GERD and Sleep Apnea, eloquently explained to me by Dr. Mack Jones: "Here is the way I understand it. When you obstruct your upper airway lying in bed asleep, you continue to struggle to get a breath. The diaphragm pulls downward and the chest wall muscles pull outward creating a large negative pressure inside the chest. Since the esophagus can open to the stomach, gastric contents are sucked up into the esophagus and because you are in a horizontal position, these fluids are easily drawn all the way up into the throat.
From here they can be inhaled into the lungs, causing bronchitis or pneumonia, hence the chronic cough. Gastric contents in the throat extend up into the eustachian tubes and sinuses causing ear and sinus infections. So, treating OSA can alleviate GERD and it's serious consequences."
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