ABDOMINAL PAIN AFTER EATING
When you consume food the stomach stretches to accommodate the amount of food ingested. In rare cases, some people actually feel slight pain from this stretching after eating a very large meal but this pain then usually subsides as the meal is digested and the stomach content is lessened. However, if you are experiencing pain after every meal (large or small) or after eating a specific type of food, you may be suffering from dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is defined as an imbalance in the gut microbial community where harmful bacteria has overpowered the good bacteria. This can result in the gut’s inability to properly process food and can be one contributing factor accounting for abdominal pain after eating. Functional Medicine would assess a patient’s harmful versus good bacterial composition to determine if there is correct balance. If an imbalance is found, Dr. Williams would then prescribe very specific nutraceuticals to eradicate the bad bacteria and then other specific nutraceuticals to heal the gut and very targeted prebiotics/probiotics to rebuild proper bacterial balance. If the pain is also accompanied by bloating, gas, and/or diarrhea or constipation it may be coming from additional factors, to understand how Functional Medicine may be able to help, click on each condition under digestive complaints to read more.