Esophagitis is an inflammation of the esophagus, or rather, its mucous membranes. You cannot leave esophagitis without treatment! However, the question is how exactly to treat. Read this article and you will get some idea about it. By the way, this article is about treatment, you are unlikely to learn anything about the symptoms here.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Common Treatments for Esophagitis Symptoms
The treatment plan for esophagitis is developed based on the cause of the disease. However, different types of treatment have one thing in common - you will probably want to relieve constant pain while the disease has not yet receded.
Step 1. Eat less food that irritates the esophagus
These include spicy and acidic foods, alcohol and caffeine. You need to eat soft, not hard and crunchy, bite off small pieces and chew everything extremely thoroughly.
Acidic foods include citrus fruits, tomatoes, eggs, cheese, most meats, and legumes
Step 2. Eat plenty of fiber-rich foods
Buy fresh vegetables whenever possible. Wash them thoroughly, eat them raw, steamed or grilled. Fiber-rich vegetables act as a broom to sweep out toxins, harmful bacteria and fungi from your body. Eat more:
Cucumbers, asparagus, broccoli and spinach
Step 3. Eat plenty of yogurt
A minimum of 60 ml of yogurt 2-3 times a day will increase the number of beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract. It will be especially effective against fungi of the genus Candida, whose overgrowth leads to a disease known as "oral candidiasis".
Step 4. For at least half an hour after eating, maintain an upright position
If you have a dense snack, and then go to the side, then it will be more difficult for the stomach to digest food. And if your esophagus is also damaged by disease, then the chances that acid from the stomach will enter the esophagus (which will only aggravate the situation) will greatly increase.
Step 5. Take over-the-counter antacids until you get a prescription for a more serious remedy
These medications will ease the severity of your symptoms. For example, take Tums tablets - chew them slowly, 2-4 at a time (but no more than 15 per day).
Don't take over-the-counter pain relievers, they can make your condition worse. If the pain is too severe, see your doctor
Method 2 of 4: Treating Reflux Esophagitis
Step 1. Stop eating foods that provoke reflux
Acid reflux is often caused by eating foods that are also called provocateurs. Try cutting these foods out of your diet and see if your reflux situation improves. If you decide to try this method, you should not give up one product at a time, since there may be several provocative foods in your diet, and it will be difficult to understand what exactly is harming you. Better do this: give up all provocative foods for two weeks, then return one product to the diet every three days. Everything, after which reflux will appear, should be permanently deleted from the diet (or more than seriously limited).
Food provocateurs include caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, mint, tomatoes, oranges, spicy and fatty foods
Step 2. Take over-the-counter antireflux drugs
Yes, acid reflux can be treated with antacids (Tums or Pepto-Bismol), but they should not be used on a regular basis as they can have serious side effects. Chronic acid reflux, which can also lead to esophagitis, should be treated with two types of over-the-counter medications:
- The first type: H2 blockers, histamine antagonists. These drugs include Pepcid AC (up to 2 tablets of 10 mg per day), Axid AR (up to two tablets of 150 mg in 24 essences) and Zantac 75 (up to two doses of 150 mg each in tablets or syrup per day).
- Second type: proton pump inhibitors. These include drugs such as Prevacid (one 15 or 30 mg tablet a day; 30 mg for esophagitis, 15 for reflux prophylaxis), Prilosec (one 20 mg tablet a day), and Zegerid. There are, of course, other drugs, but they are all prescription drugs.
Step 3. Keep track of how long you have been taking these medications
If you take them for two weeks or more, be sure to tell your doctor about it. If reflux still bothers you after changing your diet and taking medications, then it's time to clarify your diagnosis, and for this you need to see a doctor.
Method 3 of 4: Treating Medication Esophagitis
Step 1. Take your medicine with a full glass of water
If you suffer from drug-induced esophagitis, then you need to drink a glass of water with each pill. Sometimes the cause of the disease lies in the fact that the pill, or rather, its active substance, seems to “get stuck” in the esophagus and irritate it, and does not go straight into the stomach.
Step 2. Talk with your doctor if another medicine can be found for you
If water does not help, then you need to stop taking that medicine and look for another. However, you can stop taking the medicine only with the permission of the doctor.
Step 3. Stop taking over-the-counter pain relievers
Taking aspirin or NSAIDs on a regular basis and suffering from esophagitis only makes yourself worse. Stop taking pain relievers. Talk to your healthcare provider to develop a plan for phasing out these medications (abrupt cessation may make you feel unwell). Also discuss the symptoms you are experiencing while taking these medications, it may be possible to clarify both the diagnosis and the treatment plan.
Do not take iron supplements for esophagitis. Talk with your doctor about another way to keep your iron levels normal
Method 4 of 4: Treat Eosinophilic or Infectious Esophagitis
Step 1. Take oral steroid medication to treat eosinophilic esophagitis
In this case, the culprit is an allergic reaction to food, due to which the esophagus becomes inflamed. Accordingly, your task is to understand what you are allergic to and no longer. For example, stop eating dairy, soy, wheat, dairy, and peanut for two weeks, and then gradually and one at a time, introduce the foods back into the diet. Then it became bad - allergic to that.
Removing one food at a time from your diet is a bad idea, as it will only make it difficult to identify allergy-provoking foods
Step 2. Conduct allergy tests
For the treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis, allergy tests are almost mandatory if you do not want to conjure over the diet. Allergy tests will quickly identify anything you are allergic to. This is a skin test in which your hand is lightly scratched in several places and various allergens are applied to the scratch, after which doctors will study the reaction of your immune system.
Step 3. Treatment for infectious esophagitis
In this case, the treatment depends on which microorganism caused the infection.
- If the culprit is candida fungi, then fluconazole or echinocandin is prescribed. Again, it all depends on the specific type of fungus and the patient, as well as his allergies, diseases, and other factors.
- For viral esophagitis, acyclovir, famciclovir and valacyclovir are prescribed - and also individually.