Can Quitting Smoking Reduce GERD Symptoms?

Heartburn, or acid reflux, is that troublesome burning sensation in your chest due to rising gastric acid.

When you experience this condition on a chronic basis, it’s possible that you have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). If you smoke, you may be increasing the risk that you’ll develop GERD.

GERD isn’t just a painful nuisance. It’s also the chief risk factor for esophageal adenocarcinoma, a cancer type. If you’re looking for a reason to quit smoking and treat your GERD, keep reading to find out more.

From tobacco to cannabis, there are a lot of ways and substances that people smoke. Here’s a rundown of some of the major types and their potential effects on acid reflux.

Doctors have proposed a few potential reasons why people who smoke report a higher incidence of heartburn or acid reflux.

• Smoking reduces lower esophageal sphincter (LES) pressure. The LES is the protective closure that keeps acid in the stomach and out of your esophagus. When the LES pressure is reduced, the acid can more easily creep up and cause heartburn.
• Smoking tobacco reduces the amount of bicarbonate present in the saliva. Bicarbonate is an acid-neutralizing compound.
• Smoking can increase levels of inflammation in the body. Doctors have connected increased levels of inflammation with greater risks for GERD as well as Barrett’s esophagus, a condition that can lead to esophageal cancer.

There isn’t a lot of research that points to cannabis as a GERD or acid reflux cause. However, some animal studies have found that cannabis use has some positive effects in regards to reducing acid reflux, including reduced gastric acid secretion.

Cannabis can also be used to increase appetite and calm the stomach, but this isn’t to say those who smoke or use cannabis have no stomach problems. Some people who smoke cannabis experience an uncommon condition called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, which causes severe vomiting.

Because vaping is fairly new, there isn’t as much research on its effects related to GERD.

However, there is a smaller study from Indonesia that found a positive correlation between vaping and regurgitation, but a negative correlation to GERD.

While there isn’t very much research about waterpipe smoking and GERD, one study found that women who smoke a waterpipe were more likely to have GERD. The study’s authors didn’t find a connection between men who smoked a waterpipe and increased GERD risk.

The authors theorized this is because women tend to smoke a waterpipe in greater numbers compared to men. However, they weren’t able to determine an exact reason why women experienced GERD related to smoking more than men.

There’s a few rumors out on the Internet that quitting smoking can actually make GERD worse instead of better, but as we’ve discussed, this isn’t the case.

One study of 141 former smokers found that 43.9 percent reported less GERD 1 year after quitting. For the control group of smokers who didn’t quit, the acid reflux symptoms didn’t improve over time. The researchers recommended that patients with significant GERD quit smoking as a way to reduce their symptoms.

If the onset of your GERD symptoms has coincided with quitting smoking, it likely has a different cause that you should investigate with your doctor.

While quitting smoking should help you reduce your acid reflux symptoms, there are other treatments and home remedies that can help as well. These include the following tips:

• Avoid foods known to worsen your symptoms, such as alcohol, coffee, chocolate, fatty foods, mint, or spicy foods.
• Take steps to exercise and manage your weight.
• Take medications to reduce your symptoms. These include antacids, h3 blockers (like cimetidine or famotidine), and proton pump inhibitors (like lansoprazole and omeprazole).
• Elevate your head after you eat (or elevating the head of your bed when sleeping). This keeps acid from going upward.
• Stop eating at least 3 hours before you go to bed.

If your GERD persists, talk with your doctor. You may need different treatments to reduce your symptoms.

Getting help

If you smoke, one of the ways you can relieve heartburn is to quit. Understandably, this can be difficult, but you don’t have to go it alone. Here are some steps you can take to get started:

• Calling a quitline. If you call 1-800-QUIT-NOW, you can speak to a person specially trained in helping you quit smoking.
• Consider using medications to help you quit. You can purchase over-the-counter nicotine replacements or see your doctor about prescription quit-smoking medications (this is especially helpful if you have tried to quit in the past and relapsed).
• Create a quit plan. This should include the date you’re going to quit, methods you’ll use, who you’ll call if you’re tempted to relapse, and telling friends and family who can support you.

