What are the symptoms and causes of indigestion? What to do with indigestion? What to eat for indigestion

The Spring Festival is the most important festival for Chinese people, and eating is the "main theme" of the Spring Festival. There are a wide variety of delicious dishes, special snacks, and constant gatherings with relatives and friends. Many people eat too much without paying attention, and have persistent or recurring symptoms such as upper abdominal distension, belching, early satiety, loss of appetite, flatulence, local burning sensation, noise, nausea or vomiting. This may be indigestion. How can it be prevented?

Causes of indigestion

1. Excessive stomach acid

Lack of stomach acid is a direct cause of indigestion. You can do a stomach acid self-test. Take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. If this makes the heartburn go away, then you need more stomach acid (you can drink pure apple juice with water during meals). If this makes the symptoms worse, it means you have too much stomach acid and you should stop taking medicine to increase stomach acid.

2. Unbalanced diet

There are so many delicious foods for the New Year, and it is easy to eat too much if you eat a little bit of everything. In addition, some people eat too much fish and meat and too few vegetables and fruits, resulting in insufficient fiber intake. Processed foods, junk foods and all dairy products will stimulate the mucous membrane to secrete excessive stomach acid, leading to protein indigestion.

3. Irregular diet and excessive drinking

Too many parties, irregular meals, and excessive drinking during the holidays can easily damage the stomach. Alcohol can damage the gastric mucosa, and long-term drinking can lead to inflammation of the gastric mucosa, which in turn causes gastric dysfunction.

Tips to relieve indigestion

How can you relieve indigestion? The American "Yahoo Women's Network" once published an article recommending "8 Home Remedies for Indigestion". You may want to give it a try.

Almonds. Eat 10 peeled almonds or add a teaspoon of almond oil to warm milk to relieve indigestion. Almonds are rich in dietary fiber and can also help prevent constipation.

Baking soda. Add half a teaspoon of baking soda and a few drops of lemon juice to warm water and drink it slowly.

Peppermint tea. Peppermint tea is a better tasting way to relieve and prevent indigestion, so drink a few cups a day.

Garlic. Crush a few raw garlic cloves and add them to your meals.

Cumin. Make a drink by soaking cumin in water.

Fruits. Grapes, oranges, papayas and pineapples are all healthy fruits that can help soothe the stomach and aid digestion.

Fennel seeds. Take one teaspoon after each meal. Chew the fennel seeds and swallow them to aid digestion.

Chicory root, endive or endive are traditional stomach soothing remedies. You can boil these vegetables in water for 10 minutes and drink the water.

In addition, drinking acidic beverages such as apple cider vinegar and lemonade to aid digestion is also a good choice.

How to choose medicine for indigestion ?

1. After drinking: acid-suppressing drugs + prokinetic drugs

If the main symptoms are stomach pain and burning sensation, you can use proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole, esomeprazole, rabeprazole, or H2 receptor blockers such as cimetidine, ranitidine, famotidine to inhibit gastric acid, reduce the stimulation of gastric acid on the damaged gastric mucosa, relieve stomach pain, and accelerate mucosal healing. You can also use some gastric mucosal protective agents such as gefamate, sucralfate, deloxetine or daxifen to promote the recovery of acute gastric mucosal inflammation.

If the symptoms are mainly abdominal distension and belching, you can take prokinetic drugs such as metoclopramide, mosapride, itopride, etc. to increase gastric motility and help digestion. Of course, the above-mentioned drugs can also be used at the same time, but it is very important to reduce drinking.

2. Irregular diet: prokinetic drugs + digestive enzymes

Long-term fatigue coupled with an unreasonable diet, poor sleep, lack of physical exercise, etc., can all lead to digestive tract dysfunction, such as slowed gastrointestinal motility and reduced secretion of digestive juices, which in turn reduces digestive function. Prokinetic drugs such as metoclopramide, mosapride, and itopride can be used to promote gastrointestinal motility, thereby relieving discomfort such as abdominal distension and early satiety. At the same time, digestive enzymes such as compound digestive enzymes and pancreatic enzymes can be taken to supplement the body's own insufficient secretion of digestive enzymes and promote digestion.