Your gastrointestinal (GI) tract runs from your mouth to the anus. Health of GI tract is important, because if your GI is infected or gets disease-ridden, you will experience problems with your bowel movement, and also with the digestion of food. Small and large intestines or colon are part of the GI tract. Small intestine performs digestion of the food, while the colon stores waste from which nutrients have been taken away, for eventual excretion out of the body.
Gastrointestinal diseases can be either of the below two types:
- Functional
- Structural
Common functional diseases include:
Functional GI diseases: The GI tract looks normal when examined but it doesn’t move properly. Common examples of functional GI diseases include constipation, nausea, food poisoning, diarrhea, bloating, and gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD. Many factors can affect the mobility of the GI tract, such as eating a low fiber diet, not doing enough exercise, stress, and eating a large amount of dairy products.
Structural GI diseases: Your bowel would look abnormal upon examination but it won’t work properly. Common examples of structural GI diseases include hemorrhoids, colon polyps, inflammatory bowel disease, and colon cancer. Sometimes, surgery may be required to treat structural GI disease.
Other structural GI diseases include:
Constipation: The person finds it hard to pass stool, or it is less frequent, less than three times a week. Constipation is usually caused by inadequate roughage or fiber in the diet. You will experience strain while trying to move your bowel. Constipation hardly requires medications, and can be treated by increasing the amount of fiber and diet in the water.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS): The colon or large intestine muscles contract more or less often than normal. Symptoms of IBS include:
- Abnormal pain and cramps
- Excess gas
- Bloating
- Harder, looser or more urgent stools than normal
- Alternating constipation and diarrhea
IBS can be treated by increasing the intake of fiber in the diet, avoiding excessive caffeine, and hydrating well throughout the day.
Hemorrhoids: These are dilated veins in your anal canal. These are swollen blood vessels that line your anal opening. Hemorrhoids are caused by chronic excessive pressure from straining during a bowel movement.
Two types of hemorrhoids are there:
- Internal hemorrhoids
- External hemorrhoids
Internal hemorrhoids: Internal hemorrhoids are the blood vessels inside of your anal opening. When they fall into the anus due to straining, they become irritated and start to bleed. Internal hemorrhoids can fall down enough to sink or stick out of the anus. The condition can be treated by improving bowel movements by not straining during bowel movements, and moving your bowels when you have the urge.
External hemorrhoids: These veins lie just under the skin on the outside of the anus. Sometimes, external hemorrhoids veins burst and blood clots are formed under the skin. This very painful condition is known as pile. Treatment of pile includes removing the clot and vein under local anesthesia, or removing the hemorrhoid itself.
Anal fissures: These are splits or cracks in the anal opening. The most common cause of anal fissures is the passage of very hard or watery stool. The crack in the anal fissures causes pain, because the exposed muscles become irritated from exposure to stool and air, and can lead to intense burning pain, or spasm.
Anal fistula: This structural GI disease follows the drainage of an abscess. It is an abnormal tube-like passageway from the anal canal to a hole in the skin near the opening of the anus.
Perianal abscesses: It occurs when the tiny anal glands that open on the inside of your anus become blocked, and the bacteria present there causes infection. When pus develops in the region, an abscess is formed.
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