with an ulcer ever actually stuck to that diet (on several nights during my interning rounds, I discovered take-out pizza cartons and Chinese food containers under the beds of people who were supposed to be following a bland diet).
.....Now, however, since we know that most ulcers are linked to a bacterial growth, duodenal ulcers are routinely treated with antibiotics (as well as drugs that lower the output of stomach acid).
.....When it comes to lifestyle recommendations for ulcer patients, it starts of course with the obvious stuff such as not smoking, keeping alcohol intake to a minimum, being careful about the drugs you take, and putting a lid on your stress, but the good news is that as far as diet is concerned, you are now permitted to eat anything you like, so long as it doesn’t make your symptoms worse, and yes, that means that coffee is OK so long as you tolerate it.
.....Finally, I want to make this most important point: this entire tale - first, it was all due to stress, then it wasn’t; first, you could hardly eat anything, now you can eat everything; first, you had to eliminate coffee, now you can drink all the coffee you want, and so on - illustrates clearly that every medical “theory”, treatment or therapy, even every medical test must be continually challenged both by the health care profession and equally important by patients too, because so much of what we do in this business, we do only because we’ve always done it that way, and that’s simply not a good enough reason to continue doing things that way.
.....So don’t ever be too scared, and don’t ever be too shy: always keep asking your doctor and pharmacist and any health professional you deal with questions like, “how do you know that what I have is really what I have?” and “why are you suggesting this drug and not another one?”
.....And don’t ever settle for an answer that begins and ends with, “Because. Next.”
Dr. Art Hister can be heard on CKNW and other Corus Radio Network stations on House Calls on Saturdays at 10 AM, as well as seen on Global TV news on Saturday mornings at 9:20. |
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