Requires immediate medical attention.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Body In Balance Podcast.
(00:12):
I am your host, Charlotte Johnson.
The Certificate Licensed Physician Assistant sent here to kick some knowledge your way
once a week for the purpose of educating, informing and enlightening this audience
concerning physical, spiritual and emotional aspects of our bodies in relation to our Creator.
(00:44):
The one, the only, the true and living God, YAH, YAH, He is the King of Kings.
I'm an old Lord of Lords.
Let us give it up for YAH way.
All right, we're going to get started because there's a lot of important information that I would like to share with my audience on today.
(01:18):
Heartburn versus heart attack.
Heartburn versus heart attack.
It is paramount that we know the difference.
And until you do know the difference, you need to be evaluated by a trained license professional.
(01:42):
You cannot just assume that you have heartburn.
So that being said, we're going to start out with a video about the stomach so that you can know in relation to your heartburn.
In relation to your heart, where the stomach is and why it is so important to know this because you will know whether you're having a heart attack.
(02:13):
You cannot know whether you're having a heart attack or whether it's just reflux.
What exactly happens in our stomachs when we eat?
(02:34):
Even before we have taken the first bite of a meal, the brain sends impulses to the stomach.
These impulses start the production of secretions in the stomach and the upper part of the stomach, which acts as a reservoir, expands.
The food passes into the stomach through the cardio at the stomach entrance.
This is a muscle that acts like a valve closing the top of the stomach.
(02:59):
This area where you see the closing and the opening, the heart lies right in front of that area.
This area here is called the cardiac sphincter. You'll see that in the video.
Part of the stomach, the fundus, is where food and the air that we swallow with every bite is collected.
(03:25):
This is where the stomach volume starts to adapt.
The fundus is an extremely adaptable structure. The more food goes into the stomach, the more it actively expands.
In the middle part of the stomach, called the body, gastric juice is produced and mixed with a mass of chewed food.
The main component of gastric juice is gastric acid.
(03:48):
This eliminates bacteria in the food and also helps to prepare the food for the following stages of digestion.
The muscular contractions of the stomach wall churn the food mass and mix it with gastric juice.
Three contractions per minute move the food mass back and forth.
After a certain time, the contents of the stomach are adequately broken down and mixed and are passed in small quantities into the intestine via the pylorus.
(04:16):
As the stomach empties, it gradually returns to its previous size.
Great. So with this, we see exactly how the stomach moves. And as I discussed with you, you saw the cardiac sphincter where the food drops into the stomach.
(04:49):
It sits directly behind the heart.
Now we're talking about reflux.
Reflux can tend to make you have chest pain.
So what is GERD?
(05:11):
GERD is gastric esophageal.
Reflux disease.
And this occurs when stomach acid frequently flows backwards as it showed in the video.
And I talked to you about the cardiac sphincter.
Food can sometimes go backwards as this is portraying in this video here where the green is coming back up.
(05:39):
And those arrows are pointing up.
When it starts to go backwards, then you have the problems with your stomach from the acid.
The pH in the stomach is somewhere around 1.5 to 3.5. That means it's very acidic.
(06:01):
So God has these awesome little filters that are inside the stomach that helps to protect that tissue on the inside.
It works all the way up to about 1 third of the esophagus.
When you get past that 1 third area, if you were to make a fist, put it on the left side of your stomach right under your diaphragm, right by your lung.
(06:32):
And then you take your thumb and put it right between your breastbone, right between your breast.
That part, that one third of your stomach, that can handle that stomach acid.
That's 1.5 to 3.5 in pH.
(06:54):
When it starts to get higher than that, that's when you have chest pain.
When it gets into the back of the throat, you'll start to have sore throats.
You don't feel sick like a reflux. It doesn't feel like a strep throat, but it feels like acid is burning.
(07:17):
If you have that symptom and you're experiencing those symptoms, you need to see your doctor.
That cardiac sphincter, like I said, keeps the stomach acid in the stomach.
