One of the main systems of the human body is the gastrointestinal tract. He is responsible for the processing and further digestibility of all possible food that has entered the esophagus to further points of the digestive tract. But sometimes this system fails. Any disease of the stomach and intestines interferes with the full work with food. Read more about these organs in the article.
Gastrointestinal tract. Features
The stomach and intestines are one of the main organs of the digestive system that process the food coming through the esophagus, producing all possible nutrients from it. They perform several functions:
- motor-mechanical, with the help of which food is chewed and transported through the intestinal sections until the final exit;
- secretory - the body processes the crushed food with the necessary enzymes, bile and gastric juices;
- absorption - mucous membranes absorb all the vitamins and minerals contained in food.
Causes of pathologies and malfunctions
The negative impact of the environment affects the work of the digestive tract, causing unexpected pathologies and provoking the development of serious diseases. There are many reasons for this:
- A person does not eat properly. He regularly overeats, undereats, eats too much, bites in one bite, eats too fast, or is full of the same foods. Preservatives and other additives from the chemical industry, found in most foods today, are contributing to the slowly deteriorating digestion.
- Bad ecology. An important role in the development of pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract is played by poor water quality, chemicals in vegetables and fruits, milk and meat of sick animals, and so on.
- Genes contain susceptibility to all sorts of diseases.
- Medication side effect.
- Food prepared in poor sanitary conditions.
- Shattered nerves after experienced stress and upheaval.
- Hard physical work.
- Infectious damage to the body.
- A parasite entered the digestive tract with food.
- Disruptions in the endocrine system.
- Bad habits: smoking, drinking and so on.
These causes are very common in today's world, so many people are at risk of sudden problems with the stomach and intestines. Experts recommend regularly checking your he alth in order to notice and eliminate the developing pathology in time.
Diagnosis of the diseaseCrown
It is based on X-rays and endoscopy results showing inflammation of the stomach and intestines that gradually spreads to other mucous membranes.
In the presence of inflammation of the intestine, the level of leukocytes in the contents of feces increases. When the doctor suspects the development of diarrhea, which necessarily accompanies this disease, he will definitely prescribe a laboratory study of feces to identify possible infectious agents, worm eggs or other parasites.
The leading places in the diagnosis of this disease were taken by studies using X-rays with a contrast effect (intubation enterography, double contrast barium enema, studies of the passage of barium, and so on).
When a doctor doubts the results of a previous study, visually detecting inflammation that was not reflected in the results, he may prescribe a scintigraphy with the participation of the marked leukocytes. If it is necessary to clarify the area of damage to the mucous membranes, the patient may hear a recommendation for endoscopy. A biopsy will give the final confirmation of the diagnosis of Crohn's or detect another dangerous disease (dysplasia, cancer).
Symptoms and treatments
The large intestine has an inflamed mucosa, which is covered with many ulcers that provoke the occurrence:
- sudden upset stomach and intestines;
- bloody and mucous feces;
- painful diarrhea that makes every act of defecation especially painful forsick;
- lack of appetite, general weakness and great weight loss;
- regular diarrhea at night;
- constipation;
- Bouts of fever or excessive sweating.
Crohn's disease doesn't just affect the colon. Its effect gradually spreads to the small intestine, most of the esophagus, stomach and oral mucosa. In advanced cases, fistulas appear (up to 40% of patients).
Among the consequences of this disease, we can mention the gradual clogging of the intestinal cavity with feces, followed by obstruction and the development of pseudopolyposis. In addition to them, there are:
- skin lesion;
- pathological changes in the joints;
- errors in the metabolic process that occurs in the bones;
- amyloidosis;
- inflammation of the organs of vision;
- development of liver diseases;
- an increasing set of pathologies of the circulatory system;
- complicated hemostasis;
- inflamed blood vessels.
Crohn's disease is a chronic disease that sometimes has a long remission period. That is, 30% of patients report a spontaneous improvement in he alth without any special measures. But such moments are temporary, and after some time, patients again complain of pain in the stomach and intestines, as well as bouts of vomiting.
The doctor develops a treatment method for each specific case. It should include the patient's lifestyle, his general condition and the degree of development of the pathology of the gastrointestinal tract onthis moment. The patient is advised to limit himself as much as possible from possible stresses, give up the habit of smoking and regularly take the recommended medications. The specialist selects them for the patient's body and controls their effects in order to eliminate most side effects.
If medical treatment of the stomach and intestines does not give the expected results, and the disease continues to progress, then specialists resort to surgical methods.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease
Characteristic is the presence of many dissimilar signs that can appear separately with a certain sequence or all together. Gastroesophageal reflux disease has been found in almost 40% of the population of highly developed countries, and this number is regularly increasing.
