Why stomach hurts during Tet?

Vietnamese Lunar New Year or Tet Holiday, is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Stuffing? Check. Stiff drinks? Check. Stress? Check. 'Tis the season — for stomachaches. "The holidays create a perfect storm for stomach problems because of all the eating, traveling, and partying," says Nguyen Van Nhom, M.D, 15 year experience in Emergency Medicine and Adult Critical Care at City International Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Trigger: You overdo it at holiday meals.

Dr. Nhom continues to explained: “During the New Year celebrations, family gatherings often eat foods that are high in fat and carb (such as sweet sticky rice cakes, squared sticky rice cakes, Vietnamese bologna), fermented side dishes (such as pickles, salted onions, dried shredded chicken, beef jerky), and lucky wine glasses. Vietnamese people believe that if they fill your stomach full on the first day of the year, they will be lucky for the whole year. Therefore, getting more than your fill — especially of hard-to-digest, rich, fatty foods is a classic cause of indigestion, which typically feels like a searing pain in your upper abdomen and is often accompanied by nausea, bloating, belching, and a sour taste in the mouth. The burn is caused by a backwash of stomach acid into the esophagus and may be triggered by lying down within three hours after a meal, since gravity acts as an important barrier to reversed acid flow. Eating one of the season's traditional sweets (whether in hard candy, yam, or traditional sticky rice cakes), can also cause heartburn, because it numbs and relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter, the muscle that keeps food down in your stomach where it belongs."

In addition to the non-scientific diet, the change in daily activities such as staying up late, not getting enough sleep, using stimulants such as coffee and cigarettes also make the stomach produce more gastric acid, which will increase the risk of stomach damage.

According to the statistics of the Digestive Science Society, in recent years, Vietnam has more than 26% of the population suffering from peptic ulcer disease and 70% of the population are at risk of stomach pain and ulcers stomach. This rate is 4 times higher among men than women.

How to prevent Stomach Ulcers?

When there are signs of peptic ulcers, The best way is to seek care at the medical units for examination and treatment as soon as possible. To keep acute stomach pains and stomach ulcers under control during Tet, experts recommend the following diet:

• Eat moderately, do not use foods that are left for a long time, too hot or too cold.
• Reduce eating foods that increase gastric juice such as pickles, lemons, oranges, apricots, green mangoes... Patients with stomach diseases need to eat less pickles because they’re very harmful for the stomach.
• Limit the consumption of stimulants such as coffee, tobacco, solid tea, and absolutely do not drink alcohol when hungry or constantly drink over the night. Alcohol not only affects the lining of the stomach, but also causes ulcers, cirrhosis, pancreatitis ...

If you need help, please call:

City International Hospital,  No. 3, Street 17A, Binh Tri Dong B Ward, Binh Tan Dist., HCMC

Operator: (028) 6280 3333, ext 0

Fax: (848) 6290 8800

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