How to know if you are suffering from Indigestion

Indigestion is often a sign of an underlying problem, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), ulcers, or gallbladder disease, rather than a condition of its own.

Also called dyspepsia, indigestion is a term used to describe a feeling of fullness or discomfort during or after a meal. It can be accompanied by burning or pain in the upper stomach.

What Are the Symptoms of Indigestion?

The symptoms of indigestion include:

• Bloating (full feeling)
• Belching and gas
• Nausea and vomiting
• Acidic taste
• Growling stomach
• Burning in the stomach or upper abdomen
• Abdominal pain

These symptoms may increase in times of stress.

People often have heartburn (a burning sensation deep in the chest) along with indigestion. But heartburn is caused by stomach acids rising into the esophagus.

Who Is at Risk for Indigestion?

People of all ages and of both sexes are affected by indigestion. It’s extremely common. An individual’s risk increases with excess alcohol consumption, use of drugs that may irritate the stomach (such as aspirin), other conditions where there is an abnormality in the digestive tract such as an ulcer and emotional problems such as anxiety or depression.

What Causes Indigestion?

Indigestion has many causes, including:

Diseases:

• Ulcers
• GERD
• Stomach cancer (rare)
• Gastroparesis (a condition where the stomach doesn’t empty properly; this often occurs in diabetics)
• Stomach infections
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Chronic pancreatitis
• Thyroid disease

Lifestyle:

• Eating too much, eating too fast, eating high-fat foods, or eating during stressful situations
• Drinking too much alcohol
• Cigarette smoking
• Stress and fatigue

Swallowing excessive air when eating may increase the symptoms of belching and bloating, which are often associated with indigestion.

>>How you can treat indigestion with this medicine

Sometimes people have persistent indigestion that is not related to any of these factors. This type of indigestion is called functional, or non-ulcer dyspepsia.

During the middle and later parts of pregnancy, many women have indigestion. This is believed to be caused by a number of pregnancy-related factors including hormones, which relax the muscles of the digestive tract, and the pressure of the growing uterus on the stomach.

How Is Indigestion Diagnosed?

If you are experiencing symptoms of indigestion, make an appointment to see your doctor to rule out a more serious condition. Because indigestion is such a broad term, it is helpful to provide your doctor with a precise description of the discomfort you are experiencing. In describing your indigestion symptoms, try to define where in the abdomen the discomfort usually occurs. Simply reporting pain in the stomach is not detailed enough for your doctor to help identify and treat your problem.

First, your doctor must rule out any underlying conditions. Your doctor may perform several blood tests and you may have X-rays of the stomach or small intestine. Your doctor may also use an instrument to look closely at the inside of the stomach, a procedure called an upper endoscopy. An endoscope, a flexible tube that contains a light and a camera to produce images from inside the body, is used in this procedure.

What should be known about Gall Bladder Diseases

Gallbladder disease is a term for several types of conditions that can affect your gallbladder, a small pear shaped sac located under the liver. Your gallbladder’s main function is to store the bile produced in your liver and pass it along to the small intestine.

The majority of gallbladder diseases are caused by inflammation due to irritation to the gallbladder wall (cholecystitis). This occurs when gallstones obstruct the ducts leading to the small intestine and may eventually lead to necrosis or gangrene. Other diseases of the gallbladder include biliary enteric fistulas, sclerosing cholangitis, gallbladder polyps, and gallbladder cancer.

What are the Types of Gallbladder Disease?

• Gallstones

  

  Gall Bladder Stone

Gallstones are the most pressing of all gallbladder diseases. They develop when substances in the bile (such as cholesterol, bile salts, and calcium) form hard particles that block the passageway to the gallbladder.

In addition, stones tend to form when the gallbladder doesn’t empty completely or often enough. They vary in size from as small as a grain of sand to as large as a golf ball.

Numerous factors contribute to your risk of gallstones. These include:

• being overweight or obese
• eating a high-fat or high-cholesterol diet
• having diabetes
• being age 60 or older
• taking medications that contain estrogen
• having a family history of gallstones
• being a women

Cholecystitis

Cholecystitis is the most common type of gallbladder disease. It presents itself as either an acute or chronic inflammation.

