Frequently asked questions

Burning that rises from the stomach and eases with antacids is usually acidity. Chest pain with breathlessness, sweating or on exertion needs an urgent cardiac check first. When in doubt, get an ECG the same day.

By endoscopy (if there is visible damage) or a 24-hour pH-impedance study that records every reflux episode and links it to your symptoms. Many patients are labelled GERD without either test.

If it comes with difficulty swallowing, vomiting, weight loss, black stool, anaemia, or starts after 50 — see a gastroenterologist promptly.

Untreated ulcers can bleed or perforate. With correct treatment nearly all heal within 4–8 weeks.

Treatment is recommended if H. pylori is found with an ulcer, gastritis, family history of stomach cancer, long-term NSAID use, or unexplained anaemia. Dr Paliwal will advise for your case.

No. Acidity is one cause; many people with dyspepsia have normal acid and an over-sensitive stomach that needs different treatment.

Healthy foods — pulses, cruciferous vegetables, apples, wheat — are high in fermentable carbohydrates that ferment in a sensitive or bacterially overloaded gut. A breath test and a supervised diet trial usually identify the trigger.

It is a symptom. The underlying cause — IBS, SIBO, intolerance, constipation — is what needs treatment.

A gastroenterologist with a motility lab. Dr Paliwal set up Delhi's first such lab in a private hospital in 2010.

Haemorrhoids can cause discomfort but rarely a persistent sense of incomplete emptying. A manometry study usually reveals a muscle-coordination problem instead.

More than 2 weeks needs a doctor; more than 4 weeks needs a gastroenterologist.

IBS is a long-term condition, but most patients achieve lasting control with the right diet, medicines and stress management. Many become symptom-free for long periods.

Not curable, but controllable. Modern therapy achieves long remission in most patients; the goal is healed mucosa on colonoscopy, not just fewer symptoms.

Infectious colitis usually settles within days with treatment. Ulcerative colitis needs lifelong management but is well controlled in most patients.

No. Stopping gluten before the blood test and biopsy makes the results falsely normal.

Excess bacteria in the small intestine that ferment food early, causing bloating, gas and diarrhoea. It is diagnosed by breath test and treated with antibiotics plus correction of the underlying cause.

Severe or worsening pain, pain with fever, persistent vomiting, blood in vomit or stool, a rigid abdomen, or pain with jaundice.

No. Piles cause painless bright bleeding, but colitis, polyps and cancer can look identical. After 45, or with any change in bowel habit, a colonoscopy is essential.

It can be. Progressive dysphagia with weight loss needs endoscopy within days.

A test that measures pressure and movement in the gut using a thin catheter with sensors — done awake, takes 20–40 minutes, and shows exactly how the muscles are working.

Grade describes the amount of fat, not the damage. What matters is stiffness (fibrosis) on FibroScan. Grade 2 with no fibrosis is fully reversible; grade 2 with fibrosis needs a serious plan.

Fatty liver and alcoholic hepatitis improve markedly within weeks to months of abstinence. Cirrhosis does not reverse but stabilises, and survival improves dramatically.

Not yet curable, but fully controllable. On treatment the virus becomes undetectable and liver damage stops.

The scar tissue does not disappear, but treating the cause halts progression and complications are preventable. Transplant is the cure for advanced disease.

It depends on the cause. Hepatitis A usually resolves; obstructive jaundice with fever can be fatal without urgent treatment. Get seen within 24 hours.

Only small cholesterol stones, slowly, in a minority — and they usually return. Symptomatic stones need surgery; silent stones often need nothing.

Acute pancreatitis usually resolves fully, especially when the cause (gallstones, alcohol, triglycerides) is removed. Chronic pancreatitis is managed rather than cured.

45 for average risk; 40 or ten years younger than the youngest affected relative if there is a family history.

A soft silicone balloon placed in the stomach endoscopically under sedation, filled with saline, left for 6–12 months. It reduces appetite and portion size; typical loss is 10–15% of body weight with diet support.

It is offered at the Chittaranjan Park clinic as part of your treatment plan; ask when you book.