Our center for women’s gastrointestinal health offers a comprehensive approach to digestive disorders specific to women. It is staffed by a female gastroenterologist who specializes in women’s digestive health and is an advocate for women who make their health a priority.
Conditions commonly affecting women that we can treat:
Colon cancer: why me?
Colon cancer is the fourth most common form of cancer in both women and men. It can be detected by screening during the earliest stages when can still be successfully treated and when survival rates are the highest. However, despite the fact that screening is available and has been shown to prevent colon cancer, the rate of screening for colon cancer in women is substantially lower than men. To find out more about colon cancer and how it can be detected early, please click here.
Constipation, it’s not only you.
Chronic constipation is one of the most common digestive complaints in the US and can vary widely from person to person. It can often make you feel bloated and uncomfortable and often results in straining and pain during a bowel movement and irregular bleeding. Although constipation can affect anyone, it’s most common in women especially over the age of 65 and can be related to difficult childbirth, pregnancy, previous surgery, medications or diet low in fiber. The treatment is often multifold with an emphasis on fiber, water and sometimes laxatives, but is often dependent on the specific cause than be then targeted and appropriately treated. For more information on constipation, please click here.
Pregnancy and the GI tract: what’s going on in here?
Gastrointestinal problems are some of the most common complaints during pregnancy and require special attention by both the gastroenterologist and the OB/GYN. Sometimes the pregnancy is complicated by GI conditions that are unique to pregnancy such as liver problems, hemorrhoids, constipation or reflux, or pregnant women can present with chronic conditions that require special attention during the pregnancy itself. Comfortable communication between the patient, gastroenterologist and OB/GYN is the cornerstone to the best management of these conditions, for more information, please search here: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/186225-overview.
Irritable bowel syndrome, more common than you think.
Irritable bowel syndrome, otherwise known as IBS, affects over 15 percent of the population the majority of which are women. It’s a condition commonly known as spastic colon or nervous stomach and it’s a functional problem where the bowel moves abnormally but is structurally normal. Women with IBS typically experience abdominal pain and changes in their bowel movements such as diarrhea or constipation, and we think the reason is due to abnormal communication between the bowel muscles and the nervous system. Oftentimes emotional stress and anxiety can contribute to irritable bowel syndrome, and the treatment is often a multidisciplinary approach aimed at healing but the mind and bowel. For more information, please go to http://www.fascrs.org/patients/conditions/irritable_bowel_syndrome.
