Gastrointestinal / Articles

THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE CELEBRITIES GET GALLSTONES

What do pop artist Andy Warhol, former attorney general John Ashcroft, and the Dalai Lama have in common?

They all suffered from gallstones.

PANCREATITIS: FOR SENIORS, IT’S AS COMMON AS MURDER

In 323 BC, after a two-day drinking binge in Babylon with his friend Medius of Larissa, Alexander the Great developed fevers, vomiting, and severe abdominal pain—symptoms consistent with pancreatitis.

ULCERS: HOME REMEDY TO HIGH TECH

Enjoy your favorite hot curry and live a road warrior lifestyle; after two-weeks of the new ulcer “triple therapy” drug cocktail you should be in the clear.

POKING THROUGH THE ODDS OF HERNIA

It is a rare moment when you can compare your gut to a well-worn pillow with the cotton fluff poking through its loose stitching. But when you develop a hernia, it is unfortunately possible. Sometimes, a section of the thin abdominal wall that usually bundles our innards snugly into their functional positions may tear and allow a piece of an organ, usually intestine, to bulge through. Around 680,000 surgeries are performed in the US annually for this painful condition.

COLONOSCOPIES HAVE A STATISTICAL UPSIDE

Turning fifty is often the occasion for a huge birthday bash. True, you are opening yourself up to getting those dreaded “Over the Hill” themed cards, but having reached a real milestone—a half century of life—you deserve to be feted. The jokes about receding hairlines or advancing waistlines shouldn’t dampen the mood. But one thing might—you have now reached the age when your doctor is likely to advise you to get a colonoscopy.

APPENDICITIS

The appendix, a worm-shaped offshoot of the large intestine, is a bit of an anatomical mystery. No one is quite sure what it does,