Diagnosis
The doctor needs to assess the condition of the esophagus, so he resorts to esophagoscopy, which is carried out in conjunction with a biopsy. This study will answer the question about the size of the affected area that the disease has captured. In parallel, you can do an analysis with esophagitis.
X-ray of the esophagus with the participation of barium allows you to detect pathological changes in the structure of the digestive tract, which could provoke a hernia of the diaphragm (gastroesophageal reflux). To avoid errors in confirming or canceling the diagnosis, the specialist monitors the level of gastric acidity for at least 24 hours.
Symptoms
Most common:
- periodic heartburn;
- gradual thinning of the tooth surface;
- sudden burping;
- cough and hoarse voice;
- chest pain;
- swallowing is accompanied by discomfort.
But sometimes this disease does not manifest itself. It is discovered by pure chance. The reason is that slight fluctuations in gastric acidity do not cause alarming sensations.
Therapy
Treatment of the stomach and intestines consists of therapy aimed at alleviating pronounced symptoms, limiting the harm caused by increased levels of gastric acidity, cleansing and additional protection of the mucosal surface of the esophagus.
General recommendations help reduce reflux of stomach contents back into the esophagus:
- losing weight or gaining the missing weight;
- forget about smoking, alcohol, fatty foods, strong drinks and chocolates;
- limit acidic foods;
- set up a diet;
- eat a small portion of food at a time;
- sleep only 2 hours after the last meal;
- do not load the abdominal area, and do less actions that involve the muscles of this area;
- during sleep, the head should be at a height of 10 to 15 centimeters from the bed, so you need to choose the right pillow.
When following all the recommendations does not give the expected result, the doctor prescribes medical procedures.
Symptomsdiarrhea diseases
Common cause of intestinal infections - dirty food or poorly purified water. They spread very quickly throughout the body, provoking the development of dysentery or salmonellosis.
The stool changes, becoming liquid and frequent, forcing the patient to visit the toilet up to 30 times a day. An attempt to tolerate or the act of defecation itself is accompanied by pain and discomfort. A person notes a too high temperature (up to 40 degrees), lack of strength and a desire to re-go to the toilet, even if the intestines are completely cleared. Thus, the body signals the presence of toxins.
When frequent stools are repeated for a long time, dehydration appears. This will be indicated by unusually dry skin, dried mucous membranes of the mouth, periodic tachycardia and a decrease in blood pressure.
The most serious complication is cholera. It is included in the list of life-threatening intestinal infections. One person who gets sick with it can provoke the start of an epidemic.
If entero-, adeno- or rotavirus infections became the cause of poor functioning of the stomach and intestines, then the patient has symptoms characteristic of the flu or a cold: cough, runny nose, discomfort in the throat, fever, lack of strength, headache pain, rapid onset of fatigue.
In addition to them, false signs of gastroenteritis may appear: vomiting, bouts of nausea, pain in the abdomen, strange stools. They point to an infected stomach and intestines, but have nothing to do with it.disease and often go away without special treatment.
Sometimes an intestinal infection is accompanied by another disease that develops in parallel (ulcer, Crohn's disease, oncology) of a new pathology. Such a complicated condition can cause inflammation of the mucous membranes and a gradual increase in erosion and small ulcers on them. They, in turn, remove biological fluid, proteins and electrolytes into the intestinal lumen.
The stomach starts to hurt on a permanent basis. The temperature practically does not fall below 38 degrees. The stool is loose, bloody, with hints of pus. Constant internal bleeding causes anemia and swelling of the intestinal walls.
Patients with chronic pancreatitis may also experience periodic signs of diarrhea. The main reason for their appearance is a complication of the underlying disease. Patients suffer from pain in the abdomen, regular vomiting and loose stools that are difficult to wash off the surface of the toilet. Unfortunately, they cannot be completely eradicated, but their severity can be reduced by following general recipes for the intestines and stomach. They are based on a diet that excludes fatty, spicy or smoked foods, as well as avoiding alcohol.
In some cases, the patient's body does not tolerate certain foods. For example, aloe for the stomach and intestines or honey are of particular danger. A person who does not know such features of his body eats them and then is surprised to notice the growing signs of diarrhea, although there were no prerequisites for the disease. As a rule, all unpleasantsymptoms disappear with the elimination of this product from the diet.
Diseases of the endocrine system interfere with the full absorption of fluid and normal intestinal motility. Food passes too quickly inside the intestines, which does not have time to take from it all the substances it needs. The presence of parasites, on the contrary, inhibits the development of the disease, supplementing the list of symptoms with new items:
- bloody stool;
- excruciating pain in the stomach and intestines.
Sometimes diarrhea is provoked by completely harmless reasons. These include a sharp change in the usual diet, a lack or excess of fluid in the body, a change in climatic zones, or a side effect of certain medications. Symptoms of diarrhea are mild and do not bring much inconvenience. They usually go away on their own within one week. If medicines are to blame, then you may need a medicine that positively affects the intestinal microflora.
Treatment
To achieve the best results in treatment, doctors recommend not to delay seeking help and start sounding the alarm at the slightest sign of pathology. If the symptoms of the disease indicate intestinal infections, then, first of all, it is necessary to consult a general practitioner or gastroenterologist.
At the first stages of the development of diarrhea, the patient's body needs adsorbents that will clean the internal organs as much as possible. Most often prescribed:
- "Enterosgel" - take one and a half tablespoons three times a day;
- "Smektu" - one sachet is diluted in 100 mlcooled boiled water and take three times a day an hour before meals or after it, but after a couple of hours.
If there are signs of dehydration in the body, then the list of recommended drugs will be replenished with Regidron (one packet per liter of boiled liquid, which must be taken during the day). When intestinal motility is too increased, any specialist will advise "Imodium" or "Loperamide". In the event that additional protection against bacteria is needed, Normax and Enterofuril are prescribed. The drugs that restore the intestinal microflora include Bifidumbacterin, Bifiform and Linex.
If the patient's body is in a state of pregnancy, then doctors carefully prescribe treatment, trying to limit themselves to adsorbents that do not exceed the doses allowed in this case. When the development of diarrhea progresses to the following stages and provokes regular vomiting and loose stools, the prescribed treatment includes "Rehydron", which protects against dehydration.
Dysbacteriosis
Each case is strictly individual, so it is impossible to list specific symptoms. They depend on many factors, including the age and state of he alth of the patient, the type of microbes that caused the disease, the specifics of the medications taken before the development of the pathology, and so on.
Diagnosis
This disease is detected both in the case of special tests, and purely by chance, when analyzing for other diagnoses. Dysbacteriosis is characterized by the fact that it can go together with other intestinal infections.
Most often, this pathology is detected during a microbiological analysis of feces, which provides a complete picture of the state of the intestinal microflora and determines substances that adversely affect harmful microorganisms isolated from the material provided. For such an analysis, one gram of the feces of a potential patient is diluted in a special solution and the nutrient medium contained in it is examined. A special point indicating a pathology in the work of the intestines is a stop in the development of bifidobacteria, and the almost complete absence of Escherichia coli. If a specialist finds fungal bacteria, staphylococcus, and so on, then we can confidently assert the presence of dysbacteriosis.
To confirm or refute the diagnosis, ultrasound of the abdominal organs, MRI of the stomach and intestines, gastroscopy, colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy or irrigoscopy are prescribed.
Symptoms
Despite the absence of specific symptoms, experts identify a list of common features that can be used to suspect the presence of intestinal pathology. Includes:
- lack of appetite;
- anemia;
- quick onset of fatigue;
- hypovitaminosis;
- unreasonable weight loss;
- temperature increase;
- leukocytosis;
- periodic shortness of breath;
- tachycardia;
- bradycardia;
- watery stool;
- feces mixed with blood, pus and other pathological fluids.
Pothe inflamed colon periodically runs spasms, which, in turn, create constipation and provoke the development of flatulence.
All types of dysbacteriosis cause pain in the abdomen and various manifestations of allergies, ranging from itching to rashes.
Treatment
When the first symptoms appear, the patient urgently needs to contact a gastroenterologist or therapist who will eliminate the cause of the disease and develop a special diet.
It provides for a complete rejection of the use of alcoholic beverages, the restriction of s alty, peppery, spicy, fatty, fried foods, as well as the exclusion from the diet of sweet and hard for the stomach baking. Abundant consumption of coarse fiber is also undesirable. For the benefit of the stomach and intestines, the diet is based on the use of fruits, berries, vegetables and dairy products. Such food is perfectly absorbed in the body and helps to avoid decay processes that aggravate the general condition.
In severe cases, the doctor prescribes an antibacterial drug or antibiotics that can act on existing pathogens. For example, we can recall "Azithromycin", "Gentamicin", "Tsiprolet", "Cefazolin" and so on, which kill any staphylococcal dysbacteriosis. "Gentamicin" refers to generic drugs that are suitable for Citrobacter or Klebsiella.
"Flucostat" perfectly copes