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(08) 6110 0570admin@pdchealthhub.com.auReflux is stomach contents rising back into your food pipe, and it is called GORD when it keeps happening. Our dietitians help you find your own triggers, and your GP decides on medicines and on endoscopy.
Reflux happens when stomach contents rise back into the oesophagus, the tube between your mouth and stomach. Occasional heartburn is common. When it happens more than twice a week it is called gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, or GORD.1 The usual cause is a lower oesophageal sphincter, the muscle ring at the top of the stomach, that does not close properly.1 Heartburn and regurgitation are the main symptoms, and reflux can also cause a night cough, hoarseness, a lump in the throat feeling and tooth damage.1
The measures with the clearest place are practical ones: smaller and more frequent meals, finishing your evening meal two to three hours before bed or exercise, staying upright after eating, raising the head of the bed, sleeping on your left side, losing weight if you carry extra, and stopping smoking.1,2 Trigger foods are listed as possible, not universal, and healthdirect is explicit that people react differently, so there is no case for cutting out coffee, citrus, tomato, chocolate and spice all at once.2 A dietitian helps you test them one at a time.
Medicines sit with your GP. Antacids, H2 blockers and proton pump inhibitors are the options, and a proton pump inhibitor is usually prescribed for four to eight weeks and then reduced to the lowest dose that works, because long term use is not recommended.1 Australian general practice guidance says use beyond eight weeks is rarely indicated, and that stepping down or stopping should be planned rather than abrupt.3 Difficulty swallowing, vomiting blood, black or bloody stools, anaemia or weight loss change the plan: those point to endoscopy.3,4
PHOTO NEEDED · Add a Hero Image to this condition in the CMS: a PDC clinician with a client, natural light, no identifiable health information on screen
Symptoms are a guide, not a diagnosis. Your GP confirms the diagnosis; our team helps you manage it day to day.
The teams and services that most often support people with this condition. They work from one shared plan, and one GP referral reaches all of them.
This page follows Australian guidance: healthdirect Australia's GORD information, and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' Australian Journal of General Practice guidance on deprescribing proton pump inhibitors.
Not automatically. Coffee is on the list of possible triggers, but healthdirect is clear that people react differently, so the useful step is testing it rather than assuming. We change one thing at a time and keep what makes no difference to you.
That is your GP's decision, not ours. A proton pump inhibitor is usually prescribed for four to eight weeks and then reduced to the lowest effective dose, because long term use is not recommended. Australian general practice guidance says use beyond eight weeks is rarely indicated, and that coming off works better tapered or taken as needed than stopped abruptly.
An endoscopy is considered when symptoms do not improve with medicine, when there may be another cause, or when there is a risk of complications. Warning features include trouble swallowing, vomiting blood, black or bloody stools, anaemia and unplanned weight loss, and your GP or specialist arranges the test. Vomiting blood or black tarry stools need an emergency department straight away rather than an appointment, while difficulty swallowing and unplanned weight loss need your GP the same day.
Yes, and even a small amount helps if you are carrying extra weight. Our dietitians and exercise physiologists work on that together, and we time activity so exercise does not trigger symptoms. Finishing your evening meal two to three hours before you exercise or go to bed is part of the same plan.
No, but they are linked. A hiatus hernia is one of the things that raises the risk of reflux, and surgery is sometimes considered when a hernia is present or when severe symptoms do not respond to medicine. Diagnosis and any decision about surgery sit with your GP and specialist.
Tell us what is going on and we will point you to the right discipline, or to more than one. Most people start with a single appointment and leave with a plan the rest of the team can see.
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