How to Treat Dyspepsia
Dyspepsia is a set of symptoms that appear together as discomfort in the stomach, such as bloating, stomach feeling full, stomach ache, and pain in the epigastrium. However, it is worth knowing that dyspepsia is not a disease, but a symptom of a disease or indigestion. Then how to treat dyspepsia? Check out the explanation in this article.
Dyspepsia Symptoms
Dyspepsia in the medical world is defined as a collection of symptoms of discomfort in the upper abdomen. Usually people who have dyspepsia will feel the symptoms a few moments after eating. Symptoms that can be felt from dyspepsia are usually stomach ache or bloating, pain in the epigastrium, nausea, vomiting, and a lot of belching. Apart from these symptoms, dyspepsia can also cause various complaints, including:
- When eating quickly feel full.
- Not able to spend food in large portions.
- After eating a normal portion of the stomach feels full.
- There is a feeling of burning and burning sensation in the stomach and esophagus.
- Fart a lot.
Causes of Dyspepsia
Dyspepsia can occur if the amount of stomach acid increases so that the stomach wall becomes irritated. This irritation causes various complaints in the stomach which can be felt up to the esophagus. It is this complaint of pain that occurs in the stomach that causes dyspepsia known as heartburn.
Dyspepsia can occur due to the influence of an unhealthy lifestyle, such as:
- Eat irregularly.
- Many consume spicy and fatty foods.
- Being overweight (obesity).
- Too often consume caffeinated drinks.
- Have a smoking habit.
- Have a habit of consuming alcoholic beverages.
In addition, dyspepsia can also be caused by tain diseases or medical conditions, including:
- Have acid reflux disease (GERD).
- Have stomach disorders, such as inflammation of the stomach or gastritis, peptic ulcers, pylori bacterial infections in the stomach, and stomach cancer.
- Have problems in the bile duct, such as cholecystitis.
- Have pancreatic disorders, such as acute pancreatitis and chronic pancreatitis.
- Side effects of drugs, such as corticosteroids, antibiotics, and NSAID class drugs, such as ibuprofen or aspirin.
How to Treat Dyspepsia
How to treat dyspepsia needs to be adjusted to what causes it and the severity of the symptoms. Therefore, if you have symptoms that lead to dyspepsia, you should immediately see a doctor.
After the doctor diagnoses and knows the cause of dyspepsia, the doctor will determine the appropriate treatment steps. As a first step, doctors will usually advise you to change your lifestyle, such as:
Implement a healthy diet
Maybe the doctor will advise you to eat little by little and slowly until the texture becomes smooth before you swallow it. In addition, the doctor will also advise you to avoid spicy and fatty foods, as well as drinks that contain caffeine (coffee, tea and energy drinks), soft drinks, alcoholic beverages and stop smoking.
Maintain ideal body weight
One of the factors that can increase the risk of having dyspepsia is being overweight or obese. Therefore, if you are overweight, your doctor will advise you to lose weight and maintain an ideal body weight.
Exercise regularly
How to treat dyspepsia at home apart from adopting a healthy diet, to maintain an ideal body weight can be by exercising regularly. Exercising can maximize the body's metabolism and help the performance of the digestive organs. However, after eating you should not immediately exercise, wait a few moments later.
Reduce stress
Excessive stress can cause stomach acid production to increase, thus triggering the appearance of dyspeptic symptoms. Therefore, you need to manage stress well, for example by doing activities you like (hobby) or using relaxation methods.
Avoid the habit of lying down after eating
The stomach takes several hours to be able to digest food and empty it. When you lie down after eating, the stomach will be depressed. This is what can cause dyspeptic symptoms to reappear or relapse. Therefore, after eating it is best to wait between 2-3 hours before lying down or going to bed.
Taking Medications
In addition to advocating for changing lifestyles, doctors may also give you medications to treat dyspepsia. Medications that are often used to treat dyspeptic complaints are antacid class medicine. In addition, some of the medications that doctors may prescribe are H2 antagonistic relief medicines that can reduce stomach acid production and proton pump inhibitor medicines to lower stomach acid levels and relieve symptoms.
The doctor may also give you prokinetic medications to relieve symptoms and antibiotic medications if the dyspepsia experienced is caused by a bacterial infection.
Also read articles about: How to Prevent and Treat Diarrhea
That's an explanation of how to treat dyspepsia. Usually the right treatment can be very helpful. However, you need to be careful if your dyspepsia is accompanied by other complaints such as difficulty swallowing, sudden weight loss for no apparent reason, black bowel movements, and vomiting of blood. These symptoms may indicate that your dyspepsia is caused by a serious medical condition and requires intensive care from a doctor.