Hesperian Health Guides
Most Belly Problems Can Be Avoided
HealthWiki > New Where There Is No Doctor > Belly Pain, Diarrhea, and Worms > Most Belly Problems Can Be Avoided
Water and Sanitation shows ways to make water safer to drink and to manage human waste to keep people healthy. If your family or neighbors often get stomach aches, diarrhea, or worms, read that chapter. Good Food Makes Good Health is about nutrition and how to eat for good health, which prevents stomach aches, nausea, and other belly problems.
Some other ways to prevent and treat these problems without medicines:
- Drink plenty of water – at least 8 cups every day, and more when you are working or sweating a lot. This may prevent constipation.
- Eat vegetables, fruits, and whole grains every day. This may prevent constipation and is important for general health.
- Fatty, spicy, or acidic foods can cause belly aches. If your belly hurts, avoid these foods for a few weeks, to see if you feel better.
- Some people have painful gas or diarrhea when they eat milk or cheese. Try avoiding milk-based foods. (If avoiding a food does not help within a week or two, do not continue to avoid it.)
- Avoid cigarettes and alcohol. They cause stomach problems.
- Are you taking any medicines? Aspirin, ibuprofen, many antibiotics, and other medicines can hurt the stomach. For a few diseases, such as HIV, it is important to take a strong medicine for a long time. But for many illnesses, there is usually a different medicine you can take if the one you use causes belly problems. Maybe you do not need a medicine at all.
- Worry and stress give a lot of people belly aches. Mental Health (in development) gives ideas for how to stay calm when life is difficult.
This page was updated:16 Aug 2018