Acute Cholecystitis

Acute cholecystitis is generally caused by gallstones, but may also be the result of tumors or various other illnesses. It may present with pain in the upper right side or upper middle part of the abdomen. The pain can come right after a meal and range from sharp pangs to dull aches that may often radiate to the right shoulder. Fever nausea, vomiting,jaundice, and different colored stools are also a result of acute cholecystitis.

Chronic Cholecystitis

After several attacks of acute cholecystitis, the gallbladder will shrink and lose its function of storing and releasing bile. Abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting may follow.

Choledocholithiasis

Gallstones may become lodged in the neck of the gallbladder or in the bile ducts. When the gallbladder is plugged in this way, bile cannot exit. This may lead to the gallbladder becoming inflamed or distended. The plugged bile ducts will further prevent bile from traveling from the liver to the intestines. Choledocholithiasis produces extreme pain in the middle upper abdomen, fever, chills, nausea, and vomiting.

Acalculous Gallbladder Disease

Acalculous gallbladder disease (biliary dyskinesia) occurs without the presence of gallstones. It can be chronic or acute and may result from the gallbladder muscles or valve not working properly. Symptoms include abdominal pain on the right side of the body, radiating to the shoulder. Eating high fat foods often triggers this. Related symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, bloating, and loose stools.

Diabetes: This Ailment is dangerous to health

Diabetes, often referred to by doctors as diabetes mellitus, describes a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate, or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both. Patients with high blood sugar will typically experience polyuria (frequent urination), they will become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia).

Fast facts on diabetes

Here are some key points about diabetes. More detail and supporting information is in the main article.

• Diabetes is a long-term condition that causes high blood sugar levels.
• In 2013 it was estimated that over 382 million people throughout the world had diabetes (Williams textbook of endocrinology).
• Type 1 Diabetes – the body does not produce insulin. Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1.
• Type 2 Diabetes – the body does not produce enough insulin for proper function. Approximately 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide are of this type.
• Gestational Diabetes – this type affects females during pregnancy.
• The most common diabetes symptoms include frequent urination, intense thirst and hunger, weight gain, unusual weight loss, fatigue, cuts and bruises that do not heal, male sexual dysfunction, numbness and tingling in hands and feet.
• If you have Type 1 and follow a healthy eating plan, do adequate exercise, and take insulin, you can lead a normal life.
• Type 2 patients need to eat healthily, be physically active, and test their blood glucose. They may also need to take oral medication, and/or insulin to control blood glucose levels.
• As the risk of cardiovascular disease is much higher for a diabetic, it is crucial that blood pressure and cholesterol levels are monitored regularly.
• As smoking might have a serious effect on cardiovascular health, diabetics should stop smoking.
• Hypoglycemia – low blood glucose – can have a bad effect on the patient. Hyperglycemia – when blood glucose is too high – can also have a bad effect on the patient.

There are three types of diabetes:

1) Type 1 diabetes

The body does not produce insulin. Some people may refer to this type as insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile diabetes, orearly-onset diabetes. People usually develop type 1 diabetes before their 40th year, often in early adulthood or teenage years.

Type 1 diabetes is nowhere near as common as type 2 diabetes. Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1.

Patients with type 1 diabetes will need to take insulin injections for the rest of their life. They must also ensure proper blood-glucose levels by carrying out regular blood tests and following a special diet.

2) Type 2 diabetes

The body does not produce enough insulin for proper function, or the cells in the body do not react to insulin (insulin resistance).

Approximately 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide are type 2.

Measuring the glucose level in blood

Some people may be able to control their type 2 diabetes symptoms by losing weight, following a healthy diet, doing plenty of exercise, and monitoring their blood glucose levels. However, type 2 diabetes is typically a progressive disease – it gradually gets worse – and the patient will probably end up have to take insulin, usually in tablet form.

Overweight and obese people have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with a healthy body weight. People with a lot of visceral fat, also known as central obesity, belly fat, or abdominal obesity, are especially at risk. Being overweight/obese causes the body to release chemicals that can destabilize the body’s cardiovascular and metabolic systems.

Causes and Symptoms of Colon Cancer

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of colon cancer include:

• A change in your bowel habits, including diarrhea or constipation or a change in the consistency of your stool, that lasts longer than four weeks
• Rectal bleeding or blood in your stool
• Persistent abdominal discomfort, such as cramps, gas or pain
• A feeling that your bowel doesn’t empty completely
• Weakness or fatigue
• Unexplained weight loss

Many people with colon cancer experience no symptoms in the early stages of the disease. When symptoms appear, they’ll likely vary, depending on the cancer’s size and location in your large intestine.