Once food drops down there, it closes up. Kind of like those, if you track with me, when you used to go to the bank as a child, they would give you these little coin purses and you could squeeze them.
(07:47):
And the little slit would open up and you could put your coins in there.
That's the way that cardiac sphincter works.
So when that is closed, it holds that acid in there and doesn't let it go up higher.
We'll talk about what happens when you do certain things that tend to make that cardiac sphincter stay open.
(08:17):
If you're experiencing reflux more than twice a week, you really should see your physician about that.
Now, GERD, this is going to talk about a little bit how the stomach works.
So you have here the loop around the darker pink loop around. That's your large intestines.
(08:45):
The middle part of your stomach inside that loop around is that's your small intestine.
This pouch here is your stomach.
Above that is the esophagus and the heart fits right in this area where the esophagus ends going into the stomach.
(09:11):
So that's why you can have things like chest pain.
So how the stomach works, we just looked at that video.
Medications tend to help with this such as Tums and Pepsid, Prilosec, Femotidine.
We'll talk about all these later.
Eating smaller meals tends to help with this.
(09:34):
An avoidance of excessive caffeine, spicy foods, eating and laying down within three hours,
having after-dinner mints, peppermint, and chocolates.
A lot of times people don't know these things and they do them.
How many times do you eat a large meal at Outback or one of the big steak houses
(09:59):
and they have after-dinner mints sitting right there on the way out of the door.
There's a toothpick and an after-dinner mint.
Well, that's a huge setup for reflux or having stomach acid problems.
What will happen if you've had that big meal and it was eight or nine o'clock by the time you get home,
(10:25):
you're probably going to prepare to go to bed and you'll go to bed within that three-hour time period,
which tends to give you problems with reflux.
What other things can cause GERD?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
(10:46):
Pregnancy, obesity, or having a large abdomen.
Connective tissue disorder, such as scleroderma.
That's a whole other episode that we're going to talk about deep in the line,
but we're going to discuss that in more detail.
(11:13):
Delayed stomach emptying.
Now, you remember from a few episodes ago, I talked to you about the GLP-1,
the GLP-1 medications that help with weight loss and obesity.
They also tend to slow down stomach digestion and the emptying of it.
(11:36):
Having a hiatal hernia or bulging at the top of the stomach.
So if you look at this picture and you can see where the esophagus was,
right there, it leads into the stomach, the top portion of the stomach.
That would push through the diaphragm, which is what covers the lungs.
(12:00):
It would push through that area and that's where you get a hiatal hernia.
So let's talk about GERD.
We're going to look at a slide at this time.
(12:22):
Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, is a condition that causes the burning sensation known as heartburn.
When you swallow, food passes down your throat and through your esophagus or food tube to your stomach.
A muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter controls the opening between the esophagus and the stomach.
(12:51):
This muscle remains tightly closed except when you swallow food.
When the sphincter fails to close, the acid containing contents of the stomach can travel back up into the esophagus.
This backward movement is called reflux.
When stomach acid enters the lower part of the esophagus, it can produce a burning sensation commonly referred to as heartburn.
(13:16):
Several factors might explain why this reflux action occurs.
The most important are the following.
The position of your body after eating.
An upright posture helps prevent reflux.
The size of the meal.
Smaller meals reduce reflux.
The nature of the foods you eat and drink, certain substances that irritate the esophagus or weaken the sphincter can cause reflux.
(13:44):
Great.
So much of what I had talked about was reiterated in the video.
Some common signs and symptoms that you need to know.
These are things that you need to know when you should go to the ER.
(14:06):
A burning sensation in your chest, usually after eating, which might be worse at night, most likely is heartburn.
However, I have seen many friends who have thought they were having just heartburn and they were literally having a heart attack.
(14:29):
Now, most people between the ages of 19 and 25 or 30 can go to the ER and they will evaluate you.
They'll ask you a bunch of questions. They're normally going to want to know, are you, have you been drinking?
(14:54):
Have you been doing any drugs, illicit drugs and that kind of thing.
