According to a study mandated by a new Medicare law, data has come back saying that drugs can be just as effective as even surgery in managing the symptoms of Acid Reflux. This can affect many people, as it is estimated that sixty million Americans have acid reflux (GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease or GERD).

Acid reflux is known as when a person's stomach acid backs up into the esophagus and causes that heartburn feeling. Sometimes it can affect breathing and even cause a person to feel as is they are suffocating. If not treated, this may eventually lead to esophageal damage.

Many people have noticed a susceptability to certain, highly acid foods and often have to avoid these foods to minimize the effects of their acid reflux. If you get woken up in the middle of the night from Acid Reflux, keep a journal of the foods eaten and make note of those foods you ate in the previous 12 hours. Then start eliminating those foods from your diet and see if you sleep and breathe better.

Also... make sure to take the time to relax. Stress and Acid Reflux make for a bad combination and if you can't sleep at night, you'll just get more fatigued with each passing day.

The good news is that the recent data indicates that people with debilitating acid reflux have a choice between taking pills or surgery.

Here's some of the things they found in this recent stud

- With chronic GERD, over-the-counter medications (such as Zantac, Pepcid and Tagamet -- each with their own respected trademarks) are not as effective as proton pump inhibitors. But the proton pump inhibitors can have more side effects.

- The respected brands Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec OTC are all similar in the degree of effectiveness. And when compared to surgery, they seem to compare similarly in relieving the discomfort of GERD.

If you have acid reflux, the best thing to do is to seek help from your medical professional. You can get trusted advice and then make your own choice. And for some people, their acid reflux may be so severe that they'll need to have surgery and then follow up with medications to really get a handle on it.

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