{"product_id":"no-more-digestive-problems-isbn-9780553381825","title":"No More Digestive Problems","description":"A staggering one in four women suffers some kind of gastrointestinal disorder.  Some conditions, like irritable bowel syndrome, afflict more than twice as many women as men.  Yet all too often, women suffer in silence—or fail to benefit when they receive the same treatment as men.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, in this accessible, comprehensive guide, one of the country’s leading \u003cbr\u003egastroenterologists, Dr. Cynthia Yoshida, provides the answers every woman needs, starting with a tour of the female GI system and the profound role sex hormones play. Brought to you by the American Gastroenterological Association, the book features the newest breakthrough medical treatments, plus advice on diet and gentle natural therapies that really work. No More Digestive Problems includes:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• Handling the effects of PMS, pregnancy, and menopause\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• The surprising influence of weight on digestion—with vital information\u003cbr\u003e   on eating disorders\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• Combating common ills from bloating, belching, and heartburn \u003cbr\u003e   to the runs and constipation\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• Meeting the challenges of reflux (GERD), food intolerances, irritable bowel\u003cbr\u003e   syndrome (IBS), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e• The crucial facts about women and colon cancer—and how to reduce your risk\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFilled with revealing patient anecdotes, self-help tips, information on standard tests, and important questions you may want to ask your physician, here is an invaluable—and potentially lifesaving—resource for women of all ages.\"Yoshida offers detailed planning suggestions so that readers may obtain maximum benefit from a doctor visit, including questions to ask and information to provide.... For Yoshida, “celebrating yourself as a woman is a vital part of staying healthy,” and in this astonishingly comprehensive and well-written work, she offers many ways to do that.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003eCynthia Yoshida, M.D., is associate professor at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville and the director of the university's all-women's GI clinic.  In addition to her numerous research publications, she is a frequent speaker at national and international medical conferences, and a recognized media spokesperson on women's  digestive health.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDeborah Kotz is a health journalist who regularly works with bestselling authors as well as publishing articles in the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post, Good Housekeeping, McCalls, Parents\u003c\/i\u003e, and other magazines.?chapter\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethe guts behind the woman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's no secret that women are different from men. We think differently,  we feel differently, we communicate differently. And women live longer  than men-an average of 5.4 years, to be exact. To some extent, women  and men even have different digestive systems.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn fact, the two sexes seem to be separate subspecies when it comes to  gastrointestinal health problems. Menstruation, pregnancy, and  menopause all put a distinct feminine stamp on your digestive tract. So  although you may have the same digestive symptoms as a man, you may not  be suffering from the same digestive health problem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter all, men don't experience the nine months of digestive  disturbances that can come with pregnancy. Nor do they cope with the  bloating, diarrhea, or constipation that waxes and wanes with menstrual  cycles. And men certainly don't get painful hemorrhoids after  delivering a baby.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese are just a few of the reasons why you, as a woman, need a  digestive health book that you can call your own. Although you might  reach for the Pepto-Bismol that your husband or boyfriend uses, the  cause of your symptoms may be completely different. You may require a  different diagnostic workup and a different course of treatment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's for this very reason that I, as a gastroenterologist, decided to  focus my practice on women's health. I wanted to address the special  concerns of women like you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI really came to understand the importance of gender differences in  gastrointestinal (GI) disorders after medical school, during my  gastroenterology fellowship training in the early 1990s. I began to see  so many women with diverse digestive problems that stemmed from a wide  range of sources such as eating disorders, pregnancy, hormone  replacement therapy, and childbirth. At that time sex-based differences  in disease weren't included in my medical school or specialty training.  I knew, of course, that when it came to digestive problems, women had  unique issues that set them apart from men. But I really gleaned my  knowledge from experience and by digging up GI research studies that  highlighted women's health issues.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA decade ago women weren't included in clinical trials. It was assumed  that diseases in men and women were the same and that women would react  to medications the same way men did. This was a very wrong assumption  to make, as researchers found out when they began including women in  studies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe National Institutes of Health now have an Office of Research on  Women's Health that funds studies performed exclusively on women. As a  result of these pioneering efforts, researchers have gathered a  significant amount of evidence delineating differences in GI function  in men and women. Women are unique. And there is a definite connection  between a woman's reproductive tract and her digestive tract.