Once they question you, they'll probably get a chest x-ray and they may or may not do an EKG.
If you're in your 30s to 40s, most likely they're going to get a chest x-ray and an EKG.
(15:21):
If you are in your 50s, the first thing they're going to do is get an EKG.
Now, with people that are younger, it's less likely that you're having a heart attack, but there, you can.
(15:42):
With people that are more chronologically matured, they're going to err on the side of caution and get an EKG,
get a chest x-ray and cardiac enzymes to be sure that you are not having a heart attack.
If they're not being that proactive about this, you make sure that they do.
(16:07):
Ask for a chest x-ray because African American women and women who are obese tend to have more cardiac problems than normal.
Men in their 40s, especially African American men, and if you're a smoker, you need to be evaluated for a heart attack.
(16:37):
That has to be ruled out before you go home.
I'm going to say that again. It has to be ruled out before you go home because the chest pain from a heart attack and the chest pain from heartburn cannot be distinguished right away,
(17:03):
not without an appropriate workup.
So, having problems with difficulty swallowing, bringing food back up and having a sour taste in your mouth, a sour taste,
and a sort throat, chronic sort throat, a sensation of a lump in your throat,
(17:28):
horse-ness, intermittent horse-ness, and shortness of breath when you're talking, especially preachers, when you're trying to preach and your voice sounds raspy.
I know it may sound cool to have that raspy voice, but you should have that checked out to make sure it's not a problem with reflux.
(17:51):
We do plenty of that in the ENT field.
We take an endoscopy. We go through the nose down into the throat and look at the vocal cord area to see if there has been damage to your cords,
(18:16):
to the opening of your esophagus, the top portion of your esophagus. All of that can be looked at through ear, nose, and throat,
which is what an otolaryngology, PA, nurse practitioner, or physician would do.
That's what I do all day, every day, dealing with horse-ness, intermittent shortness of breath, people that have a sensation of something stuck in their throat.
(18:48):
We look at that. If we don't find anything, now sometimes you do. You're going to see swelling of your arachnoids,
or the cricoid tissue that makes up the larynx, or your throat, vocal cord, voice box.
(19:13):
We will see that. We will see gastric secretions in the base of the tongue, or at the base of the tongue.
These are all signs that something's going on that we would have to treat.
Now, I led up to it by saying we would have to treat it. Well, how do you treat it?
(19:37):
Ms. Johnson, that's a great question. You use proton pump inhibitors, which they help with heartburn, healing, peptic ulcers.
They help with horse-ness. They'll help with that globus sensation, or the sensation that there's something thick in your, or swelling sensation in the back of your throat.
(20:05):
Those medicines are called prilosec, or nexium, or as effects, or protonics. I'm sure many of you have heard about them.
Proton pump inhibitors. While we're there, let me give you a little insight on these medications. They are great, but I am of the school that they can cause bone thinning,
(20:32):
especially in women over 55, men over 75. You want to be careful that you haven't been on these medications for greater than a year.
The other thing that has been noted, I did some research and the jury still out on it, does prilosec, nexium, as effects, protonics, all of these type of proton pump inhibitors, does it cause dementia?
(21:08):
There are some studies that say that it does, but there are some studies that are inconclusive. You need to be your own judge on that. Remember, I told you, know what you're putting in your body.
And how long? If you've been on it over a year, then you may want to go to a different type of medication that helps.
(21:30):
That's called a histamine 2 receptor. Histamine 2 receptor. That also helps with heartburn and reflux and gas and bloating and that kind of thing.
It can also be used as an adjunct for poison ivy if you get into poison ivy because it is a histamine 2 blocker. Histamine 1 blockers are for allergies, but histamine 2 blocks stomach acid more prominent.
(22:07):
The histamine 2 also blocks histamine 1. So, Fomotidine or peptid is very familiar.
Renantidine used to be out there, that was Zantac, but they took that off the market because it caused a lot of stomach cancers.
(22:30):
Gaviscon is really good for an intermediate medication because it makes a foam barrier at night time that will help block that acid from creeping up and going up to the throat.
