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[email protected] CEU PROVIDER Florida Board of Acupuncture 50-2489-1 NCCAOM ACHB-038 CALIFORNIA CEP 722 Acid Reflux More than 60 million Americans experience heartburn at least once a month and some studies have suggested that more than 15 million Americans experience heartburn symptoms each day. (American College of Gastroenterology ). Acid reflux disease is described as heartburn 2 or more days a week despite treatment and diet change. Acid reflux disease is caused by reflux of stomach acid into the esophagus. In most patients this is due to a transient relaxation of the "gate" or sphincter (LES) that keeps the lower end of the esophagus closed when a person is not swallowing food or liquids. This transient relaxation happens a few times each day in people without acid reflux disease. The esophagus is not able to cope with acid as well as the stomach and is easily injured. It's the acid refluxing into the esophagus that produces the symptoms and potentially damages the esophagus. GERD can masquerade as other diseases Increasingly, we are becoming aware that the irritation and damage to the esophagus from continual presence of acid can prompt an entire array of symptoms other than simple heartburn. Experts recognize that often the role of acid reflux has been overlooked as a potential factor in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic cough, hoarseness and asthma-like symptoms. In some instances, patients have never reported heartburn, and in others the potential causal link between reflux and the onset of these so-called “extra-esophageal manifestations” has not been fully recognized.