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If you have acid reflux but still suffer with symptoms despite using medication, you may suffer from bile reflux. You can have both acid reflux and bile reflux, or you can have bile reflux only. Let's delve into it.

Symptoms of bile reflux include many of the same symptoms of acid reflux. They include:
upper abdominal pain or burning
nausea after eating
cough or sore throat if the bile reaches the upper esophagus
vomiting (may be yellow-green if it contains bile)
unresponsive to PPIs - this medication only decreases acid, not bile

Complications of bile reflux are also similar to acid reflux:
gastritis
Barrett's esophagus
increased risk of stomach and esophageal cancer

What's important to know about bile is that it's highly alkaline, on the opposite spectrum of the pH scale from stomach acid. However, it's like a detergent and when it's present in parts of the body where it shouldn't be, it breaks down cell membranes and mucus membranes, making it highly inflammatory and destructive. Hence its ability to cause the complications just reviewed.

Bile is produced in your liver, stored in your gallbladder and it is secreted into the upper small intestine. Those are its normal destinations. If bile enters the stomach, esophagus or throat however, it's going to cause major damage.

Causes of bile reflux include:
Gallbladder surgery
Weakened sphincter between the stomach and small intestine (duodenum) - this is due to ulcers, inflammation and/or vagus nerve irritation
Gastroparesis - slow stomach emptying. There are many causes for this such as: type 1 diabetes, vagus nerve malfunction, hiatal hernia surgery, gallbladder surgery, low thyroid, autoimmune disease, depression, anxiety, chronic reflux, chronic PPI use and SIBO.

Addressing bile reflux is extremely important because of its caustic damaging nature, its frequency of misdiagnosis as acid reflux, plus the danger of utilizing treatments that don't work.

In order to address the root cause one needs to optimize gut health, normalize inflammation, rebalance vagus nerve function, engage in a healthy diet and balance hormone function. Of course the root causes may vary individual to individual and you may require one or two of the above mentioned factors, but not the others. That is why all our programs are customized to each person. We'll identify what needs to be done for you.

If you've been suffering with these symptoms and want to resolve them rather than band-aiding them with drugs, we'd be happy to help. The best next step is to contact us for a consultation and then we can determine if what we do is a good fit for you. Call 727-335-0400.

#bile #acidreflux #rootcausemedicine