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Smoking tobacco likely worsens your acid reflux symptoms and GERD. Keeping this in mind, it’s a good reason to quit. In addition to stopping smoking, making dietary changes and managing weight can also help reduce painful acid reflux symptoms.

Your doctor can help you create a smoking cessation plan and reduce acid reflux symptoms.

Is Smoking Making My Acid Reflux Worse? — Tampa Bay Reflux Center

As we discuss this blog topic, it’s important to keep in mind that smoking is a lifestyle factor that affects reflux, but it also affects much more than this. If you or a loved one smokes, it’s likely that you or they are aware of all of the complications of smoking. Let’s focus solely on smoking as acid reflux and GERD agitators, keeping in mind that untreated GERD can lead to conditions like esophageal cancer, Barrett’s esophagus, and more. In this post, we will answer questions like does nicotine increase stomach acid, does smoking weaken your esophagus, and does acid reflux go away after quitting smoking?

Does Smoking Affect Acid Reflux?

Unfortunately, the compounds in cigarettes do affect the esophagus and the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), even though you aren’t technically swallowing the smoke. The effects that cigarette smoke has on the body are mainly systemic, causing widespread inflammation. Cigarette smoke also tends to reduce the acid-neutralizing properties of the saliva. This tends to contribute to esophageal irritation.

Does Nicotine Increase Stomach Acid?

Nicotine is the main compound responsible for your stomach woes while smoking. Once in the body, nicotine does a number of things that affect your ability to digest food properly:

• Nicotine increases stomach acid production

• Nicotine can cause bile to back up into your stomach

• Nicotine slows down digestion, complicating everything further

These factors alone can cause more acid reflux; combined, they may even be solely responsible for your GERD troubles.

Does Smoking Weaken Your Esophagus?

In a roundabout way, yes. Widespread inflammation and the decreased ability to reduce the acidity of swallowed foods all slowly contribute to the weakening of the esophagus. Prolonged irritation of any organ tends to lead to dangerous conditions like cancer, so it’s incredibly important to reduce inflammation and irritation where possible. Furthermore, the digestion issues caused by nicotine above can cause acid reflux – acid reflux itself can damage and weaken the esophagus, as well.

Does Acid Reflux Go Away After Quitting Smoking?

It’s difficult to answer this question for every individual. For patients whose GERD was caused solely by nicotine (and no permanent damage has occurred), complete remission could be possible. However, some smokers may have accrued permanent esophageal damage and damage to the LES that will need to be repaired for their symptoms to completely disappear.

How Do I Quit Smoking?

There’s a very good reason there’s a whole empire built around helping people quit smoking. Unfortunately, cigarette addiction can be crippling and feel impossible to overcome. As some general rules of thumb, distraction and other oral fixations will be your lifeline. You can try slowly weaning yourself or go “cold turkey.” Regardless, quitting smoking will be one of the most difficult, yet rewarding, things that you do in your life. 

Are There Other Benefits of Quitting?

As we hinted at in the beginning, quitting smoking is the single best thing you can do for your overall health. Smoking cessation will have the following effects on your health:

• Lower heart rate & blood pressure

• Better lung function, less coughing, and slower breathing patterns

• Greatly decreased heart disease risk

• Greatly decreased cancer risk

• Better overall physical hygiene

• Increased ability to taste and smell things

What Do I Do if My GERD Doesn’t Go Away?

If your acid reflux doesn’t completely cease after you quit smoking, first remember that there are other benefits that you have gained. Don’t let persistent heartburn convince you to regress. Acid reflux can be caused by many surprising things. That being said, there are things you can do to eliminate your heartburn for good. For example, here at the Tampa Bay Reflux Center, we offer reflux surgeries that can help you get your life back. To talk with a reflux specialist or to schedule an appointment right here in Tampa Bay, contact us today!

About the dangers of smoking Smoking is one of the most significant threats to human health.

According to the World Health Organization

Tobacco causes almost 7 million deaths each year, of which more than 6 million occur among users and ex-users of tobacco and more than 890,000 among non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke. If urgent action is not taken, the number of annual deaths by 2030 could exceed 8 million.

