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From: CKP
Date: 11/02/01
Time: 22:12:52 -0600
"Reflux" is when the stomach contents splash back out of the stomach into the esophagus. Even healthy people have some reflux during the course of the day--I think up to 4% of the time is considered normal.
Those of us who say that we "have reflux" really mean that we have reflux more than normal. Or that the refluxate (the stuff we are sloshing up) is particularly harmful. "Esophagitis" is damage to the esophagus caused by reflux, but about half of patients who experience discomfort due to reflux do not have esophagitis.
Most medications "work" by making the stomach contents less acidic, so that less damage is done to the esophagus when it sloshes up. The downside is that our stomach contents are SUPPOSED to be acidic. When we mess with that balance, one might become susceptible to bacterial overgrowth or have digestion problems.
On the other hand, mechanical procedures such as surgery, endocinch, etc., actually stop the reflux itself, so that the content of the stomach is not altered.
(I was one of those that would reflux even with drinking water.)