ULCERS AND GASTRITIS
Published July 28, 2024 | 
WHAT IS IT?
In your stomach, gastric juices break down the food you swallow and kill bacteria that come with it. These juices consist mostly of acids and enzymes (proteins that speed up chemical reactions in the body). They don’t digest your stomach at the same time because it protects itself by making a slippery fluid, called mucus, that coats the stomach lining. If that layer of mucus is damaged, though, the juices can get through and cause a couple of problems: gastritis and ulcers. Continue reading
OVERWEIGHT
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Through most of human history, being fat was good: When food was scarce, anyone with ample body fat had energy reserves stored up for lean times.
Now things are different. We know that if you are obese-that is, if you’re more than 20 percent above the weight most experts agree is healthy for someone of your height because of excess body fat-you have a high risk of many health problems, including heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. Even if you’re not obese in the strict sense, some experts think your risk Continue reading
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Irritable bowel syndrome-IBS-shows up in a number of ways that may include gas, bloating, and cramps or pain in your stomach or abdomen. Sometimes you’ll also have changes in bowel movements such as constipation or diarrhea. Continue reading
INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, is a general term for chronic diseases that cause the intestines to become inflamed. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are the most common forms of IBD. Both can cause swollen, inflamed intestines, pain, diarrhea, and other symptoms. Continue reading
HEMORRHOIDS
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Hemorrhoids-swollen veins inside or outside the anus-often called “varicose veins of the anus and rectum”-are one of the most common health problems. Fifty to 75 percent of all Americans get hemorrhoids in their lifetimes. Although hemorrhoids can appear at any age, people usually tend to get them after age 30. They are also more common among pregnant women. Continue reading
HEARTBURN
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Heartburn has nothing to do with your heart. Instead, it’s a problem with your stomach and esophagus-the tube that carries food from your throat to your stomach. When stomach acid leaks up, or refluxes, into the tube, you get a burning feeling above your stomach that can rise into your chest, just beneath your breastbone. That’s heartburn. Continue reading
GOUT
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Gout is a form of arthritis that comes on quickly and causes intense pain and swelling in a joint. It can affect any joint but usually shows up in the big toe, hand, ankle, or knee.
Each year, gout strikes more than one million Americans, most of them middle-aged men. Continue reading
GALLSTONES
Published July 28, 2024 | WHAT IS IT?
Gallstones are hard lumps that form in the gallbladder, a small, pear-shaped organ under your liver that stores a digestive juice called bile. Gallstones can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball.
About 80 percent of gallstones are made mostly of cholesterol, a fatty substance found throughout the body. The other 20 percent-called pigment stones-are made of calcium salts and bilirubin-a reddish-yellow pigment found in bile and blood. Continue reading