About the effects of smoking on the body

Tobacco smoking leads to addiction.

Smokers quickly become addicted to nicotine contained in tobacco leaves, which causes a strong desire to smoke again and again.

When a person tries to quit smoking, he or she may experience withdrawal symptoms, including:

• irritability
• decreased concentration
• sleep problems
• increased appetite
• strong craving for tobacco.

In addition to nicotine, a number of other hazardous chemicals are found in tobacco smoke, such as tar, radioactive polonium, arsenic, lead, bismuth, ammonia, and organic acids. Cases of acute poisoning with these substances are practically not observed due to the fact that they enter the body slowly, in doses, however, these substances lead to a gradual deterioration in health.

Burning 20 g of tobacco produces on average:

• 0.0012 g of hydrocyanic acid;
• About 0.0012 g of hydrogen sulfide;
• 0.22 g pyridine bases;
• 0.18 g nicotine;
• 0.64 g ammonia;
• 0.92 g carbon monoxide;
• Not less than 1 g of concentrate from liquid and solid products of combustion and dry distillation of tobacco

Many smokers think that smoking filter cigarettes are safe, but they are not. If absorbers and filters provided complete protection against harmful substances, then they would also absorb nicotine itself, in which case the effect of smoking would not be felt. Smokers of light cigarettes also find that smoking light cigarettes has minimal effects on the body.

The harm caused by smoking any cigarette is the same for all smokers.

In addition to the smoker himself, those around him also suffer – the so-called passive smokers.

Long-term smoking leads to diseases of various organs and systems.

What harm does tobacco use cause in general?

Smoking increases the risk of death from cancer and other diseases in cancer patients and healthy people.

Smoking can cause cancer in any organ:

• bladder
• blood (acute myeloid leukemia)
• cervix
• intestines
• esophagus
• kidneys and ureters
• larynx
• liver
• oral cavity (throat, tongue, soft palate and tonsils)
• pancreas
• stomach
• trachea, bronchus and lungs

Smoking damages the heart and circulation, increases the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease (damaged blood vessels) and cerebrovascular disease (damaged arteries that supply blood to the brain).

Carbon monoxide from smoke and nicotine increase the workload on the heart, making it work faster. They also increase the risk of blood clots.

In fact, smoking doubles the risk of heart attack, angina pectoris. Smokers have twice the risk of dying from coronary heart disease than non-smokers.

Smokers who smoke 5 cigarettes or less per day may have early signs of cardiovascular disease.

If you quit smoking

One year after quitting smoking – the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases is reduced by half , after 15 years the risk is similar to the risk of someone who has never smoked.

People who smoke have an increased risk of developing ulcers as well as stomach cancer.

Smoking can cause reflux – the reflux of stomach contents, in which case the acid from the stomach can move in the opposite direction – into the esophagus.

Smoking is an important risk factor for development kidney cancer , and the more years of smoking, the higher the risk.

Studies have shown that if you regularly smoke 10 cigarettes a day, then one and a half times more likely to develop kidney cancer than non-smokers. If a person smokes 20 or more cigarettes a day, the risk doubles.

Smoking causes premature aging of the skin by 10-20 years.

Stopping smoking prevents further deterioration of the skin condition caused by smoking.

Smoking can reduce bone mass and increase bone fragility. Women should be especially careful as they are more likely to develop osteoporosis than non-smokers.

Smoking increases the risk of stroke by 50%, which can lead to brain damage and death.

Smoking increases the risk of cerebral aneurysms. This is a bulging of a blood vessel caused by weakness in its wall. This condition can lead to subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is a type of stroke, and can cause extensive brain damage and death.

Within two years of quitting smoking, your risk of stroke will be halved, and within five years it will be the same as non-smokers.

Coughs, colds, wheezing and asthma are just the beginning. Smoking can lead to fatal diseases such as pneumonia, emphysema and lung cancer. Smoking causes 84% ​​of lung cancer deaths and 83% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) deaths.

