Indigestion… needless suffering
Do you feel full quickly when eating? Or even if you don’t eat a lot of food, you feel full too quickly to finish your meal?
Or feel annoyingly full after your meal? Do you feel discomfort or a burning sensation in your upper abdomen after eating, or a slight pain in the area between your lower breast and navel?
Or feel a bloated or tight uncomfortable feeling in your upper abdomen? If so, you may be suffering from indigestion (dyspepsia).
Mayo Clinic gastroenterologists add: “People with indigestion may also sometimes experience heartburn. Heartburn is a pain or burning sensation in the center of your chest that spreads to your neck or back during or after eating. Less common signs and symptoms include vomiting and belching.
indigestion
Indigestion is a common condition. According to the US National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), “Indigestion is a common condition that affects 1 in 4 people in the United States each year. When people with indigestion go to the doctor, nearly 3 in 4 are diagnosed with “functional dyspepsia,” meaning something that isn’t caused by an organic disease in one part of the digestive system.
And the company further explains: “Dyspepsia is not a disease, and it is not always related to eating. Rather, it can be a symptom of some disease of the digestive system. However, most of the time, doctors do not know the cause of chronic indigestion. This chronic indigestion is not caused by a chronic health problem, and in the digestive system. Without diseases, it is called functional dyspepsia.
And some medical statistics indicate that 40 percent of indigestion disorders involve the disorder and impairment of “delayed emptying of the stomach” after eating.
Although indigestion is usually not a serious problem, it can affect your quality of life, make you feel uncomfortable and cause loss of appetite. You may miss work or school because of your symptoms. Mayo Clinic doctors add: “Its symptoms vary from person to person, and may differ from time to time in the same person. A person may feel symptoms of indigestion at other times, intermittently or on a daily basis. But the good thing is that indigestion can be reduced by making lifestyle changes, eating a variety of foods, and taking medications.
Digestive pleasure
In fact, giving the digestive system a break to digest food is necessary to feel comfortable after eating. The comfort of the digestive system to perform its functions depends on two things: the first is to eat food in a healthy manner, with ingredients and composition, and the second is that the digestive system enjoys good health, which helps it to function. Its functions.
The digestive system consists of two components: the digestive tract, which takes on different shapes and sizes along its course, and the rigid appendages attached to that digestive tract. The alimentary canal is a tube in the form of a series of connected hollow organs, a long, twisted tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus.
Hollow organs: mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and anus. Solid organs associated with the digestive system and assisting in completing its work: Liver, Pancreas and Gallbladder.
Physiological and physical anatomical resources directly and indirectly contribute to the success of the functioning and communication of the digestive system: the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the local nervous system (in the digestive system. ), blood, and blood vessels (arteries, nerves and lymphatic channels of parts of the digestive system ), hormone glands and friendly bacteria in the gut.
These scientific sources summarize the behavior of the digestive system in the processes of absorbing the ingested food, the processes of breaking down the fragments of this food, the processes of absorbing the nutrients in it and the processes of neutralizing the elements that the body does not need. and it must be emptied from the digestive tract, all of which require the compliance and efficiency of the parts of the digestive system to move along the same route as the worms. It is the mechanism by which food is pushed from one area to another (the digestive tract), leading to the elimination of waste. This peristalsis is accompanied by the secretion of various types of digestive juices. That is, from each part of the alimentary canal (stomach, intestine) and from each solid digestive organ (liver, pancreas and gall bladder). By doing these two things, key nutrients (water, proteins, sugars and fats) are broken down. Then, the absorption of essential nutrients and micronutrients (minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, food chemical compounds of various groups, medicinal compounds, and many of the chemicals in the digestive juices themselves).
Eat food
The most important step to success in all of these is creating the right start. That is, eat a moderate amount of food and leave some time between each bite to chew the food thoroughly in the mouth, giving the tongue a rest and pushing the food down the throat. Relax the epiglottis in order to swallow it, as well as to prevent food from entering the trachea and forcing it towards the esophagus. Here, the salivary glands in the mouth produce saliva, which moistens the food so that it passes easily through the esophagus into the stomach. Saliva also contains enzymes that begin to break down starch.
