Identifying the Symptoms of Indigestion

Indigestion is a physical condition where there is pain and/or discomfort in the upper abdomen or epigastric pain, along with a feeling of fullness or bloating. The medical term is "dyspepsia". It is common to get it after eating a meal, particularly a larger one. It can be caused by many different things, but first, let's look at the symptoms.

Common Symptoms of Indigestion

Indigestion is not a disease, but the term used for a collection of gastrointestinal symptoms. There are a lot of typical symptoms of indigestion include abdominal pain, acid reflux, belching, bloating, heartburn, bad breath, and excess passage of flatus. Some of these people experience regularly, without realizing they can be symptoms of indigestion.

Causes of These Symptoms of Indigestion

When looked at as just individual symptoms, each of the symptoms of indigestion could be caused by many different things. Alternately, each of these symptoms could indicate a very specific disease. Some of the symptoms of indigestion may indicate a disease if they are viewed together, as a unit. If you give your doctor a detailed history of your symptoms of indigestion, they should be able to see whether or not your history could represent a disorder of the lower or upper digestive tract. Many of these possible disorders are comparatively mild, but some are more important to treat as soon as possible.

Some of the symptoms of indigestion are caused by overeating, eating too fast, overindulgence in alcohol, eating greasy, spicy, or fatty foods, or some medications (including iron, NSAIDS, antibiotics, corticosteroids, Fosamax, and Xenical). The symptoms can also be caused by non-food causes, like emotional distress or nervousness.

Categorized Symptoms of Indigestion

Many disorders can cause the symptoms of indigestion, including gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), ulcers, and, on occasion, rarer conditions. When the indigestion or dyspepsia has a clearly definable cause, it is considered to be "organic dyspepsia". Some of these possible disorders causing indigestion are: cancer of the stomach, peptic ulcer disease, gastritis (inflammation of the stomach), and some medications. These can all be seen either with the naked eye or with a microscope. They can be treated appropriately for the disease.

In about one half of the cases that a doctor sees, however, there is no identifiable underlying problem. The disease cause cannot be seen with the naked eye or the microscope, and the abnormal functioning can be shown by tests. (But note that the tests are complex, not widely available, and not reliable for detection of abnormalities) If there is no defined cause and no risk factors for the more obvious and serious causes, it is considered "functional dyspepsia" or "undifferentiated dyspepsia".

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