Psyllium seed may be effective in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in patients with functional constipation

AbstractGERD, return of stomach contents into the esophagus, is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders in medicine. Its common symptoms are heartburn and acid reflux. Usually, patients with GERD history develop clinical signs such as heartburn accompanied by functional constipation. Omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor (PPIs), is a drug of choice for GERD but all patients do not respond to the drug and long-term use of these drugs leads to infections. According to the same physiopathology mechanisms of chronic constipation and GERD, improvement of functional constipation may be effective in relieving symptoms of GERD. According to the effectiveness of psyllium seeds in chronic constipation symptoms, it is predicted to be effective in treating GERD in patients with chronic constipation

Addiction and the Risk of Common Bile Duct Stones: A 4-Year Retrospective Population-Based Study in Mashhad, Iran

Background: As a common digestive disorder, choledocholithiasis can have serious consequences, including death. Given that opioids have been shown to contribute to the spasm of Oddi’s sphincter, which results in biliary stasis in the common bile duct (CBD), it is likely that opioids can also raise the prevalence of choledocholithiasis. In this regard, this study aimed to investigate how common opium addiction was among choledocholithiasis patients in Mashhad, Iran.Methods: The current retrospective observational study was conducted on 599 patients with choledocholithiasis who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), utilizing information gathered at the Ghaem hospital in Mashhad, Iran, between 2011 and 2015. Patient data were collected from files and records using certain criteria such as gender, opium addiction, hepatic enzymes (AST, ALT, ALP), plasma levels of total bilirubin, and direct bilirubin. The size of the CBD stones as well as the correlation between the gallbladder and CBD stones were calculated.Findings: From among 599 patients included, 345 (57.6%) were female and 254 (42.4%) were male. Moreover, 195 patients (32.2%) had opiate addictions. The size of the CBD stone was correlated with the patient’s age (r=0.17, P=0.001). The average stone measured 12.22±3.32 mm. There were notable differences in the mean size of the CBD stone (P<0.001) between addicted and non-addicted cases; specifically, the mean CBD stone size in addicted cases was 12.715.13 mm while it was 12.34.33 mm in non-addicted cases.Conclusion: This study showed patients with CBD stones have a higher rate of opium addiction compared to the general population, indicating a possible link between the two conditions

Gastrointestinal symptoms associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease, and their relapses after treatment with proton pump inhibitors: A systematic review

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder with significant effects on the quality of life. The burden of GERD is soaring in Asia. Preventing symptom relapse is a therapeutic goal in GERD patients. Since proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are the first-line treatment of GERD, drug failure has become a major problem in the treatment procedure. We reviewed the literature in order to find articles related to comorbidities and symptoms affecting GERD from 1980 to 2015 via PubMed and Google Scholar using keywords such as ‘Gastroesophageal reflux disease’, ‘Gastrointestinal symptoms’ and Boolean operators (such as AND, OR, NOT). Due to the cost of PPI therapy and the high rate of GERD relapse after PPI therapy, demand for continuing this type of treatment is decreasing. Thus, we need to discover new approaches to treat the disease and also investigate the relationship between the treatment of GERD and its comorbidities and symptoms such as functional constipation

Comparing the Effect of Seed on Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease With Oral Omeprazole in Patients With Functional Constipation

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases. Several studies have been carried out on the treatment of symptoms associated with GERD. The present study aimed to compare the effect of Psyllium seed and oral omeprazole on GERD in patients with functional constipation. In this trial, 132 patients were divided into 2 groups. The impact of omeprazole and Psyllium seed on the treatment and recurrence of GERD was studied. Among the patients, the rate of response to treatment was 89.2% (n = 58) in the Psyllium seed group, while in omeprazole group, it was 94% (n = 63; P = .31). The recurrence rates of Psyllium seed and omeprazole groups were 24.1% (n =14) and 69.8% (n = 44), respectively ( P < .001). The results showed that treatment of functional constipation by Psyllium seed in patients with GERD leads to improvement of GERD and its recurrences in comparison with omeprazole