In the holy month of Ramadan, a lot of people suffer from gastrointestinal problems. During Ramadan, digestive issues can be put at the forefront due to the types of foods we choose, how fast we eat them, and the lack of sufficient chewing.
Patients with gastrointestinal diseases and fasting… The benefits and symptoms:
The benefit of fasting for the digestive system:
Fasting relieves the digestive system significantly and makes it take a period of rest, as the physiological process of digestion of food is a complex process in which most of the body’s organs is in a state of alert. During the holy month of Ramadan, some people are forced to change some bad habits such as reducing drinking coffee and smoking since smoking has a direct damage to the stomach that leads to increase the acid secretions of the stomach, delay the healing of ulcers, and also helps to faster emergence of ulcers. Moreover, fasting is a treatment for some digestive disorders and alleviates the symptoms suffered by the patients, such as esophagitis retrovirus, where the patient suffers heartburn, pain, and acidity, especially after eating. During fasting, these symptoms disappear. There are also the patients of Irritable Bowel Syndrome who suffer from pain, flatulence, and sometimes diarrhea; those find great comfort during fasting.
Some patients with gastrointestinal diseases shouldn’t fast, who are they?
Patients of active duodenal ulcers don’t have to fast since that during the fasting period, the stomach is free of food, so its acid concentration becomes high; And it is known that the presence of food in the stomach is an incentive to reduce the acidity, so fasting can cause severe pain, and the patient is forced to break fasting and eat. That is why patients with active ulcers are advised not to fast until making sure they are recovery.
Moreover, patients of advanced cirrhosis, those who are suffering from hydrocephalus abdomen (the presence of water) and swelling in the legs, or those who suffer from hepatic coma also shouldn’t fast because they need a special feeding and large amounts of protein and calories.
The causes of indigestion in Ramadan:
During the first days of fasting, frequent incidences of symptoms of indigestion are noticed, as a result of changing in the system and scheduling of meals, and eating a large amount of fatty foods at the Iftar.
Indigestion is a common word includes a number of symptoms one may experience after eating; it includes abdominal pain, gas, belching, nausea, and discomfort in the upper abdomen, especially after a big meal, fatty food, too many spices, or after eating quickly.
Lack of food leads to a lack of quantity that reaches the intestine, which in turn comforts it from the multiplication of microbes lurking out. Then the activity of such microbes and the excretion of toxins in the intestine decrease. To be known, these toxins are the cause of a lot of skin diseases such as oily skin and allergies.