AZCDH is a regional leader for end-to-end gastroenterology care. Their 17 board-certified physicians treat over 52,000 clinical patients annually across 11 practice locations in Arizona. Furthermore, AZCDH belongs to the GI Alliance, which unites over 275 independent gastroenterologists to align interests and continuously enhance patient outcomes.
What’s it like working at Arizona Digestive Health?
Hemorrhoids
Hemorrhoids are dilated blood vessels within the wall of your anus or rectum and appear as painless bumps. While they usually don’t bleed, if they do bleed, you may observe bright red blood on toilet paper or your underwear and experience itching; this condition is known as pruritus ani (itching in the rectal area).
Hemorrhoids are often caused by straining during bowel movements, though heavy lifting, pregnancy, being overweight, or chronic constipation may also increase risk.
Internal and external hemorrhoids exist. Internal hemorrhoids lie deep beneath your skin, invisible or felt. However, they can still bleed or protrude through anal openings during bowel movements, often becoming protrusions that need medical treatment to heal correctly.
Hemorrhoids can be itchy and tempting, making you scratch at them to relieve itching. But doing this could damage delicate veins further and make matters worse. Your doctor can treat hemorrhoids using rubber band procedures, injection sclerotherapy injections, or surgery. Hemorrhoidectomy surgery has proven remarkably successful at eliminating symptoms and preventing recurrence; consult your physician on which option may best fit you and your circumstances.
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a viral infection of the liver. It may result in mild symptoms that quickly subside or severe ones, leading to liver failure, with symptoms including fatigue, belly pain, low appetite, and yellow skin or eyes (jaundice). Hepatitis can either be acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term); in fact, some types of hepatitis don’t even show any symptoms at all!
There are three primary forms of Hepatitis: A, B, and C. Hepatitis A is usually spread through eating or drinking contaminated food and water that has come into contact with someone’s feces containing the virus; razor blades or toothbrushes shared by individuals could also spread it. Hepatitis A may become life-threatening if it results in full-on liver failure, sometimes fatal.
Hepatitis B can be spread between people through blood or other bodily fluids such as semen. It poses severe threats to infants and older adults. Chronic Hepatitis B infection may even lead to scarring damage that makes your liver nonfunctional, while Hepatitis C usually results from injecting drugs or sharing contaminated syringes. Unfortunately, Hepatitis C infection often lasts longer and is more challenging to treat than its counterparts.
Stomach Ulcers
Stomach ulcers (peptic ulcers) are open sores in the stomach or the first part of the small intestine (duodenum), typically caused by Helicobacter pylori bacteria. Some ulcers are very mild and don’t produce any symptoms at all; others cause burning, gnawing pain in the upper middle part of the abdomen that frequently comes and goes and may be eased by eating or taking an antacid; in severe cases, they penetrate deeper into either area and lead to nausea and vomiting.
If your ulcers are bleeding, symptoms could include bright red drool or black, tarry stool that looks similar to coffee grounds. You could also feel faint and weak while losing your appetite altogether.
Doctors usually diagnose ulcers using an endoscope – a flexible viewing tube equipped with a camera – to examine your throat and stomach under light anesthesia during an EGD test. They may also use barium meals where patients drink chalky liquid while having their stomach x-rayed. Still, this approach has become less prevalent as doctors prefer using an endoscope. In rare cases, untreated ulcers may perforate through the entire wall of the stomach (perforated ulcer), allowing digestive juices and food to leak into abdominal cavities – this constitutes a medical emergency and requires immediate surgical surgery treatment to avoid perforations through perforated ulcer perforations into abdominal cavities for diagnosis and surgery to repair this medical emergency.
