Question:
What does GERD mean?

   — [Anonymous] (posted on October 1, 2001)

October 1, 2001
It's an acronym for gastroesophageal reflux disease -- or reflux for short!
   — Denise C.

October 1, 2001
....which is a fancy name for heartburn.
   — [Anonymous]

April 15, 2002
GERD or Acid Reflux, is NOT the same as heartburn. I have GERD and have also had heartburn. I mistook the pain I was having for heartburn and was downing ALOT of TUMS and other heartburn releif drugs. Nothing seemed to work. Sometimes it would help for a very short period of time, but not much. Then I went to see a gastroenterologist and he diagnosed the GERD and put me on Prevacid. It helps alot more than the TUMS although it still acts up once in a while. I can't eat even the slightest bit of an orange or I pay for it. Heartburn will not cause Barretts Esophagus, which I also have. If you have GERD, you should be checked out at least once a year for Barretts because it can change the lining in your throat to the lining in your stomach and eventually become cancerous. Heartburn, on the other hand, will not.
   — Patricia H.