Dyspepsia: symptoms, causes and treatment

By Cristiano Antonino On Apr 14, 2023

Dyspepsia, also called functional dyspepsia, is a very annoying disorder recognizable through various symptoms such as, for example, abdominal swelling, burning or a sense of satiety

These signs can usually occur when the subject is fasting or immediately after eating or regardless of meals.

It is often difficult to interpret the causes of this malaise, many people suffer from dyspepsia without understanding the reason and consequently they are not sure how to deal with it and resolve it.

But let’s go into detail, starting from the exact definition of functional dyspepsia and then moving on to its symptoms.

What is functional dyspepsia?

Dyspepsia, also known as “sluggish digestion”, is clinically referred to as “functional dyspepsia”. Let’s find out why.

With “dyspepsia” we refer to a digestive disorder, while with the term “functional” we indicate the absence of damage or an evident lesion in the organ.

This characteristic entails, as a consequence, the fact that the symptomatology is caused only by an alteration of the functionality.

What are the symptoms of functional dyspepsia?

So what are the symptoms that can make one think of a functional dyspepsia and therefore alarm the subject who complains of these disorders?

The signals that our body can send in case of functional dyspepsia come in various forms.

These are mainly “localized” symptoms in the stomach and duodenum.

The most common are:

sense of early satiety during meals;
abdominal swelling;
halitosis;
epigastric pain (upper abdomen);
heartburn (heartburn).

To these can be added others such as:

nausea or vomiting;
sense of regurgitation;
belching.

Focusing on the latter, belching of air can also be associated with a real regurgitation of acidic material that flows from the stomach to the mouth, where an annoying sensation of liquid is felt.

This feeling can lead to the need to vomit to get rid of the discomfort. Bad breath can also be a dyspeptic symptom.

The stagnation of food in the stomach, in fact, already partially digested, produces a bad smell that rises through the respiratory tract.

In addition to these typical disturbances of dyspepsia, in some cases, alterations of the intestinal bowel movement may also occur, which lead to constipation or diarrhea.

These are discomforts referable to the gastrointestinal part, which can be associated with others, of a different nature, such as postprandial drowsiness, headaches, decreased attention span and irritability.

What are the causes of the disorder?

The question that arises spontaneously at this point is the following: how is it possible that the gastrointestinal system is damaged in its functions causing disturbances, even if there is no organic cause?

In fact, it is now established that the basic motivation of functional dyspepsia, if the lack of any anatomical damage in gastroscopy is verified, is based precisely on a state of emotional and psychological malaise, such as for example:

stress;
anxiety;
work, sentimental, school, economic concerns, etc.

In more “sensitive” people these sensations and states of mind can be “somatized”, i.e. transformed by the brain into real physical disturbances, localized in the body as in this case in the gastrointestinal tract, giving rise to the typical symptoms of functional dyspepsia which they become acute in some moments, such as after eating.

Can there be complications?

Functional dyspepsia generally does not expose the subject to complications, even if the persistent disturbance could be a symptom of other more serious pathologies, such as gastritis, gastroesophageal reflux, gastric ulcer, gallstones and even in some cases it can be a sign of stomach cancer.

It is therefore good to always check this disorder and not to underestimate it because it could lead to the worsening of an existing disease.

Are there natural remedies for functional dyspepsia?

The treatments in case of functional dyspepsia are of various kinds.

Before undergoing medical treatments, it would be more appropriate to recover a certain psychological balance, understanding what are the sources that generate anxiety and stress in order to be able to manage and reduce them.

Therefore relaxation techniques are recommended which can help to ease tensions and thus to digest food better.

Herbal teas and infusions are the most classic natural remedies to counteract the most common ailments and to promote normal digestive function.

The typical plant extracts of infusions and anti-reflux or digestive teas are:

fennel;
peppermint;
ginger;
anise;
cumin;
yarrow yarrow;
dandelion.

So one of the first measures to adopt is certainly to correct one’s eating habits, eating slowly, avoiding food excesses and eliminating fried and spicy foods, alcohol, coffee and carbonated drinks from the diet and reducing fatty foods and sweets.

It is also good to avoid very hot or cold foods. It is also advisable to eat at fixed times, perhaps leaving 3/4 hours to pass between one meal and another, to complete digestion before moving on to the new meal.

Avoid smoking and playing sports

Another good practice to adopt to ease the tensions related to digestion is to stop smoking and play sports, because physical activity if carried out continuously stimulates peristalsis and helps to digest better.

The ideal may be, for example, getting used to walking after lunch, while it is better to avoid intense physical activity after eating, just as it is equally important to try not to go to bed with a full stomach.

Pharmacological treatment and care

As pharmacological remedies, given the psychosomatic component of the pathology, anxiolytics (benzodiazepines) or low-dose tricyclic antidepressants may be indicated, in association with psychotherapy, in case of stress-related dyspepsia.

If the pain becomes particularly acute or persists beyond 10 days, resulting in loss of appetite and weight, or vomiting with traces of blood, it is advisable to consult your doctor immediately.

These signals could in fact be an alarm bell that heralds other pathologies and therefore a more serious problem.

After carrying out a careful anamnesis, i.e. collecting all the useful information on the patient (clinical history, aspects of the accused pains, lifestyle in general and food), the doctor will perform the physical examination.

This may be enough to give a diagnosis of functional dyspepsia, but not be sufficient to exclude an organic form and thus the presence of a possible pathology, which is the cause of the difficulty linked to digestion.

Based on the results of the examination, the attending physician will evaluate whether to prescribe tests such as the search for Helicobacter pylori, barium radiography, ultrasound, digestive endoscopy (usually esophagogastroduodenoscopy), CT or nuclear magnetic resonance.

If one of these tests gives positive feedback and that is that a pathology exists, the specialist can request further second-level medical tests, such as a pH-metry in case of reflux, to characterize its severity.

In this way it will be possible to evaluate which therapy to recommend to the patient, which will also allow the secondary dyspepsia to be resolved.

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