This book is a complete guide to indigestion and related disorders - including everything from heartburn to belching to peptic ulcer (which strikes about ten per cent of the general population, some twenty million people, at some time in their lives) and hiatal hernia. Recognizing the need and desire for information and guidance about the disorders of the important upper gastrointestinal tract, Dr Henry D. Janowitz - one of America's most eminent gastroenterologists - offersadvice on how to avoid and take care of this whole complex of disturbances we call indigestion. He first turns to the basic problems of indigestion, sorting out the different vintages and devoting considerable space to the standard tests used for detection, as well as the valuable new diagnostic devices- their value and risks, their advantages and drawbacks, and their costs. He next deals with the ever-present problem of heartburn, as well as inflammation of the esophagus (esophagitis), and its relation to the anatomical defect of a hiatal hernia, explaining the problems in distinguishing chest pain of cardiac origin from chest pain of a non-cardiac condition. Janowitz continues with specific problems such as peptic ulcer, discussing what we know of its causes, its prevention, and our bestmethods of treatment; the damaging and injurious effects of modern-day medications on the stomach, expecially how it relates to an aging population; guidelines to help you make an informed decision in consultation with your doctor regarding the gallbladder and gallstones; problems associated with theappearance of jaundice, the yellowing of the skin, which results from the blockage of the flow of bile from the liver or gallbladder; disorders of the pancreas; and finally, reviews of food allergy and food intolerance, the aging gut, and the brain-gut connection. Indigestion is a down-to-earth, reliable guide to these common medical complaints. It is a must reading for anyone suffering from heartburn, ulcers, gallbladder disease, or any number of gastrointestinalailments.