Medical Terms

Abdomen:

Often called the belly section of the body between the chest and pelvis. Contains many parts of the digestive tract (e.g. stomach, small intestine, and large intestine).

Anorexia:

Lack or loss of appetite for food. Not to be confused with Anorexia Nervosa—a clinically diagnosable eating disorder.

Antiemetic drugs:

Used to help with symptoms of nausea and vomiting.

Belching /eructation (burping):

Voiding of gas through the mouth.

Bloating:

Feeling of abdominal distension or fullness. Feeling as if one’s belly is swollen.

Chronic:

Persisting or recurring over a long period.

Distension:

Enlargement or ballooning effect, such as the feeling as if one’s belly is swollen.

Dyspepsia:

Persistent or recurrent abdominal pain or discomfort centred in the upper abdomen.

Dysphagia:

Sensation of food or liquid sticking to the esophagus (muscular tube connecting your mouth to your stomach).

Early satiety:

A feeling that the stomach is over-filled soon after starting to eat.

Functional disorder:

A disorder of brain-gut interaction. Any condition in which an organ or part of the body does not work the way it is supposed to, in the absence of blockage, inflammation or cancer.

Globus:

The sensation of a lump in the throat.

Halitosis:

An unpleasant odour from the mouth.

Heartburn:

A burning feeling in the lower chest.

Idiopathic:

A disease or condition with an unknown cause or origin.

Nausea:

A sensation of needing to vomit.

Motility:

Contractions of the muscles of the digestive tract and movement of its contents.

Odynophagia:

Pain in the chest as food or drink passes through the esophagus.

Postprandial fullness:

Feeling of unusual fullness after a meal.

Prokinetic drugs:

Used to improve gastric motility.

Regurgitation:

Return of stomach contents into the throat or mouth.

Vomiting:

Ejection of matter from the stomach through the mouth.