(22:51):
So, in conclusion, what should you have gotten from today's episode? Number one, if you're having any type of chest pain, go to the ER.
Any type of chest pain, go to the ER. Younger or old, stop saying you have gas before you get evaluated. Number two, things to prevent reflux.
(23:26):
Some things to prevent reflux are watching out for spicy foods.
Eating and laying down within three hours of eating, having onions, having a lot of tomato-based foods, after-dinner mints, citric juices, and smoking.
(23:56):
Number three, some causes of reflux are being obese, wearing tight-fitting clothes over the abdomen because what it tends to do is press the stomach by giving the abdomen negative pressure, which pops that cardiac sphincter or that sphincter at the top of your stomach pops it open
(24:22):
and causes stomach acid to reflux back up into the esophagus.
Delayed stomach emptying, that can be a problem, which I told you can be brought on by using those GLP-1 medications. Pregnancy, and there is a connective tissue disorder called scleroderma that can also be a problem.
(24:56):
Three types of medications that you can use for this problem is proton-pump inhibitors such as prilosec, nexium, asepax, and protonics.
The other is histamine-2 blockers, pepsid or femotidine. Those are over-the-counter. Basically, there are proton-pump inhibitors over-the-counter, too, nexium and omeprazole or prilosec.
(25:36):
And gaviscon. Now, gaviscon, you have to get that on Amazon to get the one that has the algamon, which makes the phone barrier. You have to get that through Amazon.
You can't write it. Your doctor can write it as a script, but it has to be made by a compounding pharmacy. They usually tell you when I'm working, I usually tell my patients to just go ahead and get it through Amazon.
(26:08):
And that is actually cheaper if you do it that way. So, hopefully, you have gleaned a lot of information to help you with your reflux or problems with your stomach.
I need to tell you, if you are having any chest pain, please, I adore you, go to the ER. I can't stress that enough.
(26:45):
Hopefully, your horizons have been enlightening.
(27:15):
.
Welcome to Body In Balance Podcast.
(00:12):
I am your host, Charlotte Johnson.
The Certificate Licensed Physician Assistant sent here to kick some knowledge your way
once a week for the purpose of educating, informing and enlightening this audience
concerning physical, spiritual and emotional aspects of our bodies in relation to our Creator.
(00:44):
The one, the only, the true and living God, YAH, YAH, He is the King of Kings.
I'm an old Lord of Lords.
Let us give it up for YAH way.
All right, we're going to get started because there's a lot of important information that I would like to share with my audience on today.
(01:18):
Heartburn versus heart attack.
Heartburn versus heart attack.
It is paramount that we know the difference.
And until you do know the difference, you need to be evaluated by a trained license professional.
(01:42):
You cannot just assume that you have heartburn.
So that being said, we're going to start out with a video about the stomach so that you can know in relation to your heartburn.
In relation to your heart, where the stomach is and why it is so important to know this because you will know whether you're having a heart attack.
(02:13):
You cannot know whether you're having a heart attack or whether it's just reflux.
What exactly happens in our stomachs when we eat?
(02:34):
Even before we have taken the first bite of a meal, the brain sends impulses to the stomach.
These impulses start the production of secretions in the stomach and the upper part of the stomach, which acts as a reservoir, expands.
The food passes into the stomach through the cardio at the stomach entrance.
This is a muscle that acts like a valve closing the top of the stomach.
(02:59):
This area where you see the closing and the opening, the heart lies right in front of that area.
This area here is called the cardiac sphincter. You'll see that in the video.
Part of the stomach, the fundus, is where food and the air that we swallow with every bite is collected.
(03:25):
This is where the stomach volume starts to adapt.
The fundus is an extremely adaptable structure. The more food goes into the stomach, the more it actively expands.
In the middle part of the stomach, called the body, gastric juice is produced and mixed with a mass of chewed food.
The main component of gastric juice is gastric acid.
(03:48):
This eliminates bacteria in the food and also helps to prepare the food for the following stages of digestion.
