digest path

Question 1

ANOREXIA

Answer 1

Anorexia is a loss of appetite. Anorexia nervosa is a psychological condition which often affects teenage girls and young women. The sufferers have a fear of gaining weight or being fat and refuse to eat very much or stop eating altogether. It can be severely debilitating and sometimes fatal.

Question 2

APPENDICITIS

Answer 2

Acute inflammation of the appendix, usually treated by removal of the organ.

Question 3

BULIMIA

Answer 3

Bulimia is an insatiable hunger during binging episodes coupled with compensatory evacuation methods such as self-induced vomiting and excessive use of laxatives. Bulimia nervosa is a psychological condition which often affects teenage girls and young women, and increasingly young men.

Question 4

CIRRHOSIS

Answer 4

Chronic damage to an organ causing hardening. Several types of cirrhosis exist but the most common is cirrhosis of the liver, which is frequently caused by excessive alcohol consumption.

Question 5

CONSTIPATION

Answer 5

• Infrequent or uncomfortable bowel movements, causing hard faeces to block the rectum. Caused by lack of fibre in the diet, lack of fluids and lack of exercise. Sometimes caused by stress.

Question 6

GALL STONES

Answer 6

Stones formed from residues of bile pigments, cholesterol and calcium salts, found in the gall bladder.

Question 7

HEARTBURN

Answer 7

Burning sensation in oesophagus or throat, caused by back flow and regurgitation of acidic stomach contents

Question 8

HERNIA

Answer 8

A rupture, in which an organ pushes through the surface of the structures which normally hold it in

Question 9

JAUNDICE

Answer 9

Excessive levels of bile pigments in the blood cause skin to turn yellow. Caused by malfunctioning gall bladder or obstructed flow of bile

Question 10

IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME

Answer 10

No exact cause is yet known for irritable bowel syndrome (sometimes referred to as IBS), though stress and low-fibre, high fat diets are said to contribute. Symptoms include stomach and bowel pain and alternate bouts of diarrhoea and constipation.

Question 11

STRESS

Answer 11

The most common effect of stress on the digestive system is ulcers. Anxiety and lack of relaxation cause overproduction of gastric juices and if they have nothing to work on they will start to attack the lining of the stomach or other structures. In short, the stomach starts digesting itself!

Question 12

ULCER

Answer 12

Erosion in the walls of the digestive system, often caused by too much acid

Question 13

COELIAC’S DISEASE

Answer 13

Is a common bowel condition that is caused by intolerance to a protein called gluten