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne study published in the Gastroenterology, the official journal of  the AGA, found that women with gastrointestinal disorders like  irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease are far  more likely to experience premenstrual syndrome (PMS) than healthy  women. The study also found that women who had digestive disorders and  PMS often reported that their symptoms-like diarrhea, constipation, and  abdominal pain-got better and worse during the course of their  menstrual cycle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe latest research shows that female hormones, such as estrogen and  progesterone, affect the function of your GI tract. Here's just one  example: A 2002 finding from the landmark Heart and Estrogen\/Progestin  Replacement Study (HERS) found that postmenopausal women who used  hormone replacement therapy for six years had a 45 percent increased  risk of developing gallbladder disease compared to their counterparts  who did not take hormones.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome exciting research findings have dramatically altered the way  digestive problems are diagnosed and treated in women. In recent years  several myths have been shattered. For example, little more than a  decade ago women with IBS were told that their symptoms were all in  their head or were caused by too much mucus in their gut. Today  gastroenterologists know that both of these assumptions were wrong: IBS  has been shown to be caused by a breakdown in the way food moves  through the intestines or by a heightened sensitivity of the intestines  to the normal movement of food. Our diet and even our emotional state  can be aggravating factors in this syndrome. Another myth that's gone  by the wayside is that ulcers are caused by too much stress or spicy  foods. We now know they're caused by the bacteria Helicobacter pylori  or by the chronic use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like  aspirin or ibuprofen (Advil, Nuprin)-taken by millions of women who  suffer from chronic back pain, headaches, or arthritis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePhysicians have also become more aware of GI diseases that are more  common in women than men. These include constipation, pelvic floor  dysfunction, and certain liver diseases such as primary biliary  cirrhosis, which can cause liver failure. One research study found that  women who need liver transplants due to severe liver disease have much  higher rates of bone fractures. This led to additional research, which  found that women who had liver problems were at much higher risk of  developing osteoporosis than men with liver problems. Further research  found that women with other GI problems like inflammatory bowel disease  also have a higher risk of osteoporosis. As a result of this work,  women with these conditions now have bone density tests routinely and  are given appropriate medications to prevent bone loss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNew findings also suggest that medications don't always work the same  in women as in men. Researchers have discovered that men and women  metabolize drugs differently because some of the liver enzymes that  break down drugs are more active in women than in men. At least four of  ten drugs removed from the market in recent years, due to unacceptable  side effects, posed greater health risks to women than to men.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe field of women's digestive health is no passing fad. Female medical  school students are entering gastroenterology in greater and greater  numbers, often becoming subspecialists in women's health. During the  last few years the number of women entering gastroenterology fellowship  training increased dramatically. In 2002 one in four GI \"fellows\" was a  woman! And many GI practices are specifically seeking out women to join  their practice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat's more, this past year the American Gastroenterological  Association (AGA) along with the American College of Gastroenterology,  the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the American  Association for the Study of Liver Disease, updated the GI training  curriculum used for all gastroenterology fellows to include women's  health issues. This training will focus on digestive disease issues  specific to women, such as how menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause  affect our digestive tract. It also touches on the use of stress  management, herbal therapies, and other alternative therapies to  relieve GI symptoms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll of these issues are vital to getting the solutions you need to cure  your digestive problems. They are all addressed in this book and really  form the basis for why you, as a woman, need a digestive health book  that's tailored for your unique health needs. Through this book I want  to pass on the knowledge that I've learned by serving for more than ten  years as an attending physician in the gastroenterology department at  the University of Virginia (UVA) Hospital in Charlottesville. As  founder of the Women's GI Clinic at UVA, I have focused my own clinical  and research interests in women's digestive health.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewhy i started a women-only gi clinic\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy and large, research studies on women's digestive health were just  coming to light when I first made my decision to open a women's GI  clinic four years ago. The basis for my decision was-pardon the pun-a  gut instinct. My interest in women's health began several years ago  when a colleague of mine, a midlife-health gynecologist, started  referring all her patients over fifty to me for colon cancer screening.  At that time flexible sigmoidoscopy was the most common scoping  procedure to screen for colon cancer. During this procedure patients  don't need to be sedated because the scope only goes part of the way up  the colon. (Colonoscopy, which usually requires sedation, has begun to  replace sigmoidoscopy because the colonoscope can reach through the  entire span of the colon instead of just the lower one-third portion  reached by the sigmoidoscope.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs I performed sigmoidoscopies on these women, I found that many took  the opportunity to ask me-in a confidential tone-about their GI woes.  \"I have diarrhea at certain times of the month. Is this normal?\" asked  one patient. \"Why do I sometimes leak stool?\" asked another. Another  woman wanted to know, \"Is it normal to have my bowel movements feel  like they're getting stuck at the end of my rectum?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI was peppered with questions about bloating, gas, hemorrhoids, and  chronic indigestion and soon discovered that these women hardly ever  discussed these problems with their primary care physicians. Most were  too embarrassed to bring up their bowel habits during an annual exam.  