Gastroenterologist in Anniston, AL

If digestive issues disrupt your daily routine, expert gastrointestinal care is what you need to get your health back on track. Our board-certified GI doctors at RMC are here to provide compassionate digestive care and answer all of your questions, providing a safe and secure treatment plan. Whether it’s for a routine check-up or something more complex, our office is open to both new and existing patients.

What Is Gastroenterology?

This medical specialty focuses on managing, diagnosing, and treating digestive disorders. As such, gastroenterology focuses on the function of organs such as the esophagus, stomach, colon, small intestine, pancreas, and liver. Patients with the following digestive disorders can benefit from a gastroenterologist.

• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). This disorder affects your stomach and intestines, causing cramps, bloating, abdominal pain, gas, constipation, and/or diarrhea. Although IBS rarely displays severe symptoms, a specialist helps patients manage the chronic condition by recommending medication, lifestyle changes, and providing other health tips.
• Gastrointestinal Bleeding. Bleeding can occur anywhere in the digestive tract and usually points toward digestive disorders such as ulcers, reflux, and even cancer. GI bleeding takes various forms. For starters, acute bleeding occurs suddenly and often indicates a medical emergency. Bleeding can also be chronic, appearing and disappearing over prolonged durations. On the other hand, overt bleeding is characterized by blood in the vomit or stool. Note that GI bleeding isn’t always recognizable. Sometimes, lab tests are necessary to reveal blood loss through low blood counts.
• Hemorrhoids. This structural disease occurs when excess pressure dilates veins in the anal canal. The pressure could result from pregnancy, diarrhea, heavy lifting, or constipation. Hemorrhoids can be internal or external and are treated through anti-inflammatory medication, ligating bands, surgery, and anesthetic ointments.
• Gastritis. This is the inflammation, erosion, or irritation of the stomach lining, and is usually a result of stress, excessive alcohol consumption, bacterial and viral infections, and use of particular medications. Patients exhibit symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, tarry stool, appetite loss, nausea, indigestion, and recurrent stomach upset.
• Peptic Ulcer Disease. Patients with peptic ulcers have open sores in their small intestine or stomach lining. Ulcers are usually a result of Helicobacter pylori infection or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Symptoms include heartburn, bloating, vomiting, nausea, and a burning stomach pain between meals and at night.

Services

Our gastroenterology physicians are committed to delivering a secure proceeding and comprehensive diagnostic screenings. At RMC, we offer a wide coverage of GI procedures including:

• Upper endoscopy
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy
• Liver biopsy
• Esophageal manometry
• Colonoscopy
• Colon cancer screenings
• RFA (ablations)
• Bravo PH Study
• Capsule endoscopy
• Esophageal dilation
• Endoscopic ultrasound
• Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography
• Hemorrhoid banding
• Esophagogastroduodenoscopy

These procedures allow the doctor to view tissues and organs for easier detection of digestive disorders.

Gastroenterology Services

RMC’s gastroenterology physicians provide these comprehensive diagnostic GI screenings and procedures:

• Bravo PH Study
• Colon cancer screenings
• Colonoscopy
• Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)
• Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD)
• Esophageal dilation
• Esophageal manometry/motility study
• Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy
• Hemorrhoid banding
• Liver biopsy
• RFA (ablations)
• Small bowel capsule endoscopy (pill camera)
• Upper endoscopy