No More Digestive Problems: A Leading Gastroenterologist Provides the Answers Every Woman Needs--Real Solutions to Stop the Pain and Achieve Lasting Digestive Health - Softcover

Yoshida M.D., Cynthia

 
9780553381825: No More Digestive Problems: A Leading Gastroenterologist Provides the Answers Every Woman Needs--Real Solutions to Stop the Pain and Achieve Lasting Digestive Health
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0553381822 ISBN 13: 9780553381825
Verlag: Bantam, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

A staggering one in four women suffers some kind of gastrointestinal disorder. Some conditions, like irritable bowel syndrome, afflict more than twice as many women as men. Yet all too often, women suffer in silence—or fail to benefit when they receive the same treatment as men.

Now, in this accessible, comprehensive guide, one of the country’s leading
gastroenterologists, Dr. Cynthia Yoshida, provides the answers every woman needs, starting with a tour of the female GI system and the profound role sex hormones play. Brought to you by the American Gastroenterological Association, the book features the newest breakthrough medical treatments, plus advice on diet and gentle natural therapies that really work. No More Digestive Problems includes:

• Handling the effects of PMS, pregnancy, and menopause

• The surprising influence of weight on digestion—with vital information
on eating disorders

• Combating common ills from bloating, belching, and heartburn
to the runs and constipation

• Meeting the challenges of reflux (GERD), food intolerances, irritable bowel
syndrome (IBS), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

• The crucial facts about women and colon cancer—and how to reduce your risk

Filled with revealing patient anecdotes, self-help tips, information on standard tests, and important questions you may want to ask your physician, here is an invaluable—and potentially lifesaving—resource for women of all ages.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Cynthia Yoshida, M.D., is associate professor at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville and the director of the university's all-women's GI clinic. In addition to her numerous research publications, she is a frequent speaker at national and international medical conferences, and a recognized media spokesperson on women's digestive health.

Deborah Kotz is a health journalist who regularly works with bestselling authors as well as publishing articles in the Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, McCalls, Parents, and other magazines.?

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A staggering one in four women suffers some kind of gastrointestinal disorder. Some conditions, like irritable bowel syndrome, afflict more than twice as many women as men. Yet all too often, women suffer in silence--or fail to benefit when they receive the same treatment as men.
Now, in this accessible, comprehensive guide, one of the country's leading
gastroenterologists, Dr. Cynthia Yoshida, provides the answers every woman needs, starting with a tour of the female GI system and the profound role sex hormones play. Brought to you by the American Gastroenterological Association, the book features the newest breakthrough medical treatments, plus advice on diet and gentle natural therapies that really work. No More Digestive Problems includes:
- Handling the effects of PMS, pregnancy, and menopause
- The surprising influence of weight on digestion--with vital information
on eating disorders
- Combating common ills from bloating, belching, and heartburn
to the runs and constipation
- Meeting the challenges of reflux (GERD), food intolerances, irritable bowel
syndrome (IBS), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
- The crucial facts about women and colon cancer--and how to reduce your risk
Filled with revealing patient anecdotes, self-help tips, information on standard tests, and important questions you may want to ask your physician, here is an invaluable--and potentially lifesaving--resource for women of all ages.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

chapter

1

the guts behind the woman


It's no secret that women are different from men. We think differently, we feel differently, we communicate differently. And women live longer than men-an average of 5.4 years, to be exact. To some extent, women and men even have different digestive systems.

In fact, the two sexes seem to be separate subspecies when it comes to gastrointestinal health problems. Menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause all put a distinct feminine stamp on your digestive tract. So although you may have the same digestive symptoms as a man, you may not be suffering from the same digestive health problem.

After all, men don't experience the nine months of digestive disturbances that can come with pregnancy. Nor do they cope with the bloating, diarrhea, or constipation that waxes and wanes with menstrual cycles. And men certainly don't get painful hemorrhoids after delivering a baby.

These are just a few of the reasons why you, as a woman, need a digestive health book that you can call your own. Although you might reach for the Pepto-Bismol that your husband or boyfriend uses, the cause of your symptoms may be completely different. You may require a different diagnostic workup and a different course of treatment.

It's for this very reason that I, as a gastroenterologist, decided to focus my practice on women's health. I wanted to address the special concerns of women like you.

