It has been calculated that in western countries at least one person in five suffers from symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux at least once a week.
The classic symptoms are retrosternal burning and regurgitation of acid material in the throat, which occur more often at night or after meals. These symptoms alone can reach such an intensity that they become truly debilitating, causing nocturnal disturbances that seriously alter the quality of sleep, as well as limitations in daily activities.
There is also a series of disorders, so-called "atypical" that can arise as an accompaniment or, more subtly, appear alone: laryngitis and chronic hoarseness, a coughing constipation (in the absence of other ascertained causes), asthma, palpitations, eructations, pharyngitis and sore persistent and unexplained throat, dental erosions . In this case it is fundamental to think of reflux as a possible cause of disorders that would otherwise remain unexplained.
Diagnosis of gastritis
The diagnosis of reflux is mainly clinical, which is based on the presence of the symptoms we have seen. Only in some cases it is necessary to carry out a gastroscopy (more advanced age, weight loss, dysphagia, epigastric pain, smoking, familiarity for ulcers or tumors of the digestive tract). However, gastroscopy is often normal or only shows a hernia jatale, or a rise (usually modest) of the stomach above the diaphragm.
Since at least 60% of patients do not have esophagitis or erosions on gastroscopy, this type of reflux was classified without mucosal alterations as a subgroup of self-disease (NERD: non erosive reflux disease). Other tests that can show reflux are the 24-hour pH and manometry that show acid reflux and lower esophageal sphincter tone reductions during 24 hours.
Therapy against gastritis
Therapy is based primarily on changes in lifestyle and nutrition such as quitting smoking, reducing the consumption of caffeine, alcohol, acidic foods and avoiding excessively high fat meals. It can also be useful to maneuver how to lift the headboard with the risers under the feet, in order to reduce nighttime reflux.
Standard therapy normally uses so-called pump inhibitors, drugs that act by suppressing acid secretion from the stomach. However, 20% to 30% of people with reflux do not respond to these drugs or respond only partially. The causes may be the presence of alkaline reflux or an altered sensitivity to acid. The therapeutic alternative for these patients is surgery.
Acupuncture against gastritis
Acupuncture is used successfully in reflux disease. This medical technique acts at various levels, both with a targeted action on the continence of the cardia, on acid secretion of the stomach and on gastric and esophageal motility, and with a general rebalancing action that regulates states of stress and systemic inflammation that are often at the basis of the persistence or resistance of symptoms.
Clinical studies have shown that even in patients resistant to standard therapy with pump-inhibiting drugs , acupuncture is effective, with resolution of symptoms greater than that obtained by doubling the dose of the drug .
In many cases, acupuncture can reduce or even suspend drugs for long periods.
The acupuncture cycle is always preceded by an interview and a view that identify the specific situation of the person and the type of imbalance present according to the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Therapy is therefore always individualized. The sessions can be weekly or bi-weekly depending on the intensity of the disturbances and the cycle can comprise 8-10 sessions on average.
Often, being a chronic condition, it is then useful to do a maintenance with a booster session every 30-40 days for a few more months, or short booster cycles in periods of seasonal deterioration (spring and autumn).
