Dyspepsia

The most common single cause of anemia worldwide is Iron deficiency. It resultsfrom other underlying diseases and to look for its cause is very crucial and is of far greaterimportance than restoring the iron stores and hemoglobin levels. Objectives: To determine thefrequency of common upper gastrointestinal endoscopic findings in elderly patients with irondeficiency anemia presenting with dyspepsia. Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive study.Setting: Department of Medicine, Khyber Teaching hospital, Peshawar. Period: March, 2011 toSeptember, 2011. Materials and Methods: 116 patients, all the patients with iron deficiencyanemia presenting with dyspepsia were subjected to upper gastrointestinal endoscopy todetect common findings as gastric erosions, peptic ulcer and gastric carcinoma. StatisticalAnalysis: Data was analyzed with SPSS 10.0. Results: On upper gastrointestinal endoscopy,normal findings were noted 30 (25.86%) patients and abnormal findings were noted in 86(74.14%) patients including 45 (38.79%) patients with gastric erosions, 30 (25.86%) patientswith peptic ulcer and 11 (9.48%) patients were found with gastric malignancy. Conclusions:Upper gastrointestinal lesions are common in elderly patients with iron deficiency anemiapresenting with dyspepsia and must be screened by gastrointestinal endoscopy.

If a person eats too much, the food remains in the stomach undigested, un melted, undissolved, because there is not enough gastric juice to re duce it to the proper condition for yielding its nutriment; as so much ice may be put in a glass of water that after a while it ceases to melt, and the food thus remaining unchanged for an unnatural time, it begins to sour as before, because the person has been EATING TOO MUCH.
A man may have dyspepsia for the want of a sufficient amount of gastric juice to digest the food, although a very little food may have been eaten; hence the frequent complaint, " It makes no difference whether I eat much or little; the smallest quantity of anything dis tresses me." Such a person has dyspep sia in an aggravated form, from having had it for a long time.
The limited supply of gastric juice is the result of poor or bad blood. All the blood oxa dyspeptic is bad, because the food is imperfectly digested, and the blood which it makes is imperfect, hence con tains but a small amount of the ele ments which compose the gastric juice. The always successful remedy is to live out of doors night and day, exercising until a very little tired; then rest, exer cise again until very hungry, until hungry enough to feel that plain bread and butter tastes deliciously; take a very small amount, such as by obser vation causes no discomfort whatever; then go on as before until very hungry again, take a little fresh meat at the next meal, and a bit of bread-crust;, make the next or third meal of the day of berries, grapes, fruit or melons. Persevering in this way, almost any dyspeptic will find himself getting bet ter and better every day, because every breath of out-door air taken relieves the blood of some of its impurities,. and every step, every motion of the hand or arm, carries off out of the sys tem, through the pores of the skin or otherwise, a greater or less number of impure atoms; the blood being thus relieved of more and more of its im purities, makes a better quality of gas tric juice; this in turn digests the food more thoroughly, imparting more strength, giving a more vigorous appe tite, and the man is getting well before he knows it. The book, " Health by Good Living," illustrates theée points at greater length.

THE MILL WONT WORK.
The gizzard or stomach of a chicken when opened is found to contain grains of corn or wheat, and small pebbles. The action of the muscles of the gizzard is to keep the grains of corn and sand in a constant circular motion, causing attrition, the sand being harder than the grains; hence the action is a kind of grinder; so with the human stomach. In dyspepsia the muscles of the stomach are too weak to perform this grinding process, and the human mill works so slowly that the food begins to decay before it is properly manipulated. All dyspeptics are weak; every muscle of the body is weak, and those of the stomach have their corresponding share of debility; but they will get stronger inevitably by making better blood, by giving a better digestion in the way above described.
( BILIOUSNESS Also-causes dyspeptic symptoms. When a man is bilious, it means that he has an excess of bile or a deficiency of bile, which mean the same thing essentially, although it is not known that such a sentiment has ever been expressed in writing or in print. When a man has yellow jaundice, he is bilious in the proper sense of the term, meaning that the bile has not been withdrawn from the blood by the natural and healthy action of the liver, as shown by the yellowness of the skin. The blood is then so impregnated with bile, which is of a'yellow color, that it tinges the skin and whites of the, eyes. In this case there is a TORPID LIVER, a sleepy liver; it does not act, does not work.
But the liver may withdraw the bile from the blood and accumulate it in the gall bladder, where it may be detained, and as a result, the discharges are of a lightish color and are attributed to a

DEFICIENCY OF BILE.
Hence excess of bile and deficiency of bile both mean that there is too much bile in the body, either in the blood or in the gall bladder. But the exercise already referred to will purify the blood of any of its unnatural constituents, of every kind of impurity, while careful eating imparts strength to make a better blood.
Thus it is seen that whatever may be the causes of ordinary dyspepsia, whatever may be its symp toms-that is, the feelings, the mani festations to which it may give risethe thing to be done is to get rid of the bad blood and supply a better in its place. The way to do this is to engage in out-door activities, and so select the food as to enable the stomach to act upon it in such a manner that it may yield its nutriment to the system natur ally. Hence no medicine can cure dys pepsia; it must be done by out-door activity and proper eating.