The muscular contractions of the stomach wall churn the food mass and mix it with gastric juice.
Three contractions per minute move the food mass back and forth.
After a certain time, the contents of the stomach are adequately broken down and mixed and are passed in small quantities into the intestine via the pylorus.
(04:16):
As the stomach empties, it gradually returns to its previous size.
Great. So with this, we see exactly how the stomach moves. And as I discussed with you, you saw the cardiac sphincter where the food drops into the stomach.
(04:49):
It sits directly behind the heart.
Now we're talking about reflux.
Reflux can tend to make you have chest pain.
So what is GERD?
(05:11):
GERD is gastric esophageal.
Reflux disease.
And this occurs when stomach acid frequently flows backwards as it showed in the video.
And I talked to you about the cardiac sphincter.
Food can sometimes go backwards as this is portraying in this video here where the green is coming back up.
(05:39):
And those arrows are pointing up.
When it starts to go backwards, then you have the problems with your stomach from the acid.
The pH in the stomach is somewhere around 1.5 to 3.5. That means it's very acidic.
(06:01):
So God has these awesome little filters that are inside the stomach that helps to protect that tissue on the inside.
It works all the way up to about 1 third of the esophagus.
When you get past that 1 third area, if you were to make a fist, put it on the left side of your stomach right under your diaphragm, right by your lung.
(06:32):
And then you take your thumb and put it right between your breastbone, right between your breast.
That part, that one third of your stomach, that can handle that stomach acid.
That's 1.5 to 3.5 in pH.
(06:54):
When it starts to get higher than that, that's when you have chest pain.
When it gets into the back of the throat, you'll start to have sore throats.
You don't feel sick like a reflux. It doesn't feel like a strep throat, but it feels like acid is burning.
(07:17):
If you have that symptom and you're experiencing those symptoms, you need to see your doctor.
That cardiac sphincter, like I said, keeps the stomach acid in the stomach.
Once food drops down there, it closes up. Kind of like those, if you track with me, when you used to go to the bank as a child, they would give you these little coin purses and you could squeeze them.
(07:47):
And the little slit would open up and you could put your coins in there.
That's the way that cardiac sphincter works.
So when that is closed, it holds that acid in there and doesn't let it go up higher.
We'll talk about what happens when you do certain things that tend to make that cardiac sphincter stay open.
(08:17):
If you're experiencing reflux more than twice a week, you really should see your physician about that.
Now, GERD, this is going to talk about a little bit how the stomach works.
So you have here the loop around the darker pink loop around. That's your large intestines.
(08:45):
The middle part of your stomach inside that loop around is that's your small intestine.
This pouch here is your stomach.
Above that is the esophagus and the heart fits right in this area where the esophagus ends going into the stomach.
(09:11):
So that's why you can have things like chest pain.
So how the stomach works, we just looked at that video.
Medications tend to help with this such as Tums and Pepsid, Prilosec, Femotidine.
We'll talk about all these later.
Eating smaller meals tends to help with this.
(09:34):
An avoidance of excessive caffeine, spicy foods, eating and laying down within three hours,
having after-dinner mints, peppermint, and chocolates.
A lot of times people don't know these things and they do them.
How many times do you eat a large meal at Outback or one of the big steak houses
(09:59):
and they have after-dinner mints sitting right there on the way out of the door.
There's a toothpick and an after-dinner mint.
Well, that's a huge setup for reflux or having stomach acid problems.
What will happen if you've had that big meal and it was eight or nine o'clock by the time you get home,
(10:25):
you're probably going to prepare to go to bed and you'll go to bed within that three-hour time period,
which tends to give you problems with reflux.
What other things can cause GERD?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
(10:46):
Pregnancy, obesity, or having a large abdomen.
Connective tissue disorder, such as scleroderma.
That's a whole other episode that we're going to talk about deep in the line,
but we're going to discuss that in more detail.
(11:13):
Delayed stomach emptying.
