Dyspepsia Conditions | Treatments

One of the most misunderstood illnesses is the stomachache. This is the term most used to describe such a discomfort in the upper abdominal area which could be anywhere between the nave; and breast bone. While this condition is commonly attributed to peptic ulcers, in most cases it is actually due to dyspepsia. Dyspepsia is a general term applied to conditions where patients feel pain or discomfort concentrated in the upper abdomen. Specifically, the symptoms may include bloating, early satiety and excessive fullness after meals, nausea, anorexia, heartburn, regurgitation and burping or belching and should be differentiated from simple hunger pangs.

Conditions like peptic ulcer disease, acid reflux disease; gallstones and certain liver diseases may also be present this way, but when these have been ruled out, the condition is more accurately termed non-ulcer dyspepsia. Dyspepsia may be a result of an exaggerated response to normal conditions like mild stomach distension and normal acid production. Reduced gastric emptying or the impaired ability of the stomach to push food into the small intestines to facilitate digestion, a condition particularly common diabetic patients is another cause of dyspepsia.

There are various ways of curing dyspepsia and one medication is the common antacid. While antacids promptly reduce stomach acidity and may alleviate some of the symptoms of dyspepsia in some patients, they do not necessarily address all the other mechanisms that result in symptoms like excessive bloating and fullness. There are also herbal preparations and food supplements that are widely promoted in the media, but one should be careful in buying these supplements and must check weather or not your country bureau of food and dugs does approve them.