Although the condition is certainly not unknown, there is a relative lack of information on it in major medical journals read by nonspecialists.

But no one with bile reflux needs to just wait for worse to come, although the remedies are not as simple and well known as they are for acid reflux. The condition usually can be managed with medications, but severe cases may require surgery.

Symptoms and Causes

Both acid reflux and bile reflux may afflict the same person, which can make diagnosis a challenge. But the stomach inflammation that results from bile reflux often causes a burning or gnawing pain in the upper abdomen that is not felt with acid reflux, according to experts at the Mayo Clinic.

Other symptoms of bile reflux may include frequent heartburn (the main symptom of acid reflux), nausea, vomiting bile, sometimes a cough or hoarseness and unintended weight loss.

A brief anatomy lesson makes the problem easier to understand. The main organs of the digestive tract are separated by valve-like tissues that, when functioning properly, allow food and digestive fluids to pass in only one direction: down. Thus, as food and liquids pass through the digestive process, they normally travel from the mouth to the throat, then down the oesophagus into the stomach, and finally into the small intestine. The opening between the oesophagus and stomach, a muscular ring called the lower oesophageal sphincter, is meant to keep stomach acid from backing up.

When it malfunctions, acid reflux —chronic heartburn — is the usual result.

... contd.