Tag: Stomach

Motion Sickness in Children

Children usually feel sick in the stomach when travelling in a car, airplane, boat or train. This sickness is known as motion sickness. This sickness is caused by reception of wrong signals by eyes, muscles, skin receptors, and inner ears.

While travelling, different body parts send different signals to the brain. Eyes see things around and it sends signals about the direction of movement while in motion. The joint sensory receptors and muscles send signals about the movement of the muscles and the position in which the body is. The skin receptors send signals about the parts of the body which are in contact with the ground. The inner ears have a fluid in the semicircular canals. This fluid senses motion and the direction of motion like forward, backward, up, down, circular, or to and fro. When the brain gets timely reports from the various body parts, it tries to find a relation between all the signals and then sketches a picture about the bodys movement and position at a particular instant. But when the brain isnt able to find a link and isnt able to draw a picture out of the received signals, the condition called motion sickness is experienced.

For example, if a child is riding in a car and reading something at the same time, the eyes will see stationary book. But the skin receptors and the inner ears will sense the body moving in a forward direction. The eyes and the muscle receptors will send signals that the body is not moving. This confuses the brain and everything is jumbled up in the head. This makes the child dizzy, sick in the stomach and even tired. There is a possibility of the child throwing up, so it is recommended that the parents carry a sick bag each time they are travelling with kids. And if the child is feeling anxious or scared, the condition can deteriorate further.

Although there are medicines available over the counter to deal with motion sickness, some measures should be taken to avoid medicine and also motion sickness. The child should always be made to sit facing in the forward direction. He/she should not face or sit backwards, nor should he be made to sit in a seat facing backwards. This helps the ears and the eyes to send similar kind of signal. It is good if the kid isnt involved in some kind of activity like reading, playing video games or something which is stationary. He/she must be asked to look outside, especially at things which are located at a distance. The same applies when travelling in an airplane. When travelling in a boat, the child can go to the upper deck and look at the horizon. Basically, the child must be made to concentrate at things which are located at a distance and are in motion. When looking at something stationary, the eyes get confused and send wrong signals.

It also helps to sit in a place which is moving the least. Usually, it is the center point of the body, so the more close the child sits to the center, the better. Like when in an airplane, it is good to sit in seats in the middle aisle and not in those which are located near the wings. If the child is sitting in the center of the boat, instead of the front or the side, the lesser seasick the child will feel. In spite of all these measures if the child is still feeling sick a doctor should be consulted. The doctor checks the inner ears for any defect. He will also check other body parts which are responsible for sensing motion. Apart from medicine, pressure bracelets are also available at the local pharmacy. And along with carrying a sick bag or any other plastic bag, the car can be pulled over and the child should be walked out a bit to feel better.

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Vital Information That You Should Know About IBS

Irritable bowel movement is a dysfunction in the bodys food excretion system that is characterized by pain and cramps in the stomach as well as diarrhea and constipation. IBS largely affects the large intestine, a part of the digestive system of the body that regulates the storage and the excretion solid body wastes.

Irritable bowel syndrome is classified under syndrome because it has a number of symptoms that must all be present before a diagnosis can occur unlike other body dysfunctions that may only manifest one symptom.

IBS is not a disease. It is not caused by a bacteria or virus that we have accidentally ingested. Rather irritable bowel syndrome is caused by an internal problem in the body. There is actually no primary cause that medical experts can pinpoint. All they know is that muscles in the large intestines become too sensitive to stimulation that they are easily irritated when digestion is ongoing. Because of this irritation, the body reacts to it by holding off the waste material or over excreting them.

Although stress is not actually a main cause of irritable bowel syndrome, the presence of many stressors can affect or trigger an episode of IBS. There are also some kinds of food that may trigger the problem when eaten.

The severity of the problem is actually different with each person. For most people, irritable bowel syndrome is actually an unheard of problem. The symptoms are often so mild that few people even consider it as a serious problem. Often, they dont even think that they have the dysfunction as they will largely dismiss the symptoms something they might have gotten from the food that they ate. Still there are some cases that the pain is so severe that the person can no longer take it on. These are the people that seek medical help for treatment.

