Sunday, July 15, 2012

Indigestion

Symptoms of Indigestion

Indigestion
Indigestion or Dyspepsia in itself includes different stomach ailments. There are lot of stomach abnormalities like heartburn, acid influx, bloating and gastritis included in indigestion. Often due to consumption of spicy and fatty food problems of indigestion occur.
It is not only bad eating habits which causes indigestion. There are several factors like stress and anxiety, which can lead to excessive production of stomach acids. The time gap between meals can trigger acute indigestion problems. If you are skipping meals then the acid production can increase and cause you a lot of indigestion. This prolonged problem can affect sensitive lining of stomach and can result into ulcers.
Improper eating techniques can cause indigestion. If you are eating too fast or you are not chewing your food, this can cause indigestion. If you swallow your food too fast small amount of ingested air enters your stomach and this can cause indigestion and bloating. Consuming carbonated drinks and acidic liquids can be one strong reason for indigestion.

Symptoms of Indigestion
Some of the common symptoms, which occur in indigestion, are:
Heartburn
Appetite Loss
Pain and bloating in stomach
Heaviness in upper part of your stomach
Feeling sick
Burping, belching and flatulence

Indigestion symptoms can stay for long or can keep occurring within short periods.If you suddenly experience
Weight loss
Continuous indigestion symptoms
Severe pain
Specks of blood in vomit
you should immediately check with your physician for acute indigestion.

Causes of Indigestion
Our stomach produces acid, which helps the digestion of food. This acid also protects us from stomach infections. There is a thin mucus lining in our stomach, oesophagus and bowel, which protects us from effects of the stomach acid. In case the mucus lining is damaged, the stomach acid can irritate the tissues underneath.

Lifestyle triggers
Our lifestyle today causes indigestion problem. Some of our wrong lifestyle habits include:
Smoking
Drinking large quantities of alcohol
Stress
Anxiety
Strong medicines like aspirin
Huge consumption of tea and coffee
If you are obese or overweight, this can exert more pressure on your stomach and can result in indigestion.

Medical condition causing Indigestion
There are some medical conditions, which causes indigestion. Condition called peptic ulcers causes acute indigestion. This condition occurs when the lining of your stomach or duodenum gets inflamed. Usually this condition occurs due to the infestation of bacteria called Helicobacter pylori. This bacterium is found in the mucous lining of the stomach. This bacterium causes peptic ulcers.
Heartburn is another medical condition. It is caused by Hiatus hernia. When there is reflux, in causes part of your stomach or sphincter to move up to your chest region.
These medical conditions cause indigestion. There are some kinds of cancers which also causes indigestion, however, they are rare.

Stages of Pregnancy
In some women, indigestion occurs during pregnancy. Due to high levels of progesterone and oestrogen acute indigestion can occur.

Diagnosis of Indigestion
In some people, indigestion is mild and not that frequent. In these cases, you do not require a treatment. However, people who frequently face indigestion should check with their physician. Apart from the common symptoms which occur in indigestion, your physician will question you about:
Any other symptoms causing health problems
Any medication, which you are taking
Any lifestyle factors which can cause problems, like smoking

The doctor will also examine your stomach area. He will press the areas to find out where exactly the pains occur.
The doctor will diagnose you depending on the type of indigestion you have. The reason for all this examination is that sometimes indigestion may be due to some other medical condition or health problem, especially heart problems.

Diagnosis of anaemia
Your doctor may advise you to undergo some blood tests. This is to check your RBC’s (red blood count) for anaemia. The symptoms of anaemia are breathlessness, abnormal heartbeat and tiredness.
For anaemia a full blood count test is performed. Blood sample is taken and different type of blood cell counting is done. If you have anaemia, your Red Blood Cell count will be less, which may result in gastrointestinal bleeding.

Endoscopy
Your body is examined internally by using an endoscope. Endoscope is a thin tube, which has a light and a camera at one end. With this camera the inside images of your body can easily be seen on a TV monitor. With endoscopy, the doctor carries out an internal visual examination of the inside of your abdomen.
Sometimes when we feel acidity or indigestion, we take medicine and forget about the condition. However, if indigestion is occurring frequently you should go for endoscopy, which will determine any other abnormal condition. The doctor will advise you not to take any H2-receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors.
In case if any medicine is causing indigestion, you should discontinue its use.

Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection
In case if your doctor feels that your indigestion is due to Helicobacter pylori, then you may have to undergo all or some of the following tests:
A urea breath test: In this test, you will have to drink a chemical liquid followed by a breathaliser to facilitate breathe analysis, which will test for H pylori.
A stool antigen analysis: A pea size faecal will be tested for H pylori
A blood test: blood sample tests the presence of antibodies required to fight infection by H pylori.

Antibiotics and PPI can alter the tests, so no medication should be taken until two weeks before these tests are done.

Diagnosis of other conditions
In case your reason of indigestion is some other medical condition, other tests will have to be performed.
Your abdominal pain can be due to some abnormal biliary conditions, which alternatively affects your liver. Liver is one of the largest organs of  the body and performs many actions. It stores energy and produces many chemicals.
Bile ducts are numerous tubes, which carries bile fluid from liver to gallbladder and small intestine. If your doctor thinks that your indigestion is due to biliary condition, he will ask you to perform some liver function tests. In this test, blood is tested to assess the functionality of your liver. Later you may have to undergo ultrasound tests.

