1. Food Poisoning is defined as an infection or irritation of your digestive tract that is spread through food and drinks. These foods and drinks that are being consumed contain bacteria, viruses, toxins, or parasites. The effects of food poisoning are typically acute and are usually cured without treatment. In rare severe cases, it can lead to other complications. Examples of this can be dehydration, diarrhea, vomiting, and sometimes even death. How would you know if you had food poisoning? Some of the ways to diagnose someone with food poisoning could be through a stool test, a blood test, or a physical exam. The symptoms of food poising are very common and include vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache, etc. This sickness can be caused by bacteria and viruses but can also be caused by digesting harmful chemicals. When it comes to treatment options, the most common forms of treatment are replacing electrolytes and lost fluids to prevent yourself from becoming dehydrated. Depending on how bad your symptoms are, over-the-counter or prescription medicines may be prescribed to reduce symptoms. A way to prevent food poisoning is to make sure you are properly handling your food. This includes properly storing, cleaning, and cooking your food. If you or someone you know has food poisoning, I would suggest for them to make sure that they are staying hydrated and replenishing the electrolytes that they are losing. This will help them from being dehydrated. In the future, I would pay close attention to how you handle your food and pay more attention to food safety. Not utilizing proper food safety can lead to illnesses such as food poisoning. 

2. According to the National institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is a digestive disorder that affects the ring of muscle between the esophagus and the stomach. GER occurs when your stomach contents come back up into your esophagus, this also known as acid reflux. However, this condition can lead to GERD, Gastroesophageal reflux disease which is a more severe and long-lasting condition that is caused by repeated symptoms of GER and can lead to more complications over time.About 20% of Americans have been diagnosed with GERD. This disease can be developed overtime, but it is mostly found among overweight/obese people, pregnant women, smokers, or people who take certain medications. If GERD goes untreated it can lead to serious complications like Barrett’s esophagus, esophagitis, esophageal stricture, or even complications outside of the esophagus. Some complications that can occur outside of the esophagus include laryngitis, asthma, chronic cough, and wearing away of tooth enamel. GERD can be managed with over-the-counter medications and lifestyle changes. If the discomfort cannot be managed with medications, surgery will relieve the symptoms. Any symptoms of GERD should be discussed with your doctor to discuss the proper treatment. I chose this digestive disease topic because, I suffer from acid reflux frequently. I recently was tested for H. pylori, a bacteria that can live in your digestive tract.  Although H. pylori causes some different symptoms then GER my doctor wanted to rule it out because, I am way too young to be experiencing acid reflux daily. At the age of 24 to avoid acid reflux it really comes down to diet and lifestyle. I try my best to avoid acidic foods that trigger acid reflux for me such as tomato sauce, chocolate, and citrus fruits. It is hard to avoid ALL foods that cause acid reflux but that is when over the counter medication can be taken to ease the symptoms.

3. After looking at the digestive disease topics i would have to say irritable bowel syndrome has peaked my interest as it was something I had issues with as a kid. Luckily no longer really have this problem but have had two colonoscopies and two upper gi’s from dealing with this when I was in my teens. Typically for IBS you will have a decent amount of pain in your abdomen as well as different types of stool from diarrhea to regular constipation an at times it could be both. As mentioned on the website it has been noticed that doctors will review your medical and family also perform a physical exam. At times they will order test like i had to do to see if it is IBS or any other problems that we do not know about. Now that this has become a more common type of syndrome i feel like there has been a lot of changes from back then to now in terms of medicine or procedures. Some may say to help you could change how you eat, change your life style, medicine, probiotics, and possible mental health therapies. I was told to start eating more fiber when i was going through this issues at times i felt like it helped and others not to much. When i was young i know they put me on fiber gummies which did help for a bit but overtime the effect was less. For this i would say anyone experiencing IBS the first things I would recommend would be to change how you are eating. After that slowly try to change any bad lifestyle choices that could be causing stress/poor habits. As i got older these bad habits started to change and overtime i have not had issues with IBS in almost a decade.  

4. The digestive system is one of the most vulnerable areas of the human body. It’s often influenced by a number of causes that may seem unrelated at first, such as malfunctions in other parts of the body, stress, and emotional factors. Every day, millions of people are affected by digestive diseases. One of the digestive diseases is diarrhea which is characterized by loose, watery stools or a frequent need to have a bowel movement. Diarrhea is usually caused by a virus or, sometimes, contaminated food. Less frequently, it can be a sign of another disorder, such as inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome. Diarrhea is usually self-diagnosable, Peoples that have diarrhea may feel pain in the abdominal region or rectum. They can also feel frequent, loose, watery stools and belly pain. Diarrhea is self-treatment by Replacing lost fluids with an oral rehydration solution (ORS) may help prevent dehydration. Over-the-counter antidiarrheal drugs such as Pepto-Bismol and Kaopectate may also help.

5. Diverticulitis is a condition where there’s a formation of these small pouches or sacs that form on the wall of the large intestine (colon). These pouches on the wall of the colon are also pushing outward, which can inevitably get certain things that should be digested stuck. Doctors do not have an exact explanation as to why this condition happens, however, there are measures that can be taken to help with the condition. People ages 50 or younger make of 35% of those diagnosed with diverticulitis in the U.S, those 60 or older mkae up about 58% of those diagnosed with diverticulitis in the U.S. Some things that people with this condition are advised to avoid are nuts, popcorn, and seeds considering that these types of food matter can get stuck in these sacs, eventually causing inflammation. People with this condition don’t show symptoms, however, in cases that they do, they may see constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and most often abdominal pain; with a low grade fever, most likely due to inflammation of undigested food getting stuck in the small pouches or sacs. A majority of the time, people with this condition are actually prescribed medication, which when they are administered these medications, they are told to have a particular diet, mainly a liquid filled diet to prevent any other undigested food from getting lodged into sacs, making it easier for the meds used to help get rid of the inflammation. Another form of treatment woud be eating more fiber, and taking more probiotics, which help further the digestion of food within the digestive tract, also preventing the risk of inflammation due to lodged food particles. People can be diagnosed with this by a doctor when performing a physical exam, mainly a colonoscopy, which in this exam, they use a thin, flexible, long tube that is inserted into the colon, or rectum, with a tiny camera attached, looking for any changes, or abnormal apperances of the colon.