Taking Painkillers on an Empty Stomach — How It Silently Damages Your Gut
Chandigarh summers bring more than heat waves. They bring dehydration headaches, tension headaches triggered by long hours in AC-to-sun transitions, and the kind of persistent head pain that makes reaching for an ibuprofen or disprin feel like the most natural thing in the world. Most people do it without thinking twice — pop a tablet, chase it with water, and get on with the day. But here is what is happening inside your stomach while you do that — especially on an empty stomach in peak summer heat: the painkiller you just took is beginning to strip away the very lining that protects your stomach from its own acid. It is quiet, painless at first, and cumulative. By the time it produces symptoms you cannot ignore, the damage may already be significant. As a gastroenterologist in Sector 33 D, Chandigarh , I regularly treat patients with NSAID-induced gastritis — stomach inflammation caused directly by painkiller use. Many of them had no idea their headache medication was behind t...
