How long does it take to treat digestive disorders?

There is really no unified standard answer to this question. Among the cases I have seen in the past few years of doing health education in the Department of Gastroenterology, the mild cases are only caused by a short-term disorder of work and rest and eating too much. Adjusting the diet and work schedule can basically alleviate the disease in 1-2 weeks. The cases with complex conditions and long-lasting disease may require treatment for 3 months to half a year. Even some patients with long-term anxiety and depression will be delayed for several years without being able to get rid of the disease.

Last month, I met a girl who was just entering her junior year. She stayed up for 17 consecutive days to finish her studies, eating iced milk tea and spicy takeout. She suddenly started to suffer from abdominal distension and acid reflux whenever she ate, and suffered from colic at all times. She went for a gastrointestinal endoscopy and didn't even find an ulcer. This is a typical digestive disorder caused by short-term triggers. She was obedient and stopped drinking iced milk tea when she returned home. She ate warm and soft meals on time and spent 10 minutes rubbing her belly clockwise before going to bed. She didn't even prescribe any medicine. She came back for a follow-up visit about 10 days later and said she no longer felt any discomfort at all.

But not everyone is so lucky. Those patients with irritable bowel syndrome whose illness has lasted for two or three years, who often suffer from diarrhea and abdominal pain whenever they eat spicy food or get nervous, and who find no organic problems after repeated tests, are the more stubborn types of digestive disorders. Many people have tried probiotics and stomach-strengthening and digestion medicines, and they feel better when they take them. However, the symptoms return soon after stopping the medicine. Essentially, they have not found the real root cause of the disease - some people have a year-round high-oil and high-sugar diet that has messed up the intestinal flora, and some people have year-round stress and emotional tension. The brain-gut axis is always in a state of stress, and the digestive function is naturally unstable. I used to know a guy who was in To B sales and this was the case. In the past two years, when he was competing for performance, he drank and socialized every day, and Party A was under a lot of pressure to collect money. He would suffer from diarrhea at every turn. At the most exaggerated time, he always had three packets of anti-diarrhea pills stuffed in his bag. Later, he slowly adjusted his diet and ran 3 kilometers three days a week to relieve stress. After struggling for almost half a year, he finally dared to go out to eat hot pot with friends normally.

Now, the industry actually has different views on the recovery cycle of this disease. Some doctors believe that the digestive function is very self-healing. As long as the clear triggers are removed - such as killing the infected Helicobacter pylori and quitting the habit of long-term drinking and eating spicy food, the digestive function can slowly repair itself without taking too many supplements or drug intervention, and the recovery cycle will naturally be short.； There is also a view that digestive disorders are essentially a microcosm of the state of the whole body, especially for patients with insomnia and emotional sensitivity. They must also address their living conditions and emotional regulation. They cannot just focus on the symptoms in the stomach, otherwise it will be easy to relapse without paying attention, and the treatment front will naturally be stretched.

In fact, to put it bluntly, our digestive function is like a little green radish kept by the window. Occasionally we forget to water it and it wilts too much in the sun. If we pour some water and move it to a cool place, we will be able to recover the next day.； But if it is placed in a dark and unventilated place all year round, the roots will be almost damaged, so you have to slowly move the location, slowly control the water and fertilize, and wait for more than half a year before new leaves can appear again. When there is no problem, don't worry about it. If there is a problem, don't rush for speed. Find the root cause and slowly adjust it, and you can eventually recover.