How a Gastroenterologist Can Improve Your Digestive System

Your digestive system is important because it converts the foods you eat into nutrients and energy to fuel your body. When your digestive system isn’t working well, your entire body suffers. Drs. Pear Enam, Rashid Hanif, and Urooj Ahmed at Gastroenterology Associates in Hagerstown, MD, provide a wide range of gastroenterology services to improve your digestive system.

What You Need To Know About Gastroenterology

Let’s look at how your digestive system works. Digestion starts with chewing and swallowing your food, and the food goes down your esophagus. Your gastroenterologist can diagnose and treat common conditions involving your esophagus, including:

• Acid reflux
• Esophageal irritation
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease

The food travels along your esophagus and down into your stomach. Your gastroenterologist can diagnose and treat conditions involving your stomach, including:

• Stomach ulcers
• Gastritis
• Stomach cancer

As food leaves your stomach, it flows down your large intestine, and then the small intestine, the colon, is eventually excreted out of the rectum as waste material. Your gastroenterologist can diagnose and treat conditions involving your intestines, colon, and rectum including:

• Intestinal polyps
• Crohn’s disease
• Diverticulitis and diverticulosis
• Stomach, intestinal, and colon cancer

A gastroenterologist can also diagnose and treat acute conditions involving your digestive system. You should visit your gastroenterologist if you are experiencing:

• Unexplained, excessive, sudden weight loss
• Abdominal cramping and pain that doesn’t go away
• Diarrhea or constipation that doesn’t go away
• Changes to the consistency or color of your stool
• Frequent nausea and vomiting episodes that don’t go away

Your gastroenterologist can also provide routine screenings to help ensure a healthy digestive system. Common routine screenings include an endoscopy, to check for abnormalities in the upper digestive system, and a colonoscopy, to check for abnormalities in the lower digestive system and colon.

Want To Know More?

To learn more about how a gastroenterologist can improve your digestive system, talk with the experts. Call Drs. Pear Enam, Rashid Hanif, and Urooj Ahmed at Gastroenterology Associates in Hagerstown, MD. You can reach them in the office by calling (301) 733-4404, so call today.