Now, you remember from a few episodes ago, I talked to you about the GLP-1,
the GLP-1 medications that help with weight loss and obesity.
They also tend to slow down stomach digestion and the emptying of it.
(11:36):
Having a hiatal hernia or bulging at the top of the stomach.
So if you look at this picture and you can see where the esophagus was,
right there, it leads into the stomach, the top portion of the stomach.
That would push through the diaphragm, which is what covers the lungs.
(12:00):
It would push through that area and that's where you get a hiatal hernia.
So let's talk about GERD.
We're going to look at a slide at this time.
(12:22):
Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, is a condition that causes the burning sensation known as heartburn.
When you swallow, food passes down your throat and through your esophagus or food tube to your stomach.
A muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter controls the opening between the esophagus and the stomach.
(12:51):
This muscle remains tightly closed except when you swallow food.
When the sphincter fails to close, the acid containing contents of the stomach can travel back up into the esophagus.
This backward movement is called reflux.
When stomach acid enters the lower part of the esophagus, it can produce a burning sensation commonly referred to as heartburn.
(13:16):
Several factors might explain why this reflux action occurs.
The most important are the following.
The position of your body after eating.
An upright posture helps prevent reflux.
The size of the meal.
Smaller meals reduce reflux.
The nature of the foods you eat and drink, certain substances that irritate the esophagus or weaken the sphincter can cause reflux.
(13:44):
Great.
So much of what I had talked about was reiterated in the video.
Some common signs and symptoms that you need to know.
These are things that you need to know when you should go to the ER.
(14:06):
A burning sensation in your chest, usually after eating, which might be worse at night, most likely is heartburn.
However, I have seen many friends who have thought they were having just heartburn and they were literally having a heart attack.
(14:29):
Now, most people between the ages of 19 and 25 or 30 can go to the ER and they will evaluate you.
They'll ask you a bunch of questions. They're normally going to want to know, are you, have you been drinking?
(14:54):
Have you been doing any drugs, illicit drugs and that kind of thing.
Once they question you, they'll probably get a chest x-ray and they may or may not do an EKG.
If you're in your 30s to 40s, most likely they're going to get a chest x-ray and an EKG.
(15:21):
If you are in your 50s, the first thing they're going to do is get an EKG.
Now, with people that are younger, it's less likely that you're having a heart attack, but there, you can.
(15:42):
With people that are more chronologically matured, they're going to err on the side of caution and get an EKG,
get a chest x-ray and cardiac enzymes to be sure that you are not having a heart attack.
If they're not being that proactive about this, you make sure that they do.
(16:07):
Ask for a chest x-ray because African American women and women who are obese tend to have more cardiac problems than normal.
Men in their 40s, especially African American men, and if you're a smoker, you need to be evaluated for a heart attack.
(16:37):
That has to be ruled out before you go home.
I'm going to say that again. It has to be ruled out before you go home because the chest pain from a heart attack and the chest pain from heartburn cannot be distinguished right away,
(17:03):
not without an appropriate workup.
So, having problems with difficulty swallowing, bringing food back up and having a sour taste in your mouth, a sour taste,
and a sort throat, chronic sort throat, a sensation of a lump in your throat,
(17:28):
horse-ness, intermittent horse-ness, and shortness of breath when you're talking, especially preachers, when you're trying to preach and your voice sounds raspy.
I know it may sound cool to have that raspy voice, but you should have that checked out to make sure it's not a problem with reflux.
(17:51):
We do plenty of that in the ENT field.
We take an endoscopy. We go through the nose down into the throat and look at the vocal cord area to see if there has been damage to your cords,
(18:16):
to the opening of your esophagus, the top portion of your esophagus. All of that can be looked at through ear, nose, and throat,
which is what an otolaryngology, PA, nurse practitioner, or physician would do.
That's what I do all day, every day, dealing with horse-ness, intermittent shortness of breath, people that have a sensation of something stuck in their throat.
