Digestive Disease

This is Tyler's freshman year in college and he has been earning very good grades and performing well in his part-time job. However, Tyler's eating habits have been poor and he has gained a few pounds, and his expanded waist line is making his trousers fit pretty tightly. His daily routine holds clues to his recent weight gain.

Tyler begins each morning about 9:00 a.m. when he hurriedly dresses and rushes to class without eating breakfast. He does however drink a 20-oz. cola each morning for caffeine and sugar energy. All day he sits in classes or studies in the library. About four in the afternoon, Tyler takes a break for some food and he usually heads to the food court and gets a large order of chicken wings with extra spicy hot sauce. He doesn't have much time though, so he rushes through the meal, drinks another large cola, and is off to work. Tyler has a job as a waiter in a popular campus restaurant.

When the restaurant closes, Tyler heads home in his car. He usually stops to get some dinner, even though it is 11:30 p.m. He typically picks up a large pepperoni pizza that he consumes in one sitting. Sometimes, he follows the pizza with handfuls of cookies that he eats while lying down on the couch and watching late night television. Lately he finds it difficult to fall asleep though. Tyler has been experiencing heartburn and acid reflux at night. His stomach makes some atrocious noises and he's been feeling bloated. Tyler has tried getting up and taking antacids, but he still suffers indigestion. Recently, a friend who has noticed Tyler's odd stomach noises and hiccupping through class, suggested Tyler do something about his diet. At first he ignored the advice, but now his stomach pains are getting so bad he is willing to try anything.

After another painful night's sleep, Tyler wakes up early, goes to the bakery, and buys two bran muffins for breakfast, thinking this is the start of his new healthy diet. To Tyler's surprise this only makes him feel worse. He suffers horrible cramps, and later that day is forced to run to the bathroom with diarrhea. The worst part for Tyler was when he was sitting in English class and flatulence hit. Poor Tyler turned bright red and decided it was time to take the rest of the day off and go home.

When he got back to his room the phone rang. It was Tyler's grandma. While on the phone with his grandmother, he mentioned that he was not feeling well. Grandma, who lived nearby, came over with chicken noodle soup made with carrots and celery and lots of broth. The two had a leisurely meal together, sitting and talking at the table for hours. Tyler ate one small bowl of soup and placed the leftovers in the refrigerator or later. Tyler then got a good night sleep, and woke up the next day feeling much better. Once again, his face-paced lifestyle plunged him back into previous eating patterns. On the way to his first morning class Tyler was drinking a 20-oz. cola.

Please visit WebMD at www.webmd.com to research Tyler's gastrointestinal symptoms and one or more diseases that might be applicable for those symptoms now or in the future:

In your initial post, please discuss the following:

• What were Tyler's symptoms and what could be wrong with him? (Identify only one digestive disease.)
• After adding bran muffins to his diet, Tyler only felt worse. Why was that?
• After Tyler's grandma visited and they ate some chicken soup together, Tyler felt much better. Why?
• Tyler experiences the unpleasant and embarrassing consequence of poor nutrition while in English class. This only adds to the already high stress in Tyler's life. What was the cause of this and how can Tyler cure this problem in the future?