There was a time when I could eat and drink just about anything.  An occasional upset stomach would arise, but I always knew that in a day, two at most, everything would revert back to normal.  The idea that a stomach ache might lead to further complications never crossed my mind.

Growing up, my parents had all kinds of pills and liquids in their medicine cabinet to deal with stomach upsets. Stuff like Maalox, Kaopekectate, Ex-Lax were a mainstay.  Most of us can remember seeing one of our parents walking around the house with a white outline around their mouth having taken a swig of Milk of Magnesia.  Their sufferings ran from common ailments like hurt burn to more serious ones such as diverticulitis and gallbladder attacks.  A good number of these maladies were the result poor eating habits.  However, in their defense, they did not have the kind of guidance to good nutrition available to all of us now.

Long gone are the days when I sat with my father at the dinner table enjoying creamed herring as an appetizer before eating a high caloric Hungarian dish.  He suffered from all kinds of gastric problem; some of which required surgery and, he had heart problems too.  But, you know what, he kept on going to the age of 86, and lived a pretty active life.  Nonetheless, I don’t want to repeat his mistakes.

Now that I am in my sixties, the tables have turned a bit on me.  The old stomach just isn’t as forgiving as he used to be when I eat something I shouldn’t.  More important, I find myself worrying that any upper or lower GI distress may be the telltale sign of something worse.  I have been able to avoid becoming a hypochondriac because I find that many of my friends are dealing with similar health issues.

Fortunately, knowing more about our bodies and what we put into them helps us avoid stomach problems.  From what I have heard and read of late, cutting down on alcohol intake is a great place to start.  I have never been a heavy drinker, but I have found that when I do drink, one cocktail is plenty.  

We have all kinds of new medicines (which most people can’t pronounce) to not only deal with the symptoms of stomach distress, and some even reverse their effects.  Yet, the best place to start is with a visit to your PCP.  He or she will run blood test and analyze your general health.  If you haven’t done in over a year or more, don’t wait until a problem arises.