Acidity
Overview
Indigestion — also called dyspepsia or an upset stomach — is a general term that describes discomfort in your upper abdomen. Indigestion is not a disease, but rather some symptoms you experience, including abdominal pain and a feeling of fullness soon after you start eating. Although indigestion is common, each person may experience indigestion in a slightly different way. Symptoms of indigestion may be felt occasionally or as often as daily.
Indigestion can be a symptom of another digestive disease. Indigestion that isn’t caused by an underlying disease may be eased with lifestyle changes and medication.
Symptoms
People with indigestion may have one or more of the following symptoms:
- Early fullness during a meal.
You haven’t eaten much of your meal, but you already feel full and may not be able to finish eating. - Uncomfortable fullness after a meal.
Fullness lasts longer than it should. - Discomfort in the upper abdomen.
You feel a mild to severe pain in the area between the bottom of your breastbone and your navel. - Burning in the upper abdomen.
You feel an uncomfortable heat or burning sensation between the bottom of your breastbone and your navel. - Bloating in the upper abdomen.
You feel an uncomfortable sensation of tightness due to a buildup of gas. - Nausea.
You feel as though you want to vomit.
Less frequent symptoms include vomiting and belching.
Sometimes people with indigestion also experience heartburn, but heartburn and indigestion are two separate conditions. Heartburn is a pain or burning feeling in the center of your chest that may radiate into your neck or back during or after eating.
When to see a doctor
Mild indigestion is usually nothing to worry about. Consult your doctor if discomfort persists for more than two weeks. Contact your doctor right away if pain is severe or accompanied by:
- Unintentional weight loss or loss of appetite
- Repeated vomiting or vomiting with blood
- Black, tarry stools
- Trouble swallowing that gets progressively worse
- Fatigue or weakness, which may indicate anemia
Seek immediate medical attention if you have:
- Shortness of breath, sweating or chest pain radiating to the jaw, neck or arm
- Chest pain on exertion or with stress
Causes
Indigestion has many possible causes. Often, indigestion is related to lifestyle and may be triggered by food, drink or medication. Common causes of indigestion include:
- Overeating or eating too quickly
- Fatty, greasy or spicy foods
- Too much caffeine, alcohol, chocolate or carbonated beverages
- Smoking
- Anxiety
- Certain antibiotics, pain relievers and iron supplements
Sometimes indigestion is caused by other digestive conditions, including:
- Inflammation of the stomach (gastritis)
- Peptic ulcers
- Celiac disease
- Gallstones
- Constipation
- Pancreas inflammation (pancreatitis)
- Stomach cancer
- Intestinal blockage
- Reduced blood flow in the intestine (intestinal ischemia)
Indigestion with no obvious cause is known as functional or nonulcer dyspepsia.
Complications
Although indigestion doesn’t usually have serious complications, it can affect your quality of life by making you feel uncomfortable and causing you to eat less. You might miss work or school because of your symptoms. When indigestion is caused by an underlying condition, that condition can also have its own complications.
Peptic Ulcer Disease
Overview
Peptic ulcers are open sores that develop on the inside lining of your stomach and the upper portion of your small intestine. The most common symptom of a peptic ulcer is stomach pain.
Peptic ulcers include:
- Gastric ulcers
that occur on the inside of the stomach - Duodenal ulcers
that occur on the inside of the upper portion of your small intestine (duodenum)
The most common causes of peptic ulcers are infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and long-term use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and naproxen sodium (Aleve). Stress and spicy foods do not cause peptic ulcers. However, they can make your symptoms worse.
Symptoms
- Burning stomach pain
- Feeling of fullness, bloating or belching
- Intolerance to fatty foods
- Heartburn
- Nausea
The most common peptic ulcer symptom is burning stomach pain. Stomach acid makes the pain worse, as does having an empty stomach. The pain can often be relieved by eating certain foods that buffer stomach acid or by taking an acid-reducing medication, but then it may come back. The pain may be worse between meals and at night.
Many people with peptic ulcers don’t even have symptoms.
Less often, ulcers may cause severe signs or symptoms such as:
- Vomiting or vomiting blood — which may appear red or black
- Dark blood in stools, or stools that are black or tarry
- Trouble breathing
- Feeling faint
- Nausea or vomiting
- Unexplained weight loss
- Appetite changes
When to see a doctor
See your doctor if you have the severe signs or symptoms listed above. Also see your doctor if over-the-counter antacids and acid blockers relieve your pain but the pain returns.
Gastritis
Overview
Gastritis is a particular phrase for a group of circumstances that have one thing in the prevalent inflammatory condition of the stomach outer layer Gastritis inflammation is most frequently the result of infection with the same bacteria that causes most stomach ulcers. Frequent use of certain pain relievers and drinking too much alcohol may also relate to gastritis. Gastritis may occur unexpectedly (acute gastritis) or occur slowly over time (chronic gastritis). In some cases, gastritis may lead to ulcers and a greater risk of stomach cancer. For most people, even so, gastritis is not serious and improves rapidly with treatment.
