A sore throat that won’t go away is behaving differently from an ordinary one, and the difference tells you something. Viral sore throats peak around day two or three and are gone inside a week. Strep throat responds to antibiotics within 48 hours. If you’re into week three, week …
Sore Throat That Won’t Go Away? Why It Could Be Silent Reflux Read More
If your throat feels tight — squeezed, closed, banded, like something is pressing in from the sides — the most common explanation in an otherwise healthy adult is not swelling at all. It’s your upper esophageal sphincter, the ring of muscle at the top of your food pipe, clamping …
Throat Feels Tight? Causes, Including Silent Reflux Read More
Some blood pressure medications can make acid reflux worse, and the ones most often implicated are calcium channel blockers and nitrates. The mechanism is real and well characterized: your lower esophageal sphincter is smooth muscle, its tone depends on calcium entering the muscle cells, and drugs that block that …
Blood Pressure Meds and Acid Reflux: Which Are Worse? Read More
Yes — low-dose aspirin can cause heartburn, reflux and direct damage to the stomach and esophagus, and the “low dose” part doesn’t protect you the way people assume. In a meta-analysis of 35 trials covering 87,581 people, doses between 75 mg and 325 mg a day raised the odds …
Yes, you can drink water with meals if you have reflux — but volume and pace matter far more than most advice admits, and the reason usually given for avoiding it is wrong. The popular claim is that water dilutes stomach acid and ruins digestion. It doesn’t, in any …
Drinking Water With Meals: Does It Make Reflux Worse? Read More
Yes — lying down after eating is bad for reflux, and it’s one of the few reflux “rules” where the mechanism is genuinely straightforward. When you’re upright, gravity holds stomach contents in the stomach and helps clear anything that does escape back down. When you lie flat, both of …
Is Lying Down After Eating Bad? What It Does to Reflux Read More