A 56 year old lady, an old acquaintance of mine, CML, came to the clinic with a two -day complaint of an explosive diarrhoea, painful abdomen (stomach) and bleeding haemorrhoids.
She was from outstation and came to the city to attend a conference. She stayed at a hotel and the following morning suffered from a severe backache which she attributed to the lumpy hotel bed. As she had to do a lot of walking, she decided to buy a painkiller (generic) from the pharmacy to reduce her back spasm. The backache prompted her to change hotel room for a firmer bed.
She took the painkiller on the first day of her conference and did not suffer from any side-effects. On the second day, she took the second dose and later had a very hot Thai foods for lunch. That very night she experienced the most excruciating abdominal pain and started to purge and was not able to sleep. The purgings continued and they worsened her haemorrhoids which began to bleed. Whatever she ate became watery stools and she was really sick and unable to continue attending the conference.
She was treated with oral rehydration, anti-haemorrhoidal treatment and ordered a strict bland diet. The diarrhoea continued for almost five days before normal stools finally reformed. It was a horrible period for CML. What started off as a local backache which was alleviated by sleeping on a better bed had turned into one miserable episode of general illness.
The lesson here is whenever you are taking a painkiller in the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug or NSAID like brufen or voltaren, you must not irritate your stomach by subjecting it to extremely spicy foods. Somehow the combination of NSAID and chilies is disastrous for the lining of your stomach and intestines. Irritated, the intestinal tracts just cannot absorb what you are eating and pass on rapidly through the system. I also noted that her painkiller was generic and not film-coated which predisposed to gastritis as compared to the safer film-coated and more expensive proprietary drug.
The whole of the intestinal tract is affected by the unfortunate combination causing it to develop multiple minor bleeding points. Somehow milk further worsens the condition due to possibly the rapid transit time in the tract and reactive acidity due to sudden alkalinisation. The only way is to take bread slowly in small but frequent amount and insipid tea and oral rehydration salt to replace the lost fluid and minerals in the diarrhoea.
Painkiller in the NSAID category especially non-film coated ones cause gastritis and hot chillies also cause gastritis due to its high acid content and so we have a potent mixture which could bring any person down. People need to be extra careful about foods especially when they travel.
She was from outstation and came to the city to attend a conference. She stayed at a hotel and the following morning suffered from a severe backache which she attributed to the lumpy hotel bed. As she had to do a lot of walking, she decided to buy a painkiller (generic) from the pharmacy to reduce her back spasm. The backache prompted her to change hotel room for a firmer bed.
She took the painkiller on the first day of her conference and did not suffer from any side-effects. On the second day, she took the second dose and later had a very hot Thai foods for lunch. That very night she experienced the most excruciating abdominal pain and started to purge and was not able to sleep. The purgings continued and they worsened her haemorrhoids which began to bleed. Whatever she ate became watery stools and she was really sick and unable to continue attending the conference.
She was treated with oral rehydration, anti-haemorrhoidal treatment and ordered a strict bland diet. The diarrhoea continued for almost five days before normal stools finally reformed. It was a horrible period for CML. What started off as a local backache which was alleviated by sleeping on a better bed had turned into one miserable episode of general illness.
The lesson here is whenever you are taking a painkiller in the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug or NSAID like brufen or voltaren, you must not irritate your stomach by subjecting it to extremely spicy foods. Somehow the combination of NSAID and chilies is disastrous for the lining of your stomach and intestines. Irritated, the intestinal tracts just cannot absorb what you are eating and pass on rapidly through the system. I also noted that her painkiller was generic and not film-coated which predisposed to gastritis as compared to the safer film-coated and more expensive proprietary drug.
The whole of the intestinal tract is affected by the unfortunate combination causing it to develop multiple minor bleeding points. Somehow milk further worsens the condition due to possibly the rapid transit time in the tract and reactive acidity due to sudden alkalinisation. The only way is to take bread slowly in small but frequent amount and insipid tea and oral rehydration salt to replace the lost fluid and minerals in the diarrhoea.
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| Avoid Hot Thai Foods when taking strong painkiller |
Painkiller in the NSAID category especially non-film coated ones cause gastritis and hot chillies also cause gastritis due to its high acid content and so we have a potent mixture which could bring any person down. People need to be extra careful about foods especially when they travel.
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