Reflux, Irritable Bowel and Digestive Complaints: Specialist in Dubai
Heartburn, bloating, cramping, erratic bowels: the digestive complaints that are common, chronic and rarely dangerous, and the small number that are. Sorting one from the other is the consultation's first job; treating the common ones properly, rather than with endless antacids, is the second. At Smart Care Polyclinic in Deira, an internal medicine specialist assesses digestive symptoms, tests where a test changes the plan, and refers for endoscopy where it is needed.
For: heartburn, reflux, bloating, IBS, constipation, diarrhoea, abdominal pain
Takes: a 30-minute consultation; H. pylori, bloods and stool tests on site
Price: consultation AED 125
Book the internal medicine specialistor call +971 (0) 4379 3562
What it is
Reflux is stomach acid rising into the oesophagus, felt as heartburn, regurgitation, a sour taste, or a cough and hoarseness that is never suspected of being stomach. The American College of Gastroenterology guideline sets out the approach: for typical symptoms without alarm features, an eight-week trial of a proton pump inhibitor, then stepping down to the lowest dose that controls symptoms; endoscopy for alarm features, for symptoms that do not respond, and to check the oesophagus after long-standing reflux.1 Weight, late meals, alcohol and lying flat after eating matter as much as tablets.
Irritable bowel syndrome is abdominal pain with a change in bowel habit, diagnosed on the pattern once the mimics are excluded — coeliac disease by blood test, inflammation by a stool marker, and, where the age or features warrant, colonoscopy. The ACG guideline supports a positive diagnosis on the pattern rather than exhaustive testing, and treatment by subtype: fibre and antispasmodics, a supervised low-FODMAP diet, laxatives or anti-diarrhoeals, and, for pain, low-dose neuromodulators.2
H. pylori is tested for with persistent indigestion or a history of ulcers, by breath or stool test, and treated with a short combination course followed by a test of cure, following the ACG guideline.3 Alarm features — weight loss, difficulty swallowing, vomiting, blood in vomit or stool, anaemia, a family history of bowel cancer, or new symptoms after fifty — are referred for endoscopy promptly rather than treated empirically.
Bloating
Bloating is usually functional — IBS, constipation, swallowed air, or foods that ferment — and improves with the IBS approach. Bloating that is new, persistent, and worse over weeks in a woman over fifty is assessed with a pelvic ultrasound and a blood test, because ovarian conditions present that way.
Long-term acid suppression
Proton pump inhibitors are safe for most people but are not meant to be taken indefinitely without review. The specialist steps the dose down or stops it where symptoms allow, checks B12 and magnesium in long-term users, and looks for the cause where the tablet is being taken for years.
The consultation, and what follows from it
Internal medicine consultation
Assessment, examination and a plan with every cost stated before anything further is done.
AED 125 was AED 200
Book
Questions patients ask
With alarm features such as difficulty swallowing, weight loss, vomiting or bleeding; when symptoms do not respond to an eight-week course of acid suppression; and in long-standing reflux to check the oesophagus. Typical symptoms without those are treated first.
On the pattern of pain and bowel change, after coeliac disease and inflammation are excluded by simple tests, and with colonoscopy only where age or features warrant it. It is a positive diagnosis, not a diagnosis of exclusion.
For IBS, yes, as a supervised short-term elimination followed by reintroduction to find the triggers. It is not meant as a permanent diet, and the specialist can guide it.
This guide is general information, not advice about you. Long-term conditions are managed on your own results and history, which is what the specialist consultation is for.
References
- Katz PO, Dunbar KB, Schnoll-Sussman FH, et al.. ACG Clinical Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2022;117(1):27-56. PMID 34807007. doi:10.14309/ajg.0000000000001538The American College of Gastroenterology guideline on diagnosing and treating reflux, including the trial of acid suppression for typical symptoms and the indications for endoscopy.
- Lacy BE, Pimentel M, Brenner DM, et al.. ACG Clinical Guideline: Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2021;116(1):17-44. PMID 33315591. doi:10.14309/ajg.0000000000001036The American College of Gastroenterology guideline on irritable bowel syndrome: a positive diagnosis on the symptom pattern with limited testing, and treatment by subtype.
- Chey WD, Howden CW, Moss SF, et al.. ACG Clinical Guideline: Treatment of Helicobacter pylori Infection. The American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2024;119(9):1730-1753. PMID 39626064. doi:10.14309/ajg.0000000000002968The American College of Gastroenterology guideline on testing for and treating H. pylori infection.
Sources are listed for the specific statements they support. They are published research and guidance, not a substitute for a consultation — what applies to you is decided by a doctor who has assessed you.