Someone's with symptoms they think are related to GERD or acid reflux may wonder "Is GERD dangerous?" There is a tendency for many people to think "Oh, it's just heartburn. I'll just take some antacid and live with it."
While that attitude may be appropriate for someone who has mild symptoms very occasionally, it can lead to problems, even very serious problems, for others. Here are three things to look for to indicate that you definitely should get medical evaluation rather than take the live with it approach.
The first thing to consider is the severity of the pain and discomfort. While it's not a 100% correlation, more severe episodes of reflux do tend to cause more severe discomfort.
The second thing to consider is the frequency of symptoms. If symptoms only occur every several months when you overdo things at a party, that's not as serious as when symptoms occur on a daily or even more frequent basis.
Remember that the symptoms of GERD are caused by acid backing up from the stomach into the esophagus. It is doing damage every time it happens. Therefore the more frequently you're having symptoms the more frequently the esophagus is being injured by the acid. That injury can lead to rather severe complications.
The complications can include bleeding, scarring, difficulty swallowing and eventually even changes in the nature of the cells lining the esophagus. This eventually can lead to a cancer.
Cancer of the esophagus is one of the more severe forms of cancer. It has a very low cure rate even with appropriate treatment. It's definitely something you don't want to get.
A third serious sign to look for and that should lead someone to seek medical treatment is if they have respiratory symptoms associated with their GERD. These symptoms can include asthma, wheezing, coughing or recurrent colds and bronchitis.
The respiratory symptoms occur because in some people of these reflux can be so severe the acid actually backs up all the way to the top of the esophagus and spills over into the windpipe. Obviously, having acid splash into your larynx windpipe and lungs isn't a good thing.
One other thing to keep in mind, is that symptoms that appear to be due to Gerd are always. Heart disease is notorious for masquerading as GERD. A lot of people had died because they attribute their discomfort to "indigestion" and didn't seek medical evaluation.
I think with any health issue it's always a good idea to educate yourself as much as possible. Many times this will give you a clearer understanding of the situation before you see your physician. It'll be easier for you to understand your physicians explanations and you'll be able to ask more appropriate questions.
A good source for information is: Treat Acid Reflux
Treat acid reflux now you may particularly be interested in their page: Is GERD Dangerous?
The main thing is not to assume that Gerd and reflux are always trivial problems that you should just live with. As always if you have any doubt it's better to be safe than sorry and get a medical evaluation rather than ignoring symptoms.