Many women told me they felt more comfortable talking to me because I  was a woman. None had considered seeking out a gastroenterologist for  help.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter talking with patient after patient during their routine colon  screenings, I really felt that I had something to offer to the women of  our community. I wanted to create an environment where women would feel  comfortable opening up about their GI problems. I also knew from my  experience that far too many women had digestive problems that ran much  deeper than their symptoms. I've seen women whose constipation was  caused by lingering memories of childhood incest or by years of sexual  abuse by their husbands. Mothers have brought their daughters to me  with unexplained diarrhea and vomiting and were shocked to hear that  their daughters had an eating disorder and were inducing the diarrhea  (by taking laxatives) and vomiting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI knew there was a void in the area of women's digestive health that  needed to be filled. My boss, Fabio Cominelli, the head of the  gastroenterology department, agreed with me 100 percent. He backed my  idea to start a women-only GI clinic staffed with women health  professionals.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMary, a fortyish mother of two, was one of my first patients. She  suffered from such severe attacks of abdominal pain and diarrhea that  she had trouble holding down a job and caring for her family. In fact,  she told me, she knew the location of every public bathroom between her  home and her workplace and found herself making frequent stops along  the way. Mary saw several doctors in town but was never able to get  relief from her symptoms. She began to think her doctors didn't believe  she was actually in severe pain. Finally, her family physician called  me and asked me to see her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMary and I spent the entire appointment talking about her symptoms and  their triggers. I believed that she had IBS, and a few tests to rule  out other conditions confirmed my diagnosis. On our next visit Mary  paced around my office and told me that the last year had been  incredibly stressful because of a troubled relationship with her  daughter and her increased responsibility caring for her aging mother.  I told her that I understood what she was going through and that I  believed that her symptoms were very real. I also reassured her that  her condition wasn't life threatening. Suddenly, I saw her shoulders  relax. She stopped pacing and sat in a chair. She turned to me and for  the first time really began to listen as I gave her details about a  medical condition that had been plaguing her for many years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe mapped out a plan of action. Mary agreed to keep a symptom diary,  and I discussed several treatment options for her diarrhea and  abdominal pain. I referred Mary to our pain psychologist to help her  cope with her anxiety. I also encouraged her to take better care of  herself. \"IBS is most likely to strike when you're at your weakest, so  if you exercise, cut the fat in your diet, and take time to do the  things you enjoy, you'll be safeguarding yourself against another  attack.\" At first I saw Mary every week, then once a month as her  symptoms improved.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow years later Mary still checks in with me every once in a while. She  still has occasional bouts of IBS, but she now has control over her  symptoms and has regained a full quality of life. Best of all, she has  the awareness of why her attacks are occurring. She can usually  pinpoint the stress trigger or knows when she's strayed from her  healthy habits like walking every day or eating ample servings of  fruits and vegetables.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf I had to sum up the goal of the Women's GI Clinic, I would use four  words: Put women at ease. I want patients to feel as comfortable as  possible so that they can freely discuss all those strange bodily  functions that make us all squeamish. I have definitely found that  communication is the absolute key to getting treatment. Even the best  doctors can't diagnose and treat you if they don't know the full extent  of your symptoms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI hold the philosophy-as do many doctors-that you have to treat the  whole person in order to effectively manage the medical problems. Too  often we're tempted to just write a prescription and send patients on  their way. But this is doing an extreme disservice. The Women's GI  Clinic is based on a team approach. I am fortunate to work with some  incredible women. From my secretary, Susan, to my invaluable nurse,  Beth, we try hard to listen, care, and nurture. We know that medical  conditions are usually triggered by a combination of factors-not one  single thing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn addition to nurses and medical residents, I wanted psychologists and  nutritionists on hand to deal with the deeper issues that cause GI  problems. I envisioned a holistic health center that would deal with a  woman's digestive health problems on all levels-from psychological  issues to nutrition planning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLet's say you came to me because you were severely bloated, and part of  the reason for your problem was that you were embarrassed to pass gas  in a public place. I might refer you to a female psychologist that I  work with who would suggest behavioral strategies for overcoming your  problem. (I outline these strategies in Chapter 5.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut I'm not here to tell you that you need to find a women's GI clinic  in order to achieve relief from your symptoms. That would be hard to do  if you don't live near one, and there are only a handful of clinics  like mine scattered throughout the United States. You can still get the  optimal care you deserve by finding the right doctor who will take all  your symptoms seriously and treat you as a whole patient and by using  this book as a supplement.","brand":"Bantam","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301518790885,"sku":"NP9780553381825","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780553381825.jpg?v=1767733810","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/no-more-digestive-problems-isbn-9780553381825","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}