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All Digestive Health Special Reports
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Life Without a Gallbladder
Although 20.5 million Americans have gallstones -- small, hard concretions or stonelike structures that form in the gallbladder -- 70 to 80% don't experience any symptoms. If you're in the other, less fortunate group, in which your gallbladder is irritated or inflamed and causing you pain, your doctor will likely recommend removing the gallbladder entirely -- a procedure known as cholecystectomy. Here's what you should expect … … More...
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7 Tips to Help You Reduce Bloating
No one cause is responsible for all cases of bloating. Often, the cause is something benign. Perhaps you overate or are constipated. Maybe you ate more fiber than your body is accustomed to or are taking a medication that causes bloating as a side effect. What to do? In this Special Report Johns Hopkins specialists provide no-nonsense advice to relieve this uncomfortable condition. More...
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How Your Gut Can Affect Your Bones
When you think of the ways a digestive disorder can affect your life, bone fractures probably don't come to mind. But some digestive problems or their treatments can increase your risk of osteoporosis and lead to broken bones.
Lactose intolerance is the most common example of a digestive disorder that can weaken bones, but it's not the only one. People with untreated celiac disease and those who take corticosteroids or proton pump inhibitors for their… More...
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What to Expect From Your Endoscopy
If you are having problems with your upper digestive tract -- nausea, vomiting, acid reflux, gastrointestinal bleeding, or indigestion -- you may need to undergo an upper endoscopy, which examines the inside of the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum. Most people are nervous about having an upper endoscopy, but the procedure is safe and usually produces little or no discomfort. … More...
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Four Relaxation Techniques to Soothe Your Digestive Discomfort
Although digestive disorders are physical conditions, they do have an emotional component as well. This is not the erroneous and outdated notion that these conditions are 'all in your head,' but rather the idea that your mental and emotional states may affect your physical one. In this Special Report, Johns Hopkins reviews the benefits four proven relaxation techniques – progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training, meditation, and guided imagery. … More...
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How to Banish Bloating
If you've ever felt the need to loosen your belt after a large meal, then you know what bloating is -- that uncomfortable feeling of fullness or tightness in your upper or lower abdomen. What to do? In this Special Report, Johns Hopkins specialists provide no-nonsense advice to relieve this uncomfortable condition. … More...
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Recognizing 12 Common Digestive Disorders
When things go wrong in the digestive system
Digestive disorders encompass a wide array of conditions that affect the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the anus. These digestive disorders vary in severity from the minor annoyance of mild heartburn to potentially life-threatening illnesses, such as a perforated ulcer.
Approximately 70 million Americans are affected by digestive disorders, which prompt nearly 60 million visits to doctors, outpatient care facilities, and emergency departments. Although digestive disorders can… More...
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The H. Pylori Story
For most of the 20th century, peptic ulcers were rarely cured. The reigning theory said that ulcers resulted from psychological stress and dietary factors (such as spicy foods), and patients were routinely hospitalized, told to get bed rest, and instructed to eat a bland diet. Doctors later added excess stomach acid to the list of potential causes for peptic ulcers, and patients typically received long-term therapy with medications that reduced stomach acid or blocked its… More...
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Dispelling Myths About Constipation
What works and what’s harmful when it comes to constipation.
According to the American College of Gastroenterology, Americans make at least 2.5 million visits to the doctor for constipation each year. Because constipation is so ubiquitous and has been noted since ancient times, there are many widely held beliefs and myths about its treatments and consequences -- beliefs that have persisted, despite the absence of medical evidence to prove they are true. … More...
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When Diverticulosis Leads to Diverticulitis
Diverticulosis and diverticulitis are found most often in affluent industrialized countries, where low-fiber diets are popular. Here’s discussion of this common condition.
As we age, most of us develop small pouches (diverticula) that bulge outward through weak points in the wall of the large intestine -- a condition termed diverticulosis. The condition is present in about half of Americans between the ages of 60 and 80, and in virtually everyone older than 80. A disorder called… More...
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You've Got Gas and What You Can Do About It
Some people find gas -- and the belching (burping), flatulence, and stomach bloating that go with it -- an embarrassing subject, but it’s actually a normal occurrence. In fact, the human body produces between one and four pints of gas a day, which it releases via the mouth or the rectum about 14 times a day. More...
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Indigestion--The Discomfort of Sour Stomach
If you suffer from indigestion, you’re not alone. Indigestion accounts for roughly 70% of all gastrointestinal complaints.
Every year Americans spend millions on medications for dyspepsia, a catchall term for an assortment of upper abdominal symptoms -- including pain, bloating, and burping -- commonly referred to as indigestion. At any given time, about one fourth of American adults suffer from some degree of indigestion. Indeed, indigestion accounts for 5% of all office visits to primary care doctors and up to a More...
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Living With Lactose Intolerance
Although dairy products are ubiquitous in the Western diet (and a common source of calcium), a large portion of the population has at least some difficulty digesting milk and foods made with milk. In fact, this condition—called lactose intolerance—affects up to 50 million Americans. But its extent varies widely by race and ethnicity. People of Northern European descent are affected less frequently than blacks, American Indians, and Asian-Americans. More...
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Easing Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Finding a cure for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a gastrointestinal disorder marked by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits, has been elusive. Affecting some 45 million Americans and up to 12% of those over age 50, IBS is more common than heart disease, diabetes, depression, or asthma. For some people with IBS, symptoms are no more than an annoying but manageable nuisance. For many others, however, the misery quotient is More...
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Combination Drug Therapy -- The Key to Treating Peptic Ulcers
About 15 million Americans have been diagnosed with ulcers that affect the digestive system. Gastric ulcers are deep, nonhealing mucosal defects in the stomach, usually in the antrum. Duodenal ulcers are nonhealing defects in the mucosal lining of the duodenum, usually in the duodenal bulb. This type of ulcer tends to affect young people, especially males, and has a prolonged clinical course with periodic relapses. The term “peptic ulcers” refers to both types of ulcers. More...
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Choosing the Right Drugs for Heartburn and GERD
In September 2003, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled that a prescription would no longer be required to purchase the heartburn medication Prilosec (omeprazole), the agency placed directly into the hands of consumers one of the most effective medications available for heartburn. Introduced as a prescription medication in 1988, Prilosec belongs to a group of heartburn medications known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). More...
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