7 Common Digestive Problems and How to End Them

There's something about digestive difficulties that makes them hard to discuss in polite company—which leaves many of us suffering one problem or another in silence. Yet fixes can be as simple as making informed lifestyle changes or taking over-the-counter remedies. Peppermint oil and soluble fiber, for example, can help people with irritable bowel syndrome; a study the British Medical Journal published in November concludes that both should be first-line therapies for IBS. Here's a rundown of the latest medical wisdom on some other common gastrointestinal problems.

Video: Is it Heartburn or GERD?

Reflux

Symptoms of reflux, such as heartburn, are among the most common digestive ills. In a recent Swedish study, 6 percent of people reported experiencing reflux symptoms daily and 14 percent had them at least weekly. Such frequent symptoms may indicate a person has GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease. Aside from being painful, GERD can harm the esophagus over time or even lead to esophageal cancer.

Heartburn typically involves a "hot or burning feeling rising up from the center of the abdomen area and into the chest under the breastbone or sternum," says Michael Gold, director of gastroenterology at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. "It may be accompanied by a sour taste in the mouth, or hypersalivation, or even finding food or fluid in your mouth," particularly at night. Pregnancy, some medications, and consuming alcohol or certain foods can cause heartburn. Kids under age 12 and some adults may have GERD without heartburn, instead experiencing asthmalike symptoms, trouble swallowing, or a dry cough.

Treatment options include drugs that reduce acid levels, such as the proton pump inhibitors Aciphex, Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec, and Protonix and the H2 blockers Axid, Pepcid, Tagamet, and Zantac. But taking medication is not without risk. This November, a study found that a proton pump inhibitor may weaken the heart-protective effect of the blood thinner Plavix in patients taking both medications.