Question

David is a 69-year-old man who drinks beer regularly, smokes cigars daily, is overweight, and has been inactive. What gastrointestinal diseases is he at elevated risk of developing? How do you communicate with him the negative effects this has on his body and why he should stop, even after all these years?

Answer 1

The habit of smoking and alcohol will have detrimental effects on almost all the parts of the body. Over weight and sedentary lifestyle makes it even worse. The following are some of the disease of the gastrointestinal system the patient is at the risk of developing due to his habits.

• gastric oesophageal reflux disease
• Barrett’s oesophagus due to chronic GERD
• Peptic ulcers
• inflammatory bowel disease
• Acute pancreatitis
• chronic pancreatitis
• Cancers of the various parts of gastro intestinal tract
• polyps in the large intestine
• Increases risk of forming gall stones
• may alter the blood supply to the intestine
• Steatohepatitis
• hepatotoxicity
• alcoholic fatty liver or alcoholic steatosis
• liver cirrhosis
• hepato cellular carcinoma

I will explain him all the above diseases, their complications and that there is a high chance for him to land with any of these above conditions in the hospital. With his age and lifestyle it’s almost impossible for him to recover completely if any of these diseases sets in. And some of them are even potentially fatal. There must have already been enough damage done to the body due to all these years of drinking and smoking. He is aged and his body will not be able to eliminate the toxins and recover as it used to when he was young. I would strongly suggest it would be for the best for him to quit these habits.

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