UCI Health interventional gastroenterologist Dr. Kenneth Chang, director of the H.H. Chao Comprehensive Digestive Disease Center, and gastrointestinal surgeon Dr. Brian Smith recently went live on Facebook to answer your questions about gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Questions included:
- What is GERD?
- What nonsurgical treatments are available?
- Are there surgical treatments for GERD?
- Is it a good idea to use proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) long-term?
"Everybody has a little bit of GERD. That's considered normal," says Smith. "But a lot of patients suffer from an excessive amount of acid washing back up and they have a variable amount of symptoms as a result."
Those symptoms can include:
- Heartburn
- Food regurgitation
- Sour taste in mouth
- Hoarseness, voice changes
- Chronic cough
- Sinus problems
Watch the Facebook Live
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