Heartburn and indigestion make millions of people miserable. Continuous digestive problems can be a symptom of overeating, bad food choices or something more serious. Thankfully simple changes in the foods you eat can provide relief.

A number of foods can trigger heartburn or indigestion by relaxing the band of muscles at the end of your esophagus so it can’t keep out stomach acid. By avoiding spicy foods with black pepper or chili powder, garlic and raw onions, citrus foods like tomatoes, oranges, and grapefruit, fried or fatty foods, alcohol or anything with caffeine such as coffee, tea, soft drinks, heartburn and indigestion can be greatly lessened or avoided.
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Collagenous colitis is a recent established illness affecting the colon. During flexible sigmoidoscopy or a colonoscopy the intestine lining looks to be normal however examination with a microscope reveals inflammation and the presence of a tissue called collagen. The collagen is formed in bands within the colon, and their presence indicates scar formation. There are no facts that it is the result of an infection. It is also not associated with any recognized reasons for diarrhea.
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When your doctor thinks you might have colon cancer, a procedure known as a lower GI series will be completed on you to first detect any abnormalities. A lower GI series is also a type of a radiography is similar to an x-ray. When a barium solution is inserted through the rectum, it is known as barium enema radiography. This is used to help confirm the diagnosis. A barium enema is to obtain radiographs of intestines, after the patient is given an enema with a white chalky liquid containing barium. This solution will be used to coat the intestine, and pictures will be take produce to detect the presence of tumors in the colon.

A second type of procedure used by a health professional to detect colon cancer is known as a colonoscopy. A colonoscopy involves using a long tube that is inserted into the intestine. The tube will have a small viewing camera attached to it. This allows the doctor to view the whole of the intestine as the tube travels through the camera.
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Adenocarcinomas - The most common type of colon cancers are known as adenocarcinomas. The adenocarcinomas are a type of cancer that has developed within the glands inside of the intestine. The function of these glands is to ensure the intestine has a ready supply of mucus. The mucus that the colon produces is a natural lubricant for the stool, and its job is to help the stool pass through the colon more easily.

In terms of adenocarcinomas, this type of colon cancer is not numerous, and there are only 1-2 different subtypes. This type of colon cancer will be identified by the doctor as a cancer of the mucinous cells – this means the cancer has found in the cells that produce mucus.

This type of an adenocarcinoma of the colon can also be described as a signet ring cell cancer. Since the colon cancer is formed in mucus cells, the cancer will be seen as if it is contained within a pool of mucus. Therefore, as the mucus forms, the normal cells will be transformed to look like a signet ring.
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For you to be diagnosis with constipation, your physician will need to evaluate you using standard medical procedures.

A thorough physical examination is necessary in everyone who complains of the symptoms associated with constipation. After listening to your history of other illnesses, and doing a physical exam, the physician will order a series of tests to be completed.
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Even though it is used constantly within colon cleansers, activated charcoal does have its many uses. Activated carbon is a black powder without an odor, and made in a closed environment from exposing wood to very high temperatures. It is then subjected to a treatment process that activates it allowing it to absorb twice its weight. This treatment process allows the carbon materials within the charcoal to become oxidized. After this process takes place, the charcoal is then known as “activated charcoal,” and can be used in the digestive system.
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The use of enemas and hydrotherapy increased quite considerably after the 15th century, and it was considered the “mode of fashion” to be irrigated on a daily basis, sometimes three times a day. Regnier de Graaf expanded upon the designs of the clyster bag prevalent in the 17th century, to design an apparatus that only needed one person to operate. At this time, the bags used for colon hydrotherapy were large and hard to hold, making it difficult for someone to operate it alone.
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After the fifth to fourth century, B.C., there was no mention of colonic irrigation until thirty A.D. when the scientist Celus, wrote about using enemas. He was also the first person to first person to document that irrigation should involve a liquid with a warm temperature and not cold as it was the practice during that time.

It was after Celus queried the temperature of the water, that other physicians and scientists gave suggestions on interesting ways to improve the use of colonic irrigation. The Greek physician Aetius stated that the enema could only be properly completed with pure water. However, Galen, another Greek physician was interested in alternative liquids to use in irrigation. Galen felt that other liquids instead of water could be used. He experiemented with enemas made of sweet honey or various oils. However, many physicians preferred the use of warm water to these alternative liquids.
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Colon Hydrotherapy has a long and “colorful” history with the belief that the practice started approximately three thousand years ago. It was first described in the “Ebers papyrus,” written by Egyptians, and detailing the different ways they had to clean the intestines. The age of the “Ebers papyrus” is thought to have been created as early as 14th century B.C.

The main form of colonic irrigation described in the Ebers papyrus is the use of an enema to remove waste from the intestine and cure “intestinal complaints”. Even though this is known as the first written account of irrigating the colon, much later the scholar Herodotus, wrote in the fifth century of the procedure of the Egyptians also cleansing themselves with an enema on a monthly basis.

In his writings Herodotus stated that irrigation was used as a way of “seeking after health”, and that the Egyptians believed that “all disease comes to man from food”. Based on this, they used colonics to cleanse themselves for three consecutive days every month.
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