What causes gastritis?
Pain in the stomach? Heartburn? A feeling of heaviness in the abdomen? Find out the symptoms of gastritis and its causes.
It is difficult to find a person who throughout life never experienced difficulties with digestion and faced with the unpleasant sensations in the stomach. Such feelings can be a sign of lung disorders, and serious disease.
First place among diseases of the digestive system is disorders of the upper gastrointestinal tract is gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.
Gastritis is one of the most common diseases of the stomach. For the vast majority of people gastritis is not a serious disorder and is easily treatable, but in some cases it can lead to stomach ulcers and even stomach cancers.
Signs and symptoms of gastritis
- Cramping, belching, heartburn, nausea, sour taste in the mouth;
- a feeling of heaviness in the abdomen after eating;
- vomiting, diarrhea, weakness;
- fever.
Gastritis can occur and asymptomatic.
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What causes gastritis?
Forms and manifestations of gastritis are varied, but common to all its species is inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach. In normal condition this sheath protects the stomach from hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes in it. But if a failure occurs in the digestive system, the gastric mucosa may be damaged by digestive juices. Then inflammation develops.
Gastritis can occur suddenly or develop over weeks and months. Acute gastritis of the stomach develops rapidly but lasts a short time. Chronic gastritis develops slowly, gradually and can be long enough.
What causes gastritis
- Infection of Helicobacter pylori. This bacteria can cause not only gastritis, and stomach ulcers;
- excessive consumption of alcohol. Alcohol can irritate and destroy the mucous membrane of the stomach. Excessive alcohol consumption often causes acute gastritis;
- regular use of drugs. Painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen can cause both acute and chronic gastritis. There is a risk of irritation of the stomach and in the use of other drugs.
A certain part of patients with cardiovascular or any other diseases get the drugs that cause or exacerbate diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. No one considers gastritis, bowel problems caused by drugs in these patients. For example, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs contribute to the development of diseases of the digestive system.
- old age. With age, a person often becomes thinner the mucous membrane of the stomach, are more likely to develop autoimmune diseases, and the body resists worse Helicobacter pylori;
- stress. Severe stress, which was caused by operation, trauma, burn or infection, can cause inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach;
- the ingress of bile into the stomach. Bile is a substance that is produced in the liver stored in the gallbladder and helps digest fats. As a rule, the ring of sphincter muscle, which is located between the intestines and the stomach, prevents the flow of bile into the stomach from the small intestine. But if this valve doesn’t work properly, bile can enter the stomach, leading to gastritis.
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Pain, and this is a very broad group of drugs: diclofenac, ibuprofen, acetylsalicylic acid,and many others, have side effects in the form of lesions of the gastrointestinal tract.
When to see a doctor?
If you have symptoms of gastritis that will not go away within a week or longer, so the body is unable to cope with disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and you need to consult a doctor who will prescribe spasmolytic, drugs that regulate the acidity and the digestive process.
Be sure to contact your doctor if stomach problems arose after you started taking any medications.
And go to the doctor if you have vomiting blood or blood in the stool. Need to find out the cause of blood in the digestive tract and to take appropriate action.
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