How to Prevent Stomach Problems & Digestive Disorders

Transcript Bloating is one of the most common complaints that I hear here in my office and I’m sure you’ve had some problems with it too. So to try to treat that bloating we need to understand what might be causing that bloating. It could be from something that you’re eating. It could be medications …

Transcript There’s a couple of ways you can treat it but he most common way and the most permanent way of treating a hiatal hernia is basically with surgery. And that’s when the surgeon will actually go into the abdominal cavity, pull the stomach down from the chest into the abdominal cavity and close up …

Transcript If you’ve been told you have hemorrhoids or have hemorrhoidal pain or hemorrhoidal bleeding, one thing to remember about prevention is that you should have a high-fiber diet and you should drink a lot of water. By straining, you really stress those hemorrhoids and you have a potential for more bleeding and pain. If …

Transcript So basically, gallstones are cholesterol crystals or pigment cells that are little crystals that basically can clump together within the gallbladder and similar to how pearls form in an oyster, get bigger and bigger to form stones. Now you can have two different types of gall stones. One can be cholesterol gall stones or …

Transcript Hemorrhoids are basically large blood vessels within the rectum. There are two different of hemorrhoids — one, internal hemorrhoids, and one other, external hemorrhoids. The external hemorrhoids are the kind of hemorrhoids that actually hang outside the anus. The internal hemorrhoids are the ones that are inside the anus. Both of them can cause …

Transcript So if you have abdominal pain, trying to treat it and trying to prevent it are very difficult questions to ask. So it’s important to understand where the pain’s coming from in order to treat it, in order to prevent it. So if you’re having pain, say, in the right upper quadrant that may …

Transcript Hi. So, stomach cramps are basically cramping of the stomach or cramping of the digestive track. And basically what that is is acute muscle contractions. Because remember, the digestive track is one, long, muscular tube. So any time you have abnormal contractions, you can develop a cramp. Just like you get a cramp in …

Transcript Gall stones, basically, are clusters of cholesterol crystals, and they form within the gall bladder very similar to how a pearl forms in an oyster. Those cholesterol clusters get together and form bigger stones, and for the most part, these stones never cause any problems. The only time they cause problems is if they …

Transcript So if you suffer from constipation there’s a couple ways of treating it. The most important way is changing your diet. If you can get more fruits and vegetables in your day you’re probably going to help with your constipation. Your goal is really 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day. And you …

Transcript Candida’s actually a fungal infection and it’s fairly common. It most commonly affects the skin or vaginal flora or in the mouth or nails. It usually can be treated quite well with an anti-fungal agent. In cases of systemic infections which happens in people who are immunocompromised whether they’re Cancer patients or HIV or …

Transcript Pancreatitis is basically inflammation of the pancreas, and there is a couple different reasons why you get inflammation of the pancreas. The most common is gallstone pancreatitis. That is when a gallstone slips out of the gallbladder and gets lodged in the duct that drains both the gallbladder and the pancreas. That back pressure …

Transcript My name’s Doctor Lisa Ganjhu. I’m a Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist. So I manage diseases of the digestive tract and the liver. I just love talking to people about food and diet and making them feel better. A lot of people just get very anxious and angry and just fed up that they can’t eat …

Transcript So indigestion is basically a constellation of symptoms that are all related to your digestive system. So basically it’s pain, bloating, feeling full, more full than normal after a meal. All those together make up what’s called indigestion. It can be for a lot of different reasons, most likely from something you’ve eaten. There …

Transcript So for the most part gallstones are completely asymptomatic and do not cause any problems. The only time they cause problems is if those gallstones leave the gallbladder and get stuck within the duct that drains the gallbladder or gets stuck in the duct that drains the pancreas, at which time if there is …

Transcript If you have a stomach cramps, there’s a couple of different things you can do to help your symptoms. Sometimes, drinking some water will help to relax the digestive tract. Mint or mint tea is a great way of relaxing the digestive tract and can help with cramps within your stomach. If those modalities …

Transcript So, a lot of times, people get confused between food allergies and food intolerances, but they’re two very different entities. A food allergy, is a clear allergy. That means, if we take some food that we are allergic to, we can get anaphylaxis or hives or we can have our throat closing up, that’s …

