Diagnosis

Your doctor can normally diagnose GERD from the symptoms alone. The most common symptoms of GERD are heartburn and regurgitation. Most people experience these symptoms occasionally, but some suffer from them more often. If they occur regularly on two or more days per week, or are troublesome enough to affect your daily life, you can be diagnosed as having GERD. However, in a few cases, your doctor may arrange for further investigations to confirm a suspected diagnosis of GERD.

Endoscopy
During an endoscopy, a narrow, flexible tube with a light and camera at the end (fibre optic), is placed into the mouth and throat and then into the esophagus. This allows the doctor to see if there is any reddening (indicating inflammation) or erosions (shallow open sore) or ulcer (deeper lesion)on the esophageal wall. It is also possible to take a small sample (biopsy) of the esophageal wall to check for any histological abnormalities. The procedure may be uncomfortable but is not generally painful. You should not need to stay in hospital overnight, but you may need someone else to drive you home.

24-hour pH testing
The amount of acid in the esophagus can be measured by passing a special tube, through the mouth, into the esophagus. The special tip of the tube can measure the acidity or pH over 24 hours.