【Health Science】Pay attention to digestive health

What common digestive system diseases may occur during the holidays? How to deal with digestive tract problems when you are away from home? How to take care of your stomach?

Let’s take a look at today’s popular science↓↓

[Which digestive system diseases should we be wary of during the holidays? 】

01 Gastrointestinal bleeding

This is a common acute gastrointestinal disease. When gastrointestinal bleeding occurs, whether it is vomiting blood, vomiting coffee-like substances, or passing black stools, the most scientific treatment method is to seek medical attention immediately and detect bleeding points in time under endoscopic examination.

02 Acute pancreatitis

Generally, patients with underlying diseases such as gallstones or hyperlipidemia are easily induced by overeating, drinking a lot of alcohol, or consuming too much high-fat and high-protein food. The mortality rate of severe acute pancreatitis is as high as over 20%. It is important to eat a reasonable diet and avoid excessive drinking. Patients with hyperlipidemia should also follow a low-fat diet and take lipid-lowering drugs to control blood lipids and prevent acute pancreatitis. Once the disease occurs, it cannot be delayed and seek medical treatment in time!

(Listeners call the hotline for consultation)

03 Acute cholecystitis

This is also a "holiday disease" with an acute onset. The typical clinical manifestations are paroxysmal colic in the right upper abdomen or under the xiphoid process, which can radiate to the right shoulder and back, and can be accompanied by abdominal distension, nausea, vomiting, fever and other symptoms. In severe cases, surgical treatment is required. Around the Spring Festival every year, there is a high incidence of cholecystitis.

04 Indigestion and acute gastroenteritis

Overeating, irregular diet, overwork, heavy drinking, and unclean diet can all lead to weakened gastrointestinal digestive function or acute gastrointestinal infection, resulting in digestive tract symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and heartburn.

05 Cardiac mucosal tear syndrome

During the holidays, people often experience nausea and vomiting after drinking a lot, getting drunk, or overeating. Severe nausea and vomiting can lead to tearing of the cardiac mucosa, which is the mucosa at the junction of the esophagus and stomach, resulting in upper gastrointestinal bleeding. In severe cases, there is a risk of hemorrhagic shock and life-threatening risks.

(Patients come to see the doctor after listening to the program)

06 Chronic digestive system diseases

(1) Patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease should avoid eating foods that are too sour, too sweet, or difficult to digest, avoid drinking coffee or strong tea, and avoid lying down in bed immediately after eating.

(2) Patients with chronic biliary system diseases: Greasy, high-fat diet and excessive drinking can aggravate chronic biliary system diseases and even induce acute cholecystitis and acute cholangitis. In severe cases, surgical treatment is required.

(3) Peptic ulcer: Patients with a history of gastric ulcer or duodenal bulb ulcer should avoid excessive drinking and irregular diet.

[6 suggestions to protect your stomach health]

01 Don’t be too casual about your diet and daily life during the holidays

During holidays, you should also pay attention to the regularity of your life and don't relax too much. The most common problem during holidays is "laziness", and life is completely disorganized. For example, sleeping during the day and waking up at night, eating at irregular times, or sleeping too little, etc., are all harmful to the stomach. Irregular life will lead to gastric dysfunction and symptoms of indigestion, manifested as upper abdominal discomfort, bloating, stomach pain, and in severe cases, nausea, acid reflux, heartburn and other discomforts. In addition, staying at home more during holidays and exercising less will aggravate the above-mentioned indigestion symptoms. Therefore, it is recommended to live as regularly as possible, eat regularly, and exercise moderately during holidays.

02 Eat in moderation

During the holidays, there are many delicious foods, and you may eat too much if you are not careful. If you do not exercise properly, the burden on your stomach will be too heavy, and you will feel fullness in the upper abdomen. Some people may experience acid reflux, heartburn, and even food regurgitation. If you eat too much and eat too much greasy food, you must not eat so much that you "walk with your hands on the wall", which is too dangerous. If you experience severe upper abdominal pain after a full meal, it is not necessarily a stomach problem, but be careful of acute pancreatitis.

03 Don’t relax your food hygiene

Nowadays, living conditions are better and everyone is very concerned about food hygiene. Basically, no one will eat unclean or expired food. For some friends, eating seafood during holidays is also a way to reward themselves. However, seafood is more prone to problems. The cooking time of seafood is relatively short, and the taste will be compromised if the cooking time is long. Because of this, if a small amount of seafood is spoiled, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms of acute gastroenteritis will occur.

04 People with chronic gastric disease should be extra careful

Friends who have chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer or gastroesophageal reflux disease should pay more attention to protecting their stomachs during the holidays. In addition to paying attention to the above points, strong tea, coffee, beverages, etc. will aggravate the symptoms of stomach problems. If you have symptoms of stomach problems, you should take medicine on time according to the doctor's advice. It makes sense to chew slowly when eating, because chewing thoroughly is the first step in digestion and can reduce the burden on the stomach.

05 Don’t take medicine randomly

Winter is cold and it is easy to catch a cold. Many friends are used to taking various cold medicines and antibiotics when they catch a cold. But they don’t know that these two medicines will damage the gastric mucosa and easily induce gastric symptoms. Therefore, when you catch a cold, you should only take cold medicines with antipyretic effects when you have a fever and your body temperature reaches 38 degrees Celsius or above. Antibiotics are only needed when the doctor confirms that you have a bacterial infection.

06 Note that some symptoms are not gastric diseases

If middle-aged and elderly people have severe upper abdominal pain, they should be careful of acute myocardial infarction. If people with diabetes have severe upper abdominal pain, it may be a manifestation of diabetic ketoacidosis. Therefore, if you have severe "stomach pain", you should seek medical attention in time. If the doctor asks you to do an electrocardiogram, blood test, etc., do not refuse.

Finally, I would like to remind you that if you have any of the above symptoms, do not take chances and seek medical attention as soon as possible!