Transcript Probiotics basically are good bacteria that helps to promote good digestive health. We actually have billions of bacteria, both good and bad, within our digestive tracts. Basically the good bacteria act upon the bad bacteria to kind of keep things in check because there’s a function for all of them. If for some reason. …

Transcript A hiatal hernia is basically when the stomach comes up into the chest. To understand what a hiatal hernia is you need to understand what normal anatomy is. We have a diaphragm which is a muscle that separates everything in the chest, which has our lungs and our esophagus, from our abdominal cavity, which …

Transcript There are a lot of slang terms out there, when it comes down to it, you’re traveling, you’re on vacation, you eat something that just doesn’t set right, and boom, you’re sick. You’ve got what’s called traveler’s diarrhea. Or, in other words, Montezuma’s revenge, turista, Delhi belly, you name it, but you’ve got traveler’s …

Transcript So, in order to understand what diverticulitis is you need to understand what a diverticulum is. So diverticulum are little out pockets within the colon that occur with patients that have constipation or have some genetic predisposition to developing it. Now, within those pockets you can get seeds and stool to go into those …

Transcript Abdominal pain is a very broad topic because we have a lot of organs in our abdominal cavity, and all of them can have different types of pain and locations of pain. When you talk to your doctor about saying you have pain, it’s important to talk about the character, if it’s a sharp …

Transcript So your doctor has told you that you’re lactose intolerant. What does that mean to you? Does that mean you can’t drink milk anymore? Sort of. You can supplement your diet with either changing your milk to a lactated milk, so the enzymes are added to the milk, or you can take lactate pills …

Transcript So, if your doctor tells you that you have diverticulitis, which means an infection within the diverticulum, the way to treat that is with antibiotics. So, the combination of two antibiotics and going on a low residual diet or clear liquid diet, you should be able to clear the infection within that diverticulum. Now …

Transcript So basically, lactose intolerance is the inability to digest milk protein. It’s fairly common in Asians, Africans, and Southern Europeans. And basically what happens is if they’re drinking milk, they tend to get bloated. May have some diarrhea, or some abdominal pain. So this population of patients don’t have the enzyme in order to …

Transcript So, a colonoscopy is basically an examination of the colon and that’s where we pass a long flexible tube called a colonoscope into the rectum and take a look inside the walls of the colon. And what we’re looking for are either diverticulum, we can see hemorrhoid’s, we can see colon cancer or polyps …

Transcript Colostomy is performed by a surgeon. This is done in cases where a patient needs to have part of their colon removed such as in ulcerative colitis, or colon cancer, or diverticular abscess, or disease. Basically the surgeon removes a portion or all of the colon and the remainder part of the colon is …

Transcript If you have indigestion and you’re looking for a cure for your indigestion, you need to look at what the symptoms are that you’re having. Remember, indigestion is a constellation of a lot of different symptoms. If you’re telling me that you have a lot of bloating or you feel very gassy, then you …

Transcript So stomach bloating. The most common cause of stomach bloating is basically air or gas getting trapped within our digestive tract. The most common cause of getting bloated or getting a higher accumulation of gas is by swallowing air. And that can happen if we are talking too much or laughing too much while …

Transcript Endoscopy is where we examine the upper digestive tract with a flexible tube that’s passed from the mouth, into the esophagus, the stomach, and the small bowel. This flexible tube basically has a light source, and a bunch of different channels through which we can pass instruments to take biopsies or to treat lesions. …

Transcript So H. pylori is a bacteria that resides in some people’s stomachs. We don’t know how we get infected. We don’t know if it’s people to people, or if it’s food to food. We’re not quite sure how it get’s to us, but, basically these bacteria live in the stomach and, it can cause …

Transcript So an ulcer is an open sore that can be in our esophagus, in our stomach or duodenum or small bowel. And basically these are kind of like an abrasion that happens on the inside of the stomach. These are little abrasions that can happen within the digestive tract. And they can be caused …

Transcript Leaky guy is a little controversial because most conventional gastroenterologists don’t really accept it as a true disease or a true syndrome as opposed to a lot of alternative physicians believe that there is defiantly some disease that comes from what is called leaky gut. So what it is, is basically intestinal permeability. There …