Unlike the treatment of other diseases that has a specific cause, treatment of IBS is wide-range. Some doctors will initially prescribed a diet that is full of fiber to help combat the problem. This however can be a problem as most patients do not actually abide by the regimented diet. This is why most recommend the taking in of medications that contain fibers or those that are formulated to help people suffering from constipation. That way, people will be able to better follow with the prescribed treatment.

There are also some doctors who prefer therapies as they believe that irritable bowel syndrome is largely caused by emotional problems and stress that are transmuted to physiological problems. Others also perform acupuncture on the patient.

Symptoms Of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Main symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome include abdominal pain that lasts for about 2 months. Along with this, the pain must be accompanied by at least two of the following factors in a period of 12 weeks, although not necessarily consecutive. The three factors are: change in the appearance of the stool; change in the frequency of stool excretion and pain relief after defecation.

Other sets of symptoms that doctors watch out for are: abnormal frequency of defecation, which sometimes reach three times a day or less than three times in a week.); abnormal appearance of the stool, which are often lumpy and hard or watery in form.); abnormally hard passage of stool, characterized by a feeling of incomplete evacuation, difficulties that lead to straining and urgency to defecate. In some cases, there are mucus threads that are found on the stool. Mucus is a substance that aid in the passage of stools by moistening the path.

Another symptom is bloating, perhaps because of the inability to defecate or the feeling of abdominal distention. Remember though that these are all secondary symptoms and not the main ones. These symptoms only serve as support for the main symptoms. Their presence, even all of them, is not enough for a diagnosis.

Some patients that suffer from irritable bowel syndrome also complain of experiencing heartburn and nausea. About 25 to 50 percent of the patients diagnosed with irritable bowel movement report these. Another symptom that patients may feel is the early feeling of satiety when eating, brought on by the fullness of the stomach.

Many patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome also experience fatigue and muscle pain. There will also be sleep disturbances and even sexual dysfunction. Although these items are also symptoms, these may already be consequences or complications that have arisen from body dysfunction.

As with other problems, symptoms may vary from one person to another. A patient will not feel all the symptoms. The severity of each symptom particularly the abdominal pain also varies from one patient to another. In fact, some patients have abdominal pain that is so mild that they do not even know that they have a problem.

This is often the problem with irritable bowel syndrome. In addition to having no direct cause and no specific diagnostic test, the symptoms are so varied and so common that people do not even recognize the problem. Most, in fact, believe that they have just suffered from a mild case of food poisoning when they do feel the pain and experience diarrhea.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome – What is It?

Irritable bowel syndrome is a problem characterized by a dysfunction on the bowel system of the body. As the name will suggest, the disorder largely affects the bowel or the part of the body, which regularizes the storing and excretion of wastes. The large intestine come to mind but there are a host of other parts of the digestive system that may be affected in the long run. It is called a syndrome instead of dysfunction, mainly because irritable bowel syndrome has a number of different syndromes and not just one.

Irritable bowel syndrome or IBS,as it is called by most medical doctors, causes either constipation or diarrhea depending on the reaction of the body to the stressor. Because excrements are not regularly funneled out of the body, bloating and cramping may also occur. It is also not surprising that gas problems will also ensue after some time.

One point to clarify is that IBS is not a disease caused by bacteria or viral infection. It is only a disorder in the body, which may be caused by a number of things. According to experts, IBS is often brought on by nerves and muscles in the bowel system that has become very sensitive to stimulation, too sensitive. This means that the littlest movement or stimulation can trigger the muscles to contract too much. This can lead to diarrhea, even though you have not really eaten anything spoiled. Nerves may also be very sensitive and this can lead to cramping and extreme pain in the stomach. The pain according to depictions from patients are often dull, gas-like and non-descript. What is sad though is that pain will only disappear when the person has finally excreted the bowel.

Although the term IBS is not as popular as perhaps most of the diseases in the medical field, it is one disorder that people often suffer from albeit a milder version. This is actually a problem with IBS. People do not actually recognize the problem since the symptoms are pretty mild. Some will even assume that it is something that they ate. One problem with IBS is that there are no diagnostic tests that can support a physicians diagnosis of IBS. Unlike other problems, diagnosis will only rely on the symptoms that the patient will describe.

Still there are cases when the symptoms are so severe especially the pain and the constipation that people will go to the doctor for treatment. There is really no age or gender factor when it comes to risk. Almost anyone can suffer from this kind of dysfunction.