And if one continues to eat and swallow food in this way, the digestive process becomes automatic, as the brain starts to push the muscles of the esophagus towards the stomach, when the food reaches the end of the esophagus, the sphincter. A ring of muscle at the base of the esophagus allows food to pass into the stomach. Then the stomach muscles mix the food with the digestive juices of the stomach, and this continues for 40 minutes to 4 hours (depending on the quality of the food components). The stomach slowly empties its contents into the small intestine.
In this way, a “vital area” is comfortable when eating and eating a meal, and often does not suffer from indigestion.
Causes of indigestion
In most cases, indigestion symptoms arise as a result of a complex interaction between 4 factors, namely:
– Increased neural sensitivity.
Delayed gastric emptying and overeating with food.
Acceptance of small amount of food in the stomach.
Having a mental disorder like anxiety.
Therefore, there are many possible causes of indigestion, related to many behaviors in daily life, including the way food is eaten and its components. Common causes of indigestion include:
Eating too quickly.
Eat large meals.
Eat foods rich in fat, grease or hot spices.
Consuming too much caffeine, chocolate or soft drinks.
Not drinking enough water for the body’s needs.
– Smoking.
Stress or anxiety.
– Being treated with certain types of antibiotics, pain relievers or iron tablets.
However, there are other causes of indigestion related to functional or pathological disorders in the parts of the digestive system itself:
Irritable bowel syndrome, or irritable bowel syndrome, is the most common cause of indigestion.
– Gastritis.
Ulcers of parts of the digestive system (esophagus, stomach, duodenum and colon).
– Helicobacter pylori (stomach bug) infection associated with infections and stomach ulcers.
– Gallbladder stones.
Chronic or frequent constipation.
In addition to the above, there are rare causes such as pancreatitis, stomach cancer, intestinal obstruction or reduced blood flow to the intestine (intestinal ischemia).
In addition, many other diseases can cause indigestion, including:
– Diabetes.
– Lethargy or increased thyroid activity.
Indigestion… When to See a Doctor?
Mayo Clinic doctors say: “Normal indigestion is usually nothing to worry about. Consult your doctor if this condition persists for more than two weeks.
But they explain: “Call your doctor immediately if the pain is severe or accompanied by:
Unintentional weight loss or loss of appetite.
Repeated vomiting or vomiting blood.
Dark black stools.
Difficulty swallowing becomes progressively worse.
Fatigue or weakness may indicate anemia.
They add: “Seek emergency medical attention if you experience any of the following:
Shortness of breath, sweating, or chest pain radiating to the jaw, neck, or arm.
Chest pain with exertion or stress.
About 3 out of 4 people are diagnosed with functional dyspepsia, which is not caused by an organic disease in one part of the digestive system.
Food types and approximate gastric retention time
The stomach is where food first enters and temporarily settles. Since the speed of food exiting it is one of the reasons for the ease of digestion, it is useful to know that different types of food differ in their “natural” residence time in the stomach bowl.
First, the length of time food stays in the stomach depends on the amount of food, the speed with which it is eaten, and the quality of its nutritional components, especially the amount of fats and proteins.
Roughly speaking, for the types of foods and beverages consumed on an empty stomach, water travels directly from the stomach to the intestines. 20 minutes for fruit juices, 20 minutes for watermelon slices, 30 minutes for salad greens and oranges, 45 minutes for apple slices and leafy greens, cooked beans and squash, boiled eggs and grilled fish. , and root vegetables such as carrots and beets 50 minutes, potatoes and low-fat white rice, cooking 60 minutes, oats 90 minutes, lentils, chickpeas, peas and grilled chicken two hours, lentils two and a half hours, full-fat yellow cheese, beef, Lamb and fatty foods such as rice with meat, oriental sweets and fried foods for 4 hours.
Therefore, regardless of the components of the food, the residence time of food in the stomach is usually not more than 4 hours. It takes about 4 hours for food to pass through the small intestine, and 30 to 40 hours through the large intestine. But sometimes the problem of feeling indigestion occurs, and for some people, when they eat too much, eat too fast, eat fatty or greasy foods or add a lot of spices.
• Consultant in Internal Medicine
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