Symptoms
The signs and symptoms of gastritis include:
- Gnawing or burning ache or pain (indigestion) in your upper abdomen that may become either worse or better with eating
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- A feeling of fullness in your upper abdomen after eating
Gastritis doesn’t always cause signs and symptoms.
When to see a doctor
Nearly everyone has had a bout of indigestion and stomach irritation. Most cases of indigestion are short-lived and don’t require medical care. See your doctor if you have signs and symptoms of gastritis for a week or longer. Tell your doctor if your stomach discomfort occurs after taking prescription or over-the-counter drugs, especially aspirin or other pain relievers.
If you are vomiting blood, have blood in your stools or have stools that appear black, see your doctor right away to determine the cause.
Causes
Gastritis is an inflammation of the stomach lining. Weaknesses or injury to the mucus-lined barrier that protects your stomach wall allows your digestive juices to damage and inflame your stomach lining. A number of diseases and conditions can increase your risk of gastritis, including Crohn’s disease and sarcoidosis, a condition in which collections of inflammatory cells grow in the body.
Risk factors
Factors that increase your risk of gastritis include:
- Bacterial infection.
Although infection with Helicobacter pylori is among the most common worldwide human infections, only some people with the infection develop gastritis or other upper gastrointestinal disorders. Doctors believe vulnerability to the bacterium could be inherited or could be caused by lifestyle choices, such as smoking and diet. - Regular use of pain relievers.
Common pain relievers — such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and naproxen (Aleve, Anaprox) — can cause both acute gastritis and chronic gastritis. Using these pain relievers regularly or taking too much of these drugs may reduce a key substance that helps preserve the protective lining of your stomach. - Older age.
Older adults have an increased risk of gastritis because the stomach lining tends to thin with age and because older adults are more likely to have H. pylori infection or autoimmune disorders than younger people are. - Excessive alcohol use.
Alcohol can irritate and erode your stomach lining, which makes your stomach more vulnerable to digestive juices. Excessive alcohol use is more likely to cause acute gastritis. - Stress.
Severe stress due to major surgery, injury, burns or severe infections can cause acute gastritis. - Your own body attacking cells in your stomach.
Called autoimmune gastritis, this type of gastritis occurs when your body attacks the cells that make up your stomach lining. This reaction can wear away at your stomach’s protective barrier.Autoimmune gastritis is more common in people with other autoimmune disorders, including Hashimoto’s disease and type 1 diabetes. Autoimmune gastritis can also be associated with vitamin B-12 deficiency. - Other diseases and conditions.
Gastritis may be associated with other medical conditions, including HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease and parasitic infections.
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) occurs when stomach acid frequently flows back into the tube connecting your mouth and stomach (esophagus). This backwash (acid reflux) can irritate the lining of your esophagus.
Many people experience acid reflux from time to time. GERD is mild acid reflux that occurs at least twice a week, or moderate to severe acid reflux that occurs at least once a week.
Most people can manage the discomfort of GERD with lifestyle changes and over-the-counter medications. But some people with GERD may need stronger medications or surgery to ease symptoms.
Symptoms
Common signs and symptoms of GERD include:
- A burning sensation in your chest (heartburn), usually after eating, which might be worse at night
- Chest pain
- Difficulty swallowing
- Regurgitation of food or sour liquid
- Sensation of a lump in your throat
If you have nighttime acid reflux, you might also experience:
- Chronic cough
- Laryngitis
- New or worsening asthma
- Disrupted sleep
When to see a doctor
Seek immediate medical care if you have chest pain, especially if you also have shortness of breath, or jaw or arm pain. These may be signs and symptoms of a heart attack.
Make an appointment with your doctor if you:
- Experience severe or frequent GERD symptoms
- Take over-the-counter medications for heartburn more than twice a week
Causes
GERD is caused by frequent acid reflux.
When you swallow, a circular band of muscle around the bottom of your esophagus (lower esophageal sphincter) relaxes to allow food and liquid to flow into your stomach. Then the sphincter closes again.
If the sphincter relaxes abnormally or weakens, stomach acid can flow back up into your esophagus. This constant backwash of acid irritates the lining of your esophagus, often causing it to become inflamed.
Risk factors
Conditions that can increase your risk of GERD include:
- Obesity
- Bulging of the top of the stomach up into the diaphragm (hiatal hernia)
- Pregnancy
- Connective tissue disorders, such as scleroderma
- Delayed stomach emptying
Factors that can aggravate acid reflux include:
- Smoking
- Eating large meals or eating late at night
- Eating certain foods (triggers) such as fatty or fried foods
- Drinking certain beverages, such as alcohol or coffee
- Taking certain medications, such as aspirin
Complications
Over time, chronic inflammation in your esophagus can cause:
- Narrowing of the esophagus (esophageal stricture).
Damage to the lower esophagus from stomach acid causes scar tissue to form. The scar tissue narrows the food pathway, leading to problems with swallowing. - An open sore in the esophagus (esophageal ulcer).
Stomach acid can wear away tissue in the esophagus, causing an open sore to form. An esophageal ulcer can bleed, cause pain and make swallowing difficult. - Precancerous changes to the esophagus (Barrett’s esophagus).
Damage from acid can cause changes in the tissue lining the lower esophagus. These changes are associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer.