Catarrhal gastritis

Content:

Inflammatory diseases of the digestive system - a fairly common group of pathologies that cause people a lot of trouble. Probably, there is no person who would not hear about gastritis and how it manifests itself and what provokes it. One of the varieties of gastritis, its catarrhal form, will now be considered.

Gastritis is a term that unites a large group of diseases with different origins and course. Moreover, each of them is characterized by the fact that the mucous membrane of the organ undergoes inflammatory or dystrophic changes. It can be primary and proceed as an independent disease, and it can be caused by another disease or intoxication of the body.

There is no exact statistics on the frequency of occurrence of individual forms of gastritis in the countries of the post-Soviet space, but it is reliably known that in the vast majority of cases, patients reveal a chronic form of the disease. Remarkably, gastritis is not a lot of people only. Veterinarians detect inflammatory changes in the stomach wall of dogs and cats.

What is catarrhal gastritis?

In about 10% of cases, patients develop an acute form of the disease, which has its own subspecies:

simple gastritis (catarrhal) - the most common;
corrosive gastritis - occurs in patients who for some reason drank a very aggressive substance (acid, alkali, etc.);
phlegmonous gastritis - the wall of the organ is impregnated with a large number of leukocytes and greatly thickened;
fibrinous gastritis - with it, fibrin films are deposited on the patient's gastric mucosa (usually develops with scarlet fever and some other infections).

Causes and mechanism of development of catarrhal gastritis

Sometimes in relation to this form of the disease, doctors use the term alimentary. This suggests that in most cases the aggressive factor enters the digestive tract with the food consumed. Our digestive system is quite tender from the inside, as nutrients should be absorbed in large amounts through its mucous membrane.

The mucous membrane of the stomach has its own characteristics that help it cope with the assigned functions at a decent level. There are several types of cells in the inner membrane of the organ, each of which performs its function:

some produce hydrochloric acid, which is necessary for the activation of digestive enzymes of the stomach and exposure to food fibers;
another type of cells in large quantities produces mucus, which is immune to the effects of enzymes and acids and is able to protect all cells from such an aggressive environment;
the third type of cell is engaged in the production of digestive enzymes that break down proteins into shorter amino acid chains, which facilitates their further digestion in the intestine.

Normally, everything is in a balanced state, and the incoming food masses are gradually processed into chyme and move further along the digestive tract. In the oral cavity, food is crushed to small fragments, which facilitates the work of the stomach. Unfortunately, a person very often becomes the cause of his own problems and provides an increased load on the digestive system. The cause of the development of catarrhal gastritis can be many factors.

Improper nutrition with a large number of coarse elements or simply poor digestion of food - while large elements mechanically affect the mucous membrane and cause it to be slightly damaged, and aggressive gastric juice afterwards does its dirty deed and causes inflammation.
Food intoxication (not to be confused with a chemical burn of the stomach) - most often represents the use of large quantities of strong alcoholic beverages or very spicy foods. As a result, mucus cannot cope with such a massive effect and the stomach wall is damaged.
Eating spoiled food, on which microbes have already managed to multiply and excreted their toxins. This again speaks about how important it is to monitor the quality of food and not try to save on your health, sparing to throw away the product.
Use of certain drugs (they can be quite aggressive substances) on an empty stomach. You must always obey the advice of a doctor or read the summary of the drug. There may be indicated, for example, that it is possible to consume medicine only after a meal.
Some transferred infectious diseases can also adversely affect the state of the gastric mucosa and provoke the development of gastritis.
Emotional overstrain or severe and frequent stress can trigger such a response from the human endocrine system that he develops not only catarrhal gastritis. Sometimes these factors cause stress ulcers.

Symptoms of catarrhal gastritis

Unlike all chronic forms of the disease, the symptoms of catarrhal gastritis manifest themselves very quickly and are pronounced bright enough to immediately attract the attention of the patient.

Approximately 4-6 hours after the aggressive factor gets into the stomach, severe pain appears in the epigastric region (upper half of the abdomen, more to the left). She says that the nerve endings in the mucous membrane feel the effects of an adverse factor and give a signal to the central nervous system.
Heartburn is a specific burning sensation in the chest. It develops as a result of the acidic contents of the stomach entering the esophagus. The mucous membrane of the esophagus is not designed for such an aggressive effect, as a result of which this symptom develops.
Since the gastric mucosa is somewhat inflamed, it can no longer perform its function and grind food masses to a homogeneous slurry. At the same time, the patient gradually begins to feel nauseous, which can result in vomiting - this is how our body tries to get rid of poor-quality products. In no case can one forcefully restrain emetic urges, since this greatly increases the pressure inside the stomach and rupture of the mucous membrane of the esophagus (Burhave's syndrome) or the cardial section of the stomach (Melori-Weiss syndrome) may occur.
Belching with an unpleasant sour taste is a consequence of throwing a small amount of gastric contents back into the oral cavity. This state should not be confused with vomiting, since in the latter case, food masses come out in large quantities.
Cardiac rhythm disturbance - develops due to the fact that different organ systems are interconnected by means of nerves. As a result, irritation of the celiac plexus can affect the functioning of the heart.
If the inflammatory reaction is sufficiently pronounced, it can lead to the release of a large number of biologically active substances and intoxication of the human body. The result is an increase in body temperature, sometimes to high numbers.
General weakness is a non-specific symptom, but almost always manifests itself in a patient with catarrhal gastritis.
Liquid stool - not all patients, but periodically may further aggravate the human condition.

Diagnosis of catarrhal gastritis

In this case, general examination by a specialist is very important. An experienced doctor can assume the correct diagnosis, only by externally examining a person and hearing his complaints.

First of all, the doctor collects a detailed history and tries to find out what caused the development of catarrhal gastritis. In this case, in no case should you conceal anything from the doctor. On the contrary, you need to strain the memory and tell everything that may have at least some relation to the disease.
You should always pay attention to the patient's language - a mirror of the digestive tract. In catarrhal gastritis, it is covered with a white-gray bloom and has a dry appearance. The doctor will certainly notice an unpleasant smell coming from the mouth. Moreover, pre-cleaning teeth can not eliminate it.
On palpation of the anterior abdominal wall, there is marked pain in the epigastric region and near the navel.
General clinical blood test - there the doctor finds an increase in the content of leukocytes and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (these are true signs of inflammatory changes).
Fibrogastroscopy is a study of the upper digestive tract using a special tool that can transmit an image over fiber. The doctor can observe the picture on the screen and assess the condition of the patient's mucous membrane. This method is one of the most informative in the diagnosis of diseases of the esophagus and stomach.

If doctors need to differentiate catarrhal gastritis with another pathology, then doctors resort to additional diagnostic methods (ultrasound, CT, MRI, ECG, etc.).

Treatment of catarrhal gastritis

Tactics of doctors depends on how hard the disease proceeds.

With mild illness, doctors often do without gastric lavage. To begin with, it is necessary to stop eating food for 1-2 days. This allows the stomach to empty and eliminate the effects of its contents on the walls. After gradually, grated porridges, juices, and meat souffl are introduced into the diet. As the patient's well-being improves, food becomes more diverse and the person returns to normal diet.
Medium severity of catarrhal gastritis without gastric lavage is rarely treated. This method allows you to quickly remove harmful substances and toxins from the human body, which prevents the situation from further worsening. Further, the tactics are approximately the same as in the previous case, but any new product should be introduced into the diet with greater caution.
Severe intoxication causes physicians to resort to intravenous administration of glucose solution or Ringer's solution to improve the patient's well-being. The stomach is washed with warm water or soda. After several days of fasting, the patient begins to receive small portions of juice, mashed porridge and other sparing food. Gradually, the diet is replenished, and the person begins to eat as usual.

Preparations for catarrhal gastritis

Doctors are willing to use drugs that accelerate the patient's recovery, and relieve many of the symptoms of the disease.

Antispasmodics - struggling with pain, relaxing the smooth muscles in the abdominal cavity.
Cholinolytics - act on specific receptors that are located in the gastric mucosa.
Antacids are alkaline drugs that, when released into the stomach, react with its juice and slightly reduce acidity. This has a good effect on the state of the mucous membrane, since it has to come into contact not with such an aggressive environment as before.
Enterosorbents - a group of drugs that can absorb a variety of substances from the outside. They allow to reduce the content of toxins in the stomach and remove them from the body with feces.
Prokinetic - help cope with vomiting.
Antibiotics are a necessary component of therapy if it is established that the cause of gastritis is infection.
As mentioned above, with a severe course of the disease, the need for correction of water-electrolyte metabolism is possible. To do this, use glucose solution, saline, potassium.

As can be seen, in most cases, doctors can easily cope with the disease and return the person to normal life. But at the same time you always need to learn for yourself the right lesson. Almost always the culprit for the development of gastritis is the patient himself and his abnormal eating behavior. If you change your diet, then you can never face this disease. Otherwise, catarrhal gastritis will definitely come back, may turn into a chronic form, or even cause the development of a stomach ulcer.

| December 1, 2014 | | 3,769 | Diseases of the digestive tract