Posts Tagged ‘Serious Health’
Constipation, bloating and farting go hand in hand
One of my most common complaints, though not a serious health issue, is constipation. Now, I realise that to actually have a diagnosis of constipation it should be a change in bowel pattern, such that it is not normal to myself. Everyone’s bowel habits are different – some go twice a day, while others may not go more than once a week. I fall somewhere in between, but there are other symptoms I suffer when I know I have constipation. One of those symptoms is bloating. And last night was one of those severe nights of bloating.
I was unable to sleep because every position was uncomfortable. I felt I needed to vomit to release everything inside my stomach. The stretching of the bowels was painful and as I rubbed my belly for comfort, it felt like I was distended from pregnancy. A large, loud burp relieved some of the pain and distention, but immediately, it would build up again. I had to sit, leaning forward to ease some of the pain.
In the past, I would turn to liquid antacids for relief. It did not always help and for many years, I have taken nothing. Yet, last night I was wishing for some. I had to turn to a peppermint lozenge. Why? Because I know that mints are one of the no-nos for people who suffer from acid reflux. (It may be that I have a problem with acid reflux due to my love of mints, which may be the culprit for all this bloating.) However, I understand that the mechanism of action is that mints lower the pressure in the lower esophageal sphincter, that muscle that separates the end of the esophagus and the stomach. This muscle relaxes in order to allow food to enter the stomach and contracts to prevent food from returning to the esophagus. Mints act to relax the muscle, which exacerbates acid reflux. However, I felt I needed it to relax to release all the trapped air. Whether or not it worked, or whether the gas finally dissolved on its own, I cannot say. But, I do know that eventually, I felt sufficiently comfortable to return to bed.
Now, I’ve tried to identify the triggers for the bloating, but it never is constant. I can be eating the same thing day after day and not have a problem and then bang! I’m bloated. The one thing I can associate it with is constipation. If the bowels are blocked up at one end, gas cannot pass through that end. So, when I feel bloated, I try to burp. Excessive burping warns me that my bowels are blocked.
People may not find passing gas very pleasant, but it is a necessary and vital part of life. Kids love it, though – they think it’s hilarious. Now, one should be careful not to encourage them to fart too loudly in public or amongst crowds, but one should not discourage them from relieving themselves when necessary, either. They should do it tactfully and others should tactfully try to ignore it.
Have advances in medicine caused people to become complacent?
We always greet advances in medicine with enthusiasm. We hope and pray for new treatments for serious health problems. We are grateful for technology that saves lives. Yet, there is a downside to all this technology.
We have extended lives and in doing so, we have created new problems, new illnesses. Take Alzheimer’s, for example. When people started living longer, we began to see a rise in what was initially thought to be senility. Now we have multiple diagnoses for dementia, one of which is Alzheimer’s. We have machines to keep people alive. Now we’ve run into ethical issues regarding end-of-life and right-to-die. When is it permissible or ethical to turn off the ventilator or remove the feeding tube? But another serious issue is that people start thinking that they can ignore serious health consequences because there are means of overcoming them.
I read an article about an HIV/AIDS survivor who expressed his concerns that young people are taking chances with their lives because they are no longer scared of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Had they witnessed first hand all the horrific side effects of HIV, they would not be so complacent. As it is, HIV treatment has allowed many survivors to live normal lives. Of course, this only applies to those who are being treated. But it is rare for young people in developed countries to see the consequences of AIDS. Perhaps, they need to visit Africa and see the devastation there.
Now, I’m not saying that medical advances are bad. They’re not. It’s great that we can conquer illnesses, but the fight is never won. The battle is never over. There will always be obstacles. Unfortunately, we shouldn’t have to keep fighting so many battles. If people could take responsibility for their actions, we might prevent disease, rather than have to tackle them afterwards. HIV/AIDS is still a major issue, but it does not attract attention as it did in the 1980s. People have forgotten how scary it was when we first heard about it. Young people today were not around to experience it. So, they ignore it. If they were to receive the diagnosis now, they probably would shrug it off and ask for the treatment. Their complacency means that they might not be compliant with the treatments.
Yet, I wonder if behaviour would change if young people knew first-hand about the seriousness of sexually-transmitted diseases. Would there be the same rate of unprotected sex and teenage pregnancies? Would there be any changes in attitude towards sexual activity? Is it really the advances in medicine that have produced this complacency or is it a generational attitude?
