Many people suffer from chronic diarrhea, not realizing that many times the cause can be found and corrected. Chronic diarrhea is defined as loose stools that last for at least 4 weeks. It usually means more than 3 or 4 loose bowel movements per day. Chronic diarrhea can have a substantial negative impact on quality of life and overall health. Many people with this problem have to stay near a toilet and are afraid to even leave the house because of fear that they will not be able to control their bowel action. It is particularly troubling if there is associated incontinence.

Chronic diarrhea can be caused by intestinal infections, endocrine disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, food sensitivity or allergy and a side effect of medications. These problems can often be diagnosed with a careful history and appropriate diagnostic testing.

There is one particular ..

It is that time of the year when we get together with family and friends at Thanksgiving to eat heaping platefulls of turkey with greasy gravy, green bean casserole and rich pumpkin pie with whipped cream. How about seconds! This can be a difficult scenario for someone with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). People with GERD may be bothered with very troublesome symptoms after ingesting large amounts of rich food.

What is GERD?

Gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD, as it is commonly called, is a condition where you are bothered by burning chest pain behind their breast bone. This commonly occurs after meals or during the night. You also may experience regurgitation of gastric contents up into the throat, causing coughing and difficulty breathing. It may be common for many people who usually do not have GERD problems to have some GERD symptoms following a large Thanksgiving meal. Other people, however, may have these symptoms on a much more frequent basis.

What causes GERD?

With the swallowing process, food ...