Your liver works hard to protect your health. It’s a rugged, strong organ! But certain things—like alcohol, drugs, viruses, and excess weight—can damage it. You may not even realize when your liver is struggling, because liver disease usually has no symptoms until the problem becomes severe. Help your liver to guard your health by avoiding the things that might cause … Read more
Today is Dress in Blue Day! March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month! Colorectal cancer is preventable, treatable and beatable. The key is regular screenings — starting earlier than you might think. Start screening at age 45 if you are at average risk. If you are at increased risk, you may need to be screened earlier or more often – talk … Read more
“Trust your gut” may sound like wishful thinking if you live with symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), an ongoing health condition that causes pain, constipation, diarrhea and/or gas. But your doctor can work with you to create a plan to relieve your symptoms and help you trust your gut again. IBS is a disorder of the brain-gut interaction. It’s … Read more
Feasting with family is part of many holiday celebrations. Here are some tips to help prevent food poisoning, or foodborne illness, during the holidays. Keep foods separated. Keep meat, chicken, turkey, seafood, and eggs separate from all other foods at the grocery store and in the refrigerator. Prevent juices from meat, chicken, turkey, and seafood from dripping or leaking onto … Read more
Many people with gallstones do not have any symptoms. However, if a large stone blocks a tube or duct that drains the gallbladder, you may have a cramping pain in the middle to right upper abdomen. This is known as biliary colic. The pain goes away if the stone passes into the first part of the small intestine. Biliary colic … Read more
What are the symptoms of a peptic ulcer? A dull or burning pain in your stomach is the most common symptom of a peptic ulcer. You may feel the pain anywhere between your belly button and breastbone. The pain most often: happens when your stomach is empty—such as between meals or during the night stops briefly if you eat or … Read more
What is the “stomach flu”? People commonly call viral gastroenteritis “stomach flu,” but the term is not medically correct. Flu viruses do not cause viral gastroenteritis. Stomach flu is a viral infection that affects the stomach and small intestine. It is also called viral gastroenteritis. The illness is usually brief, lasting 1 to 3 days. Many different viruses can cause … Read more
As people age, it’s common to develop small pouches in the colon wall, called diverticula. Many people spend their lives without ever noticing a problem, but when the diverticula become infected problems result. Diverticulitis is when those little diverticula become infected. What are the symptoms of diverticular disease? Symptoms of diverticular disease depend on whether diverticula—pouches in the wall of … Read more
It can be tricky to diagnose a digestive disease because they share a lot of symptoms. Symptoms of many gut conditions include pain, gassiness, bloating, and diarrhea. To figure out what’s causing gut troubles, doctors may need to run a variety of tests. These can include blood tests and a stool test to look for infection. Some people may have … Read more
You feel something rising in your throat. It burns and tastes acidic. Now you feel it behind your breastbone. Is it heartburn? Is it GERD? Is it acid reflux? Are they all the same? We’ve compiled a simple overview to help you navigate this often tricky area of digestive conditions. Acid reflux: The cause Acid reflux is when the contents … Read more