(18:48):
We look at that. If we don't find anything, now sometimes you do. You're going to see swelling of your arachnoids,
or the cricoid tissue that makes up the larynx, or your throat, vocal cord, voice box.
(19:13):
We will see that. We will see gastric secretions in the base of the tongue, or at the base of the tongue.
These are all signs that something's going on that we would have to treat.
Now, I led up to it by saying we would have to treat it. Well, how do you treat it?
(19:37):
Ms. Johnson, that's a great question. You use proton pump inhibitors, which they help with heartburn, healing, peptic ulcers.
They help with horse-ness. They'll help with that globus sensation, or the sensation that there's something thick in your, or swelling sensation in the back of your throat.
(20:05):
Those medicines are called prilosec, or nexium, or as effects, or protonics. I'm sure many of you have heard about them.
Proton pump inhibitors. While we're there, let me give you a little insight on these medications. They are great, but I am of the school that they can cause bone thinning,
(20:32):
especially in women over 55, men over 75. You want to be careful that you haven't been on these medications for greater than a year.
The other thing that has been noted, I did some research and the jury still out on it, does prilosec, nexium, as effects, protonics, all of these type of proton pump inhibitors, does it cause dementia?
(21:08):
There are some studies that say that it does, but there are some studies that are inconclusive. You need to be your own judge on that. Remember, I told you, know what you're putting in your body.
And how long? If you've been on it over a year, then you may want to go to a different type of medication that helps.
(21:30):
That's called a histamine 2 receptor. Histamine 2 receptor. That also helps with heartburn and reflux and gas and bloating and that kind of thing.
It can also be used as an adjunct for poison ivy if you get into poison ivy because it is a histamine 2 blocker. Histamine 1 blockers are for allergies, but histamine 2 blocks stomach acid more prominent.
(22:07):
The histamine 2 also blocks histamine 1. So, Fomotidine or peptid is very familiar.
Renantidine used to be out there, that was Zantac, but they took that off the market because it caused a lot of stomach cancers.
(22:30):
Gaviscon is really good for an intermediate medication because it makes a foam barrier at night time that will help block that acid from creeping up and going up to the throat.
(22:51):
So, in conclusion, what should you have gotten from today's episode? Number one, if you're having any type of chest pain, go to the ER.
Any type of chest pain, go to the ER. Younger or old, stop saying you have gas before you get evaluated. Number two, things to prevent reflux.
(23:26):
Some things to prevent reflux are watching out for spicy foods.
Eating and laying down within three hours of eating, having onions, having a lot of tomato-based foods, after-dinner mints, citric juices, and smoking.
(23:56):
Number three, some causes of reflux are being obese, wearing tight-fitting clothes over the abdomen because what it tends to do is press the stomach by giving the abdomen negative pressure, which pops that cardiac sphincter or that sphincter at the top of your stomach pops it open
(24:22):
and causes stomach acid to reflux back up into the esophagus.
Delayed stomach emptying, that can be a problem, which I told you can be brought on by using those GLP-1 medications. Pregnancy, and there is a connective tissue disorder called scleroderma that can also be a problem.
(24:56):
Three types of medications that you can use for this problem is proton-pump inhibitors such as prilosec, nexium, asepax, and protonics.
The other is histamine-2 blockers, pepsid or femotidine. Those are over-the-counter. Basically, there are proton-pump inhibitors over-the-counter, too, nexium and omeprazole or prilosec.
(25:36):
And gaviscon. Now, gaviscon, you have to get that on Amazon to get the one that has the algamon, which makes the phone barrier. You have to get that through Amazon.
You can't write it. Your doctor can write it as a script, but it has to be made by a compounding pharmacy. They usually tell you when I'm working, I usually tell my patients to just go ahead and get it through Amazon.
(26:08):
And that is actually cheaper if you do it that way. So, hopefully, you have gleaned a lot of information to help you with your reflux or problems with your stomach.
I need to tell you, if you are having any chest pain, please, I adore you, go to the ER. I can't stress that enough.
(26:45):
Hopefully, your horizons have been enlightening.
(27:15):
.
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