The bookstores are full of advice literature for all those who can no longer rely on their gut feeling. Supermarkets offer food on shelves for people with digestive problems - what is not in them seems to become more and more important. Stomach and intestinal problems are among the most common reasons for a visit to the doctor. What's the matter with you?
The intestine is one of the oldest organs in the history of development. In the wake of the industrial revolution, our eating habits have also revolutionized, within a few generations. Industrially produced food instead of natural nutrition - it was not to be expected that the body could adapt to it without any problems. A large part of the complaints that are now being discussed on all sides can certainly be traced back to the fact that adaptation to changing lifestyles has not been optimally successful.
But it is often difficult to find out what is the reason in the individual case when the stomach goes on strike.
An experienced physician first examines the patient thoroughly in order to distinguish harmless short-term disorders from potentially serious illnesses. An ultrasound examination of the abdominal organs is definitely one of the first diagnostic measures. If this examination does not provide any information, serious organic diseases such as stomach ulcers or even tumour diseases should be excluded by means of endoscopic diagnostics, i.e. gastroscopy and colonoscopy. This applies in particular if such examinations have never been carried out before, if blood is present in the stool or if there is a family predisposition for gastrointestinal diseases.
In more than half of the patients who go to the doctor because of chronic abdominal pain, there is no tangible cause, i.e. an organic disease can be ruled out. These patients then suffer from so-called functional gastrointestinal complaints, which means that the digestive activity and their perception are disturbed without visible pathological findings.
Any section of the gastrointestinal tract from the esophagus to the rectum can be affected, but the most common functional disorders are irritable bowel syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome (functional dyspepsia).
