GERD stands for gastroesophogeal reflux disease, commonly known as acid reflux or just heartburn. LPRD is laryngopharyngeal reflux disease. To understand their causes and their relation to each other, let's look at how the body is assembled.

At the back of your throat is a sphincter (or muscle) that opens when you swallow something, allowing the material into the esophagus. Then, at the bottom of the esophagus, there is another sphincter that opens into the stomach. Both of these muscles are closed most of the time, opening only when something is supposed to pass through. There is no open-door policy with the esophagus; you have to knock every time.

One of the purposes of that lower sphincter is to keep the stomach's digestive acids from splashing up into the esophagus. The stomach is lined with material to protect it from its own acids, of course, but the esophagus has no such protection. So when something happens to compromise that sphincter, allowing acid to rise up where it doesn't belong, you feel it. That's heartburn, or GERD.

Now, if the acid comes up into the esophagus and then KEEPS GOING, coming all the way up past the upper sphincter and into the back of the throat, that's LPRD. In layman's terms, you could consider LPRD to be what happens when the acid from GERD doesn't know when to quit bubbling up.

You'd think that you wouldn't feel LPRD without feeling GERD first, but in fact most people who suffer from LPRD don't notice any significant heartburn. This is because for it to be LPRD, the acid must have passed all the way through the esophagus and up into the back of the throat. Had it lingered in the esophagus, it would have done some damage and caused heartburn. But since it kept going, it basically skipped that process altogether.

The symptoms of LPRD are hoarseness, frequent throat-clearing, problems with swallowing, a bitter taste in the mouth, and a pain in the throat. It's very much a throat-related syndrome, whereas GERD is felt more in the chest area.

However, while GERD and LPRD have different symptoms, they can be prevented exactly the same way. They are both caused by acid rising up from the stomach, so if you can stop that from happening, you'll prevent both conditions. Avoid eating huge meals or lying down immediately after eating. Avoid fatty foods, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco and chocolate -- yeah, yeah, all the fun stuff, but it comes with a price. Tight clothes or belts can also cause reflux simply by physically forcing acid up from the stomach.

If you find yourself burdened with either GERD or LPRD, don't fret. In almost all cases, both ailments are fairly easily treated. Finding the cure that works for you specifically may take some doing, but it's a small price to pay to keep your stomach happy.