October 2025

You Want Me to Swallow a Camera? Really?

While it may sound bizarre, swallowing a tiny camera encased in a vitamin-sized capsule is a terrific way for your doctor to learn what’s happening in your digestive tract. The procedure, called a capsule endoscopy, provides a close-up look at your entire digestive tract. As you go about your day, the camera is busy taking thousands of pictures. A recorder worn at your waist collects the pictures.

By the end of the day, or the next day (everyone is different), the capsule typically will exit your body during a bowel movement and can be safely flushed. You’ll return the recording device you were wearing to your physician for review. This capsule endoscopy procedure is especially valuable at providing a close look at your small intestines, an area not easily reached with endoscopies using a video camera down the throat or through the rectum.

Learn more about the capsule endoscopy.

Be Kind to Yourself this Holiday Season

If enormous amounts of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie typically trigger stomach issues for you, now’s a good time to consider ways to avoid holiday-related GI distress. Overindulging can trigger or worsen GI conditions like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease, and constipation.

Being kind to yourself doesn’t mean you need to avoid your favorite holiday foods. Instead, it means making some good decisions when you’re faced with a table full of deliciousness:

• Slow down. Give yourself time to taste and appreciate the flavors in every bite. Set your fork down. Chew slowly. Enjoy the conversation along with the meal.
• Exercise afterwards. The dishes can wait a bit. Suggest everyone join you for a walk. It encourages healthy digestion.
• Work in the fiber. Not just during the holiday meal, but all day long, get some extra fiber. If you’re headed to a holiday party later in the day, give some thought to what you’ll eat for your other meals. A healthy serving of fruits, veggies, legumes, and other high fiber foods can help you avoid GI distress.
• Go easy on the alcohol and work in plenty of water throughout the day.

Year-End Healthcare Reminder

If you’ve met your yearly deductible for health insurance or need to spend your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) before year end, now’s a good time to schedule treatments you’ve been putting off. Now might be the perfect time to schedule a colonoscopy. Getting a colonoscopy is not as scary as you think! Review your plan details to be sure you’ve met your annual deductible, and to confirm it resets on January 1

How Ozempic and Other GLP-1 Drugs Affect Your GI Tract

You’re probably aware that GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic diminish your appetite. But did you know that of the people who have tried one of these drugs, an estimated 25% experience gastrointestinal (GI) issues, according to a 2025 report in MedPage Today?

“All of the GLP-1 agonists that we use now cause changes in how everything is secreted in your GI tract,” Dr. Ann Marie Defnet, an obesity medicine and bariatric surgery specialist in New York, told MedPage.

It may sound harmless, but GI secretion can alter your digestion in a number of ways, from your rear to your teeth.

Read our latest blog to learn about five GLP-1 side effects on the GI tract and what you can do to counter them.