How is dyspepsia (indigestion) treated?
The treatment of dyspepsia is a difficult and unsatisfying topic because so few drugs have been studied and have shown to be effective. Moreover, the drugs that have been shown to be useful have not been substantially effective. This difficult situation exists for many reasons, as follows: • Life-threatening illnesses (for example, cancer, heart disease, and high blood pressure) are the illnesses that capture the public’s interest and, more importantly, research funding. Dyspepsia is not a life-threatening illness and has received little research funding. Because of the lack of research, an understanding of the physiologic processes (mechanisms) that are responsible for dyspepsia has been slow to develop. Effective drugs cannot be developed until there is an understanding of these mechanisms. • Research in dyspepsia is difficult. Dyspepsia is defined by subjective symptoms (such as pain) rather than objective signs (for example, the presence of an ulcer). Subjective symptoms are more u