Complications of indigestion
In most of the cases, indigestion is not a very severe condition. The symptoms may appear and disappear. However, in case of severe indigestion there can be some complications:
Oesophageal stricture
In this case, stomach acid moves up to the oesophagus and troubles the mucosa. In this condition oesophagus becomes scarred. This may result into the contraction and narrowing of  the oesophagus. The patients may have swallowing difficulty and chest pain. In extreme cases surgery is recommended to clear the opening of the oesophagus.
Pyloric stenosis
The lining of stomach gets irritated due to influence of stomach acid. The passage between stomach and small intestine is known as Pylorus, it becomes scarred and narrow. In extreme cases surgery is recommended.
Peritonitis
The tissue lining in the inner wall of pelvis and abdomen is called the Peritoneum. Due to acute acidic condition,this lining gets inflammation. Antibiotic are sometimes prescribed, however, surgery can damage the peritoneum.

Remedies for Acid Indigestion
There are many home remedies, which helps during indigestion. Home remedies are safer and have no side effects.
Lemon and water or Cider Vinegar with water before the meals helps to regulate indigestion. This prevents acid indigestion.These home remedies provide instant relief. The home remedies are good for pregnant women. These home remedies are also useful for kids and small babies. It is also recommended to alter your diet if you are facing acute acid indigestion. Try to make changes in your lifestyle. Quit smoking and excessive drinking. There are some natural herbs, which helps in treating the acid indigestion. Natural treatments also help with indigestion problems.
There are some home remedies, which have been used since ancient times. These remedies provide instant relief. These remedies are risk free as they are made up of natural products and ingredients. One important home remedy is Lemon, Ginger and Honey. Pregnant women can also take this combination. Take a teaspoon of lemon juice and add teaspoon of ginger juice. Now mix two teaspoon of honey. Mix these ingredients well and consume it, this will provide instant relief.
Take one tablespoon of lemon juice and mix it in a cup of warm water. Consume this mixture before every meal. This prevents problems of indigestion. If you want to get instant relief, rub few ice pieces onto your stomach. This provides instant relief. Another remedy is to take equal quantities of baking soda and water. Mix them well and consume this mixture, you will get instant relief from acidic indigestion.
Cumin seeds help in indigestion. Consume a teaspoon of cumin seed with a warm glass of water. This treats indigestion. Another effective remedy is to extract juice of coriander and mix it with salt and water. Consume this mixture twice daily. If you add coriander to buttermilk and have this mixture, you will instantly feel better.
Aniseed is also a good remedy. Have half a teaspoon of aniseed to avoid indigestion. Another effective remedy is to sprinkle salt on a piece of ginger and chew it before meals and you will get instant relief. Cinnamon water if consumed after one hour of meals controls indigestion. Today there are many herbal teas available in the market, which cures indigestion. Tea flavours like ginger, lavender, chamomile and raspberry cures indigestion.
Mint essence when added to water and consumed every three hours also benefits indigestion. Mint juice can also be added to honey and lime juice. This also cures indigestion and this should be consumed after every meal.
To avoid indigestion, perform light physical exercises. A light walk can improve your indigestion conditions. Do not lie down immediately after meals. If you are pregnant and have a lot of indigestion problem, you should discuss this problem with your doctor.

Other remedies

Drink a glass of water with 2 to 3 drops of mint every 3 to 4 hours.
Mix two to three drops of garlic oil with half a cup of soya bean oil. Now massage it all over your stomach.
Ginger tea after meals helps in indigestion.
Herbal tea, which is composed of blackberry, mint, camomile and raspberry is good for digestion.
Honey lemon juice helps in indigestion.
Drink mixture of baking soda and water.

Prevention/Treatment
It is well known fact that prevention is better than a cure. Try to cultivate good eating habits and techniques, which will instantly cure indigestion problem. Below are some guidelines which should be followed:
Break your meals into smaller and frequent meals. In between your meals eat healthy snackes. Avoid alcohol, carbonated drinks,          spices and fat.
Sleep backside – keeping cushions under your stomach if you have acute pain at night.In between meals, drink a lot of water.
Avoid milk as it will increase the acidic conditions. In case of ulcer, milk can worsen the conditions.
Quit smoking. Tobacco increases the production of stomach acid. This may further aggravate various stomach problems.
If you are taking any anti-inflammatory drug like aspirin, you should instantly stop having this medicine.
Avoid stress, tension and anxiety. This is the root cause of many problems.
Aloe Vera is a healing plant. It has many therapeutic values. It is found to heal ulcers in stomach. The best way to consume aloe Vera is to chop the spongy leaf Aand soak it overnight in water. Next morning drink this mixture. You should drink this mixture in every two hours in case of acute acidity and indigestion.
Do not open your mouth and chew food. Eat slowly and chew properly. This will prevent passage of air into your stomach. These air pockets can cause indigestion.
Drink lot of fluids after your meals.
Try to avoid drinking fluids with meals.
Do not eat or binge late night.
Avoid spicy and fatty food.
Quit smoking.
Avoid alcoholic drinks.
Do not consume excessive amounts of tea and coffee.
If you need to exercise, wait for at least one hour after eating.
Any anti-inflammatory drug should be taken with food. Avoid taking it 0n an empty stomach.
Check for your lactose intolerance. Avoid food, which contain milk.
Meditation and yoga can help you in relieving stress and anxiety.

Indigestion is a problem which develops slowly. It is better to cure this problem in its initial stages. Cultivate a healthy routine and a healthy eating habit and gradually you will overcome the issues of indigestion.

Disclaimer.
All information contained on the symptomsofindigestioninfo.com website is intended for informational and entertainment purposes. The information is not intended nor suited to be a replacement or substitute for professional medical treatment or for professional medical advice relative to a specific medical question or condition.
We urge you to always seek the advice of your physician or medical professional before starting a new supplement and/or pharmaceutical regime.

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