Gastroenterology

We all experience the occasional stomach ache from time to time. Maybe you ate something that didn’t agree with you or caught a stomach bug. While this is often just an unfortunate part of life, frequent and debilitating stomach aches and pain may indicate a more serious illness, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

IBD is an umbrella term for both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Both conditions are characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract,

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness month, and as a gastroenterologist, I urge all of my patients to get educated about this cancer. The sobering facts are that colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of death from cancer in the United States. However, the optimistic news is that colorectal cancer can be prevented or caught and treated early in many people through the screening tools we have,

According to the National Institute for Health (NIH), approximately 65% of the human population has a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy. Lactose is a natural sugar commonly found in milk and dairy products. Lactase is an enzyme found in the small intestines which breaks lactose down into more simple sugars to be absorbed into the body.  When there is a deficiency in lactase, undigested lactose in the intestines pulls in water and gets fermented by bacteria which results in gas production.