Hiatal Hernia
A hiatal hernia occurs when part of your stomach pushes upward into an opening in the large muscle that separates your belly from your chest (diaphragm), blocking access to the food tube (esophagus) to stomach acid that could flow back up through this opening into the throat causing heartburn or other symptoms. Small hernias usually do not cause any issues. Your doctor can generally detect one using an X-ray of the upper digestive tract where barium liquid coats the insides of the esophagus, and stomach acid can flow back up into the throat, causing heartburn and other symptoms causing symptoms in the throat causing heartburn as well as seen silhouettes on X-ray of the upper digestive tract where their doctors can see the profiles of any hernias on an X-ray image of the upper digestive tract to pinpoint its exact position on an X-ray image of the upper digestive tract where your doctor can then see the silhouette of where the hernia sits on an X-ray image taken of your upper digestive tract using barium liquid is consumed and consumed to coat its entirety; once your doctor can see its silhouette on an X-ray image captured of the hernia using barium imaging done via barium covered inside by drinking this barium coated inside for this test and use this barium coating process inside to detect its presence within.
If a hernia is causing symptoms, your doctor will likely start you on medication to reduce acid in your stomach and strengthen surrounding muscles. If this doesn’t alleviate them, surgery might be needed; your surgeon could perform it minimally using a tool that makes minor cuts in your belly – offering less risk of infection, scarring, and pain than traditional operations.
Ileitis
Ileitis, or inflammation of the ileum (the final portion of the small intestine), causes discomfort in the lower abdomen and diarrhea, with possible blood in stool as a complication. Crohn’s disease is typically responsible, though other medical conditions like reactive arthritis or lymphoma could also trigger it.
Clostridium difficile infection, the bacteria responsible for antibiotic-associated colitis, can also lead to ileitis. It may range from acute, self-limiting cases characterized by right lower quadrant pain and diarrhea to chronic, debilitating illnesses characterized by obstructive symptoms and bleeding.
Ileitis can be an uncomfortable condition requiring lifestyle adjustments to relieve symptoms. If you suffer from ileitis, it’s essential to meet with your physician to find a treatment that suits you; they could all recommend medication, diet changes, and stress relief techniques as possible solutions. For immediate support for ileitis sufferers in Connecticut, contact your local GI provider; they’ll connect you with one.
Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
PSC affects your bile ducts, which carry digestive liquid bile from your liver to your gallbladder and small intestine. When inflammation causes scarring (sclerosing) of bile ducts, it is narrowed and blocked, which prevents liver bile from leaving its source, potentially leading to severe liver damage. While many people show no symptoms at first, others develop abdominal pain with itchy skin and yellow discoloration of skin or whites of eyes (jaundice).
Experts remain unsure about the cause of PSC; however, most believe an infection or other event might initiate its onset for some genetically predisposed people. PSC often co-occurs with other autoimmune conditions like ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease and increases your risk for cancer of the bile duct and abdominal organs.
PSC treatment primarily relies on medication to relieve symptoms and avoid further complications, while alcohol should be limited, and a healthy, well-balanced diet should be taken. Before taking any herbs, supplements, or vitamins (which could interfere with your condition), speak to your physician first, as some can aggravate PSC further. Furthermore, regular bone density tests will need to be conducted due to osteoporosis caused by PSC; liver transplantation could become necessary should its severity increase over time.
Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel condition in which the large intestine (colon) and rectum lining become inflamed, producing ulcers on their surfaces. Closely related to Crohn’s disease, people living with UC may experience mild to severe abdominal pain, cramping, bloody stool discharge, and diarrhea symptoms.
Experts do not know precisely what causes this disease, but it results from abnormal immune system reactions to certain viruses and bacteria. Stress or foods can aggravate it but don’t directly cause it.
Colon cancer affects people of any age, though it most often manifests between 15-30. It usually starts in the rectal area before spreading upward into other areas of the colon over time.
Dietary symptoms that often accompany diarrhea range from mild to severe. Other indicators can include an unpleasant gurgling noise when eating, bleeding from the anus or rectal area, and pus in your stool. Treatment usually entails taking medication such as suppository or enema therapy; nutritional supplements may be required if diet alone cannot meet nutritional needs adequately.