When to see a doctor

If you notice any symptoms of colon cancer, such as blood in your stool or a persistent change in bowel habits, make an appointment with your doctor.

Talk to your doctor about when you should begin screening for colon cancer. Guidelines generally recommend that colon cancer screenings begin at age 50. Your doctor may recommend more frequent or earlier screening if you have other risk factors, such as a family history of the disease.

Causes

• 

  Colon cancer

In most cases, it’s not clear what causes colon cancer. Doctors know that colon cancer occurs when healthy cells in the colon develop errors in their DNA.

Healthy cells grow and divide in an orderly way to keep your body functioning normally. But when a cell’s DNA is damaged and becomes cancerous, cells continue to divide — even when new cells aren’t needed. As the cells accumulate, they form a tumor.

With time, the cancer cells can grow to invade and destroy normal tissue nearby. And cancerous cells can travel to other parts of the body.

Inherited gene mutations that increase the risk of colon cancer

Inherited gene mutations that increase the risk of colon cancer can be passed through families, but these inherited genes are linked to only a small percentage of colon cancers. Inherited gene mutations don’t make cancer inevitable, but they can increase an individual’s risk of cancer significantly.

Urinary Tract Infection in Teens and Adults

Your urinary tract  is the system that makes urine and carries it out of your body. It includes your bladder and kidneys and the tubes that connect them. When germs get into this system, they can cause an infection.

Most urinary tract infections are bladder infections. A bladder infection usually is not serious if it is treated right away. If you do not take care of a bladder infection, it can spread to your kidneys. A kidney infection is serious and can cause permanent damage.

Usually, germs get into your system through your urethra, the tube that carries urine from your bladder to the outside of your body. The germs that usually cause these infections live in your large intestine and are found in your stool. If these germs get inside your urethra, they can travel up into your bladder and kidneys and cause an infection.

Women tend to get more bladder infections than men. This is probably because women have shorter urethra, so it is easier for the germs to move up to their bladders. Having sex can make it easier for germs to get into a woman’s urethra.

You may be more likely to get an infection if you have diabetes or you are pregnant. The chance that you will get a bladder infection is higher if you have any problem that blocks the flow of urine from your bladder. Examples include having kidney stones or an enlarged prostate gland.

For reasons that are not well understood, some women get bladder infections again and again.

You may have an infection if you have any of these symptoms:

• You feel pain or burning when you urinate.
• You feel like you have to urinate often, but not much urine comes out when you do.
• You have pain in your lower belly.
• Your urine is cloudy, looks pink or red, or smells bad.
• You have pain on one side of your back under your ribs. This is where your kidneys are.
• You have fever and chills.
• You have nausea and vomiting.

Get medical attention right away if you think you have an infection and:

• You have a fever, nausea and vomiting, or pain in one side of your back under your ribs.
• You have diabetes, kidney problems, or a weak immune system.
• You are older than 65.
• You are pregnant.

Your doctor will ask for a sample of your urine. It is tested to see if it has germs that cause bladder infections.

If you have infections often, you may need extra testing to find out why.

Antibiotics prescribed by your doctor will usually cure a bladder infection. It may help to drink lots of water and other fluids and to urinate often, emptying your bladder each time.

If your doctor prescribes antibiotics, take the pills exactly as you are told. Do not stop taking them just because you feel better. You need to finish taking them all so that you do not get sick again.

You may be able to help prevent these infections.

• Take time to empty your bladder as much as possible when you urinate.
• If you are a sexually active woman, make it a point to urinate shortly after having sex.
• If you are a woman past menopause who is having repeated UTIs, using vaginal estrogen may help.

Cause

Bacteria that enter the urethra and travel up the urinary tract  are the usual cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs). Bacteria that normally live in the large intestine  and are present in feces (stool) are the most common source of infection. Sexual intercourse may move bacteria into the urinary tract, especially in women. Catheters, which are small, flexible tubes inserted into the bladder to allow urine to drain, are a common source of bacterial infection in people who are in hospitals or who live in long-term care facilities.

Sometimes bacteria traveling through the blood or lymph system cause kidney or bladder infections.