COPD, a progressive and debilitating disease, is a general name for lung diseases including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. People with COPD have difficulty breathing, primarily due to narrowing of the airways and destruction of lung tissue. Typical symptoms of COPD include: shortness of breath when active, persistent cough with phlegm, and frequent chest infections.

The early signs of COPD are often referred to as “smoker’s cough”, but if people continue to smoke, the condition worsens, which can greatly affect their quality of life.

The most effective way to slow the progression of the disease is to stop smoking.

The most serious effect of smoking on the oral cavity is the risk of developing cancer of the lips, tongue, throat, larynx and esophagus. More than 93% of oropharyngeal cancers (cancer in the throat) are caused by smoking.

Smoking can also cause bad breath, discoloration of tooth enamel, inflammatory gum disease and taste disturbance.

Smoking can cause impotence in men because it damages the blood vessels that supply blood to the genitals. It can also affect the quality of the seminal fluid, reduce the number of spermatozoa, which will lead to infertility.

Smoking in women increases the risk of infertility and cervical cancer .

Smoking during pregnancy has a number of risks:

• premature birth
• miscarriage
• stillbirth
• low birth weight
• sudden infant death syndrome
• childhood diseases.

Prevention of the consequences caused by smoking

Tobacco prevention among the population is as follows:

• in cigarette price increase
• in compliance with age restrictions for the sale of cigarettes
• in promoting information about the dangers of smoking among adolescents, which they receive mainly on television, from billboards, during public events, from messages in newspapers, magazines, on the Internet, on radio, in cinemas.

The tasks of school staff in the prevention of smoking.

Teachers, health workers, school psychologists should instill in children and adolescents an understanding of the value of health and a healthy lifestyle. Smoking initiation should be prevented and smoking cessation promoted among those who already smoke. Early prevention is quite effective, because. tobacco addiction is not yet formed and there are no stereotypes of behavior.

Attention should be paid to the motivation for smoking in adolescents:

• curiosity
• example of adults and friends
• getting pleasure
• fear of being out of date, out of fashion
• fear of falling behind peers
• self-affirmation
• “support the company”
• “from nothing to do.”

Social factors affecting the prevalence of nicotine addiction among schoolchildren should be noted:

• ignoring sports
• Positive or indifferent attitude towards smoking in the family
• family conflicts
• conflicts at the place of study
• adaptation difficulties in high school

and biological factors:

• passive smoking
• drinking alcohol.

Physicians of all specialties should educate patients about the dangers of smoking and how to quit smoking.

In antenatal clinics, it is necessary to explain the dangers of smoking to pregnant and lactating mothers. Information can be presented orally, as well as in the form of posters.

Once you stop smoking, your health will improve and your body will begin to recover.

Know! Smoking shortens a man’s life by about 12 years and a woman’s life by about 11 years.

Every cigarette you smoke is bad!

more details at http://cgon.rospotrebnadzor.ru/content/62/2963

The dangers of smoking | Ministry of Health of the Chuvash Republic

Active and passive smoking increases the risk of developing many serious diseases, primarily oncological and cardiovascular diseases, as well as diseases of the respiratory system, brain, digestive system, the appearance of a person, especially skin and teeth, suffers.

Smoking in itself harms the health of the heart and blood vessels, since tobacco smoke contains a whole range of substances that are harmful – toxic to many organs and tissues, the main ones are: nicotine, carbon monoxide – CO, hydrogen cyanide, carcinogens (benzene, vinyl chloride , various “resins”, formaldehyde, nickel, cadmium, etc.).

Nicotine, for example, disrupts the tone of the vascular wall, contributing to its damage, spasms and the formation of blood clots in the blood vessels. Carbon monoxide combines with hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin, which blocks the transfer of oxygen to organs and tissues. In addition, the harmful components of tobacco smoke contribute to the development of such powerful risk factors as arterial hypertension, disorders in the system of cholesterol transfer to the walls of blood vessels, aggravating the deposition of cholesterol in them. As a result, the most dangerous complex of risk factors for the health of the heart and blood vessels, the so-called high total risk, is created.