Patient Charts
By: Charlotte Adams
Patient Symptoms
The patient feels burning pains that move from her stomach to her chest and has indigestion and heartburn after eating. Her stomach is constantly bloated and feels nauseous and burps a lot after eating. She also says she cannot lie down on her back without feeling like getting sick.
Doctor Diagnosis
It appears that the patient could have acid reflux. If the patient is having troubles lying down it is because acid from the stomach can move higher up the esophagus and cause more irritation, which causes the feeling of nausea. Most of the time, acid reflux comes in the form of heartburn and indigestion, which the patient appears to have. Also, if she feels sick after eating, then it only adds to the suspicion that the food is not digesting correctly and something is going wrong within the abdomen region.
How This Disease Relates to the Digestive System
This disease is caused by a malfunction in the cardiac sphincter located just below the esophagus and right above the stomach. The cardiac sphincter should close and keep acid in the stomach from entering the esophagus. However, sometimes the sphincter will not close completely and some amounts of acid will move up through the esophagus and cause irritation and nausea.
Patient Symptoms
The patient feels fatigue, nauseas and constipated. She gets sick after eating and feels like she is losing weight. She gets irritated very easily and her mood changes consistently. She also says she is having trouble with her teeth and cannot eat things such as wheat, rye, or barley.
Doctor Diagnosis
It is assumed that the patient has celiac disease. The first tip off to this assumption was the fact that the patient cannot eat gluten. Gluten is found in foods such as wheat. The patient complains about her stomach after eating wheat, which leads to the idea that the patient is suffering from celiac disease.
How This Disease Relates to the Digestive System
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease. Gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, or barley, attacks the small intestine and damages the villi that surrounds the small intestine. These villi help the body absorb nutrients and when they are damaged, they can no longer do their job. This results in the feeling of being bloated and nauseas.