The medical term for acid reflux

GORD uses the British spelling oesophageal; GERD uses the American spelling esophageal. Both abbreviations describe the same condition. A single reflux episode is not automatically reflux disease.

Gastro-oesophageal reflux means stomach contents flow back into the oesophagus, the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach. The term disease is used when reflux causes troublesome repeated symptoms or complications such as inflammation of the oesophagus.

Heartburn is a symptom: a burning feeling behind the breastbone. Regurgitation is the sensation of fluid or food moving back towards the throat or mouth. Laryngopharyngeal reflux describes reflux reaching the throat and voice-box area, where it may be associated with hoarseness, throat-clearing or cough.

Use the most specific description when seeking care: explain whether you feel burning, sour fluid returning, food sticking, upper abdominal discomfort, cough or a voice change. Include when it happens, its connection to meals or lying down, and any medicine you have tried.

For occasional mild symptoms, smaller meals, avoiding lying down soon after eating and identifying personal triggers may help. A pharmacist can advise on short-term products, but recurring symptoms should be reviewed so the label does not hide another cause.

Contact a clinician if reflux is persistent, repeatedly interrupts sleep, or continues despite correctly used treatment. Difficulty or pain when swallowing, food sticking, black stools, vomiting blood, repeated vomiting, unexplained weight loss, persistent abdominal pain or a lasting cough are reasons for prompt review.

Seek emergency help for intense chest pain or tightness accompanied by sweating, shortness of breath, faintness, or pain spreading to the arm, jaw or back. Those features require urgent assessment regardless of whether reflux has been diagnosed before.

Ask whether the clinician means occasional reflux, GORD or inflammation of the oesophagus; what features support that conclusion; and whether testing is needed. Clarify the treatment goal, planned duration and signs that should bring you back sooner.