Transcript If you doctor says that you have GERD, or gastro esophageal reflux, there’s a couple of things that you can do to help manage your symptoms. First and foremost, is making lifestyle changes. That’s changing your diet. So, going to a low-fat meal, low spice, low acidic and high fiber foods help to decrease …

Transcript Colitis is basically inflammation of the colon, and that can be caused by a lot of different things because it’s a general term. So anything that causes inflammation of the colon gives you colitis. Now, you can have infectious colitis which can be from either clostridium difficile which you can get from antibiotics. You …

Transcript Okay, so you can have either acute diarrhea or chronic diarrhea. Basically, acute diarrhea is something that a lot of people can have intermittently, if they’ve eaten out, if they’ve gotten food poisoning, or they’ve traveled somewhere. Usually those are short lived and gets out of your system in a couple of days. Now, …

Transcript Stomach aches is basically a global symptom of abdominal pain because stomach, obviously, stomach and ache is actually pain. So anything that causes pain gives you what is called a stomachache. The most common thing that causes stomachaches is probably what you’re eating. If you’re eating too much or you’re eating something that’s too …

Transcript So, treating leaky gut can be a little controversial, as well as the diagnosis of it. The thought is that people can develop leaky gut, in a pathologic sense, if they’ve been exposed to toxins, medications, alcohol, stress, radiation therapy, all of those can weaken the intestine and increase permeability. Treatment of leaky gut …

Transcript If you’ve had the stomach flu, you may think you have never, ever, ever been sicker than that. It’s the worst feeling in the world. The biggest thing to do is attack it quickly. If you let the stomach flu or the stomach virus prolong too long, you’re going to get dehydrated, and actually …

Transcript So what causes diarrhea? To understand what causes diarrhea we need to know what is diarrhea. So basically, diarrhea is watery stools, and a multitude of them. And, some people can have loose stools all the time and that is their normal. But if any change of your normal bowel habits, where you are …

Transcript IBS is short for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and it’s a constitution of a lot of different digestive problems and it can relate to a lot of different symptoms. The corner stone of it is pain and change in your bowel habits. Basically, to be defined as having Irritable Bowel Syndrome you have to have …

Transcript If you’ve had gastric surgery or part of your stomach removed and you’re having the symptoms of dumping syndrome such as diarrhea, flushing, or dizziness it’s important to change your diet in order to adapt to this dumping syndrome. Having smaller meals, low carbohydrate meals, not mixing liquids and solids with your meals so …

Transcript If your doctor has told you that you have something called Dumping Syndrome, chances are you had some sort of gastric surgery, whether it’s gastric bypass, or stomach surgery, or ulcers, or for cancer, or some sort of surgery that required part of the stomach being removed or the nerves to the stomach getting …

Transcript Constipation is defined by having less than three bowel movements a week. So if you have constipation there’s a couple reasons why. The most common cause to having constipation is not enough fiber in your diet, or a poor-fiber diet. The next is not drinking enough water. And after that would be exercise, and …

Transcript As I said before, food really does play a big role in digestion, and there are some good foods, and there are some bad foods. Foods that are really good for digestion are those foods that are very high in fiber and low in fat. And, really, and generally, unprocessed foods, because they are …

Transcript Absolutely stress can play a huge role in digestive disorders, especially if you have irritable bowel syndrome, and it can also happen to people who don’t have irritable bowel syndrome. We have two brains — the central nervous system, which is understood as our brain and our spine and the nerves that innervate our …

Transcript So Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that can affect any part of the digestive tract, and basically there is so much inflammation within the digestive tract that you can get ulcerations and erosions and wind up developing bloody diarrhea, you can have some pain. Long term you can develop strictures or fistulas, …

Transcript Sometimes people are looking for more natural ways of controlling acid reflux. One way of doing this is with apple cider vinegar. The theory behind it is there is some acid in vinegar it’s called acetic acid and it’s not as strong or not as a potent acid as straight hydrochloric acid which is …

Transcript How do you treat heartburn effects that you’re feeling? Basically, you have to treat what’s causing the symptoms, which is acid washing up from the stomach into the esophagus. So, anything that’s going to neutralize that acid is going to help you with your symptoms. You can try anti-acids such as Maalox and Mylanta, …