I really came to understand the importance of gender differences in gastrointestinal (GI) disorders after medical school, during my gastroenterology fellowship training in the early 1990s. I began to see so many women with diverse digestive problems that stemmed from a wide range of sources such as eating disorders, pregnancy, hormone replacement therapy, and childbirth. At that time sex-based differences in disease weren't included in my medical school or specialty training. I knew, of course, that when it came to digestive problems, women had unique issues that set them apart from men. But I really gleaned my knowledge from experience and by digging up GI research studies that highlighted women's health issues.

A decade ago women weren't included in clinical trials. It was assumed that diseases in men and women were the same and that women would react to medications the same way men did. This was a very wrong assumption to make, as researchers found out when they began including women in studies.

The National Institutes of Health now have an Office of Research on Women's Health that funds studies performed exclusively on women. As a result of these pioneering efforts, researchers have gathered a significant amount of evidence delineating differences in GI function in men and women. Women are unique. And there is a definite connection between a woman's reproductive tract and her digestive tract.

One study published in the Gastroenterology, the official journal of the AGA, found that women with gastrointestinal disorders like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease are far more likely to experience premenstrual syndrome (PMS) than healthy women. The study also found that women who had digestive disorders and PMS often reported that their symptoms-like diarrhea, constipation, and abdominal pain-got better and worse during the course of their menstrual cycle.

The latest research shows that female hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, affect the function of your GI tract. Here's just one example: A 2002 finding from the landmark Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) found that postmenopausal women who used hormone replacement therapy for six years had a 45 percent increased risk of developing gallbladder disease compared to their counterparts who did not take hormones.

Some exciting research findings have dramatically altered the way digestive problems are diagnosed and treated in women. In recent years several myths have been shattered. For example, little more than a decade ago women with IBS were told that their symptoms were all in their head or were caused by too much mucus in their gut. Today gastroenterologists know that both of these assumptions were wrong: IBS has been shown to be caused by a breakdown in the way food moves through the intestines or by a heightened sensitivity of the intestines to the normal movement of food. Our diet and even our emotional state can be aggravating factors in this syndrome. Another myth that's gone by the wayside is that ulcers are caused by too much stress or spicy foods. We now know they're caused by the bacteria Helicobacter pylori or by the chronic use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen (Advil, Nuprin)-taken by millions of women who suffer from chronic back pain, headaches, or arthritis.

Physicians have also become more aware of GI diseases that are more common in women than men. These include constipation, pelvic floor dysfunction, and certain liver diseases such as primary biliary cirrhosis, which can cause liver failure. One research study found that women who need liver transplants due to severe liver disease have much higher rates of bone fractures. This led to additional research, which found that women who had liver problems were at much higher risk of developing osteoporosis than men with liver problems. Further research found that women with other GI problems like inflammatory bowel disease also have a higher risk of osteoporosis. As a result of this work, women with these conditions now have bone density tests routinely and are given appropriate medications to prevent bone loss.

New findings also suggest that medications don't always work the same in women as in men. Researchers have discovered that men and women metabolize drugs differently because some of the liver enzymes that break down drugs are more active in women than in men. At least four of ten drugs removed from the market in recent years, due to unacceptable side effects, posed greater health risks to women than to men.

The field of women's digestive health is no passing fad. Female medical school students are entering gastroenterology in greater and greater numbers, often becoming subspecialists in women's health. During the last few years the number of women entering gastroenterology fellowship training increased dramatically. In 2002 one in four GI "fellows" was a woman! And many GI practices are specifically seeking out women to join their practice.

What's more, this past year the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) along with the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, updated the GI training curriculum used for all gastroenterology fellows to include women's health issues. This training will focus on digestive disease issues specific to women, such as how menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause affect our digestive tract. It also touches on the use of stress management, herbal therapies, and other alternative therapies to relieve GI symptoms.

All of these issues are vital to getting the solutions you need to cure your digestive problems. They are all addressed in this book and really form the basis for why you, as a woman, need a digestive health book that's tailored for your unique health needs. Through this book I want to pass on the knowledge that I've learned by serving for more than ten years as an attending physician in the gastroenterology department at the University of Virginia (UVA) Hospital in Charlottesville. As founder of the Women's GI Clinic at UVA, I have focused my own clinical and research interests in women's digestive health.

why i started a women-only gi clinic

By and large,...

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Verlag
Bantam
Erscheinungsdatum
2004
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0553381822
ISBN 13 
9780553381825
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
400
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

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