Once thought to be a drink that helps many people wake up every morning, but if consumed incorrectly, you may find yourself in a situation similar to this girl.
About a year ago, Ms. Ngo (over 20 years old, China) began feeling something was off in her body. Every time she ate, she felt choked, sometimes even with abdominal distension. Initially, she didn’t pay much attention, but this condition gradually became more severe. The abdominal pain became increasingly intense, forcing Ms. Ngo to buy gastric medicine, but it didn’t alleviate her discomfort.
Since then, every meal for Ms. Ngo has been a struggle. She could only eat about 2 bites before having to stop, and it took her an hour to finish a meal. As time passed, no one around her understood what she was going through. Some thought she was putting in a lot of effort to lose weight.
Starting this year, Ms. Ngo’s symptoms worsened. She vomited after every meal and couldn’t bear it anymore, so she decided to go to Hangzhou First People’s Hospital (China) for treatment.
After going through several departments, Ms. Ngo visited the Department of Hiatal Hernia and Gastric Plication of the hospital. Through a CT scan, Dr. Hoang Giang Ban, Deputy Head of the Department, discovered that Ms. Ngo’s stomach and colon were “pushing her left lung into a corner.”
Eventually, Ms. Ngo was diagnosed with hiatus hernia. Because her condition was severe, Dr. Hoang decided to perform endoscopic surgery to remove the hiatus hernia and minimal invasion surgery for the base of her stomach. Over a year later, Ms. Ngo has fully recovered.
Hiatal hernia is a condition where abdominal organs enter the chest cavity through an enlarged opening in the diaphragm, often the stomach entering the chest cavity but can also involve abdominal organs such as the colon and the mesentery.
In humans, there is a segment of the esophagus from the bottom of the chest to the abdominal cavity, and the intersection of this segment is the esophageal hiatus. Under certain factors, the esophageal hiatus will enlarge, allowing not only the esophagus but also larger organs such as the stomach to enter, forming a hiatal hernia.
Ordinary individuals, after eating, food should go down smoothly. However, the food Ms. Ngo ate stagnated in her chest and then returned to the abdominal cavity when entering the stomach. This caused her abdominal pain and difficulty breathing, as well as acid reflux after eating.
Hiatus hernia is a common digestive disorder, affecting 70% of patients over 70 years old. However, Ms. Ngo was young. What caused her illness?
Coffee isn’t to blame; the fault lies in drinking it wrong.
After thoroughly investigating Ms. Ngo’s lifestyle habits, Dr. Hoang finally found the answer – it might be related to Ms. Ngo’s daily coffee-drinking habits. It turns out Ms. Ngo drank two or three cups almost every day, and she particularly liked hot coffee.
According to doctors, long-term coffee consumption, especially very hot coffee (above 60 degrees Celsius), can chronically irritate the mucous membrane of the stomach and esophagus, causing a significant increase in stomach acid. This acid refluxes into the esophagus, trachea, and even the pharynx, worsening the symptoms of hiatal hernia.
Dr. Hoang pointed out that reflux of stomach acid into the esophagus is the most common symptom in patients with hiatus hernia, such as food reflux and acid reflux. Even lying down can cause reflux, leading to abdominal pain, burping, heartburn, acid reflux, esophagitis, chronic cough, anemia, and other conditions. Severe esophageal reflux is often associated with hiatus hernia and damage to the esophageal reflux barrier mechanism.
Some cases of hiatus hernia are due to an unhealthy lifestyle. Unhealthy habits such as excessive alcohol consumption, excessive coffee consumption, high-fat diets, overeating, and lying down immediately after eating can all be contributing factors.
If this happens, patients with mild symptoms may improve with medication, but structural changes in the esophageal hiatus cannot be restored. Larger hiatal hernias require surgical treatment and postoperative recovery.