Transcript So if your doctor tells you that you have celiac disease this is going to be a big change in your diet because not only can you not have wheat you can’t have barley, you can’t have rye and some oats can be contaminated with these wheat products. Exposure to that wheat and that …

Transcript So Barrett’s esophagus happens from chronic reflux disease. What happens is the acid washes up into the esophagus and causes a cellular change so that the normal esophogeal mucosa changes into more of a gastric mucosa and over time that can develop into what’s called Barrett’s esophagus and over time that can develop cell …

Transcript Alright, so there are a lot of different ways that you can treat GERD, or acid reflux. Lifestyle changes are probably the easiest thing that you can do on your own. So, if you do have acid reflux, it’s important to watch your diet, because there are a lot of foods that can trigger …

Transcript There’s a lot of different ways that you can treat a stomachache, and it’s really based on what’s causing the stomachache. If it’s something that you ate, or you ate too much, or something that’s just didn’t agree with you, you just need to remember not to do it again. That’s the best way …

Transcript The way we treat ulcers is basically by neutralizing the acid in our stomach, and we do that with either antacids, which is a very weak form of medication to help neutralize the acid. The next strongest would be an H2 blocker, such as Pepcid or Zantac or Axid, and that again helps neutralize …

Transcript There are a lot of different ways you can soothe an upset stomach. Some common things you could take are chamomile tea. Ginger ale works really great because the ginger and a little bit of that seltzer in there helps to remove some of the acid. The ginger helps to calm the nerves a …

Transcript How do you prevent acid reflux? Well the most commons ways taking the medications to help reduce the acid in your stomach such as the antacids, the H2 blockers and proton pump inhibitors. There are certain things you can do on your own to help reduce acid reflux as well. Most importantly thing is …

Transcript Gas can be very uncomfortable. It can be embarrassing. It can really just cause a lot of discomfort in our lives. The most common causes of gas is really dietary. Either we’re not digesting certain foods, like if you have an intolerance to wheat or an intolerance to milk; we tend to get gassy …

Transcript If you have Crohn’s disease, you already know it’s pretty rough to manage. You have to really be careful with what you’re eating so that you don’t trigger flares. You have to be very diligent about taking your medications and not missing any doses. Understanding what triggers may cause the flares. What’s also important …

Transcript So diarrhea in infants and children can be kind of dangerous because the little ones really can’t tell you how dehydrated they are and they really can’t tell you what’s happening. So it’s important to rehydrate the babies with some Pedialyte and really watch how their behavior is. And talk to their doctor to …

Transcript Celiac disease is basically intolerance to the protein of wheat which is the gluten portion of wheat. It’s an unfortunate problem that people can’t digest the wheat. The other big thing with celiac disease is if they’re exposed to this toxin or the gluten or this wheat protein they can develop inflammation and eventually …

Transcript In order to treat colitis, you actually have to understand what’s causing the colitis. Remember, colitis is inflammation of the colon and it’s basically a general term for it. So, if you’ve got colitis due to ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s colitis, then you need anti-inflammatory medication, such as Mesalamine or immune modulators like Humera …

Transcript So what is GERD? GERD is an acronym for gastro esophogeal reflux disease, or acid reflux disease. They’re very similar and they are interchangeable terms. And it’s exactly what it says. It’s when the gastric contents or the stomach contents reflux up into the esophagus. Now, the stomach is normally very acidic. And it …

Transcript The best way of treating gas is to understand where the gas is coming from. If you notice that you are having more burping, that is probably related to swallowing air, which is the probably most common way of how we acquire gas. If you drink with a straw, or you talk and eat, …

Transcript So, there’s two major forms of inflammatory bowel disease. One is Ulcerative colitis and one is Crohn’s Colitis. And they’re too very different diseases, although they’re similarly treated. So Crohn’s Colitis or Crohn’s Disease, is basically, inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, and that can go anywhere, from the esophagus down to the rectum. That’s …

Transcript So, Explosive Diarrhea, is exactly what it says, Explosive Diarrhea. So, a lot of times, patients have diarrhea, with a lot of gas and that’s what really makes the explosive part of it. And basically, you have a lot of gas and a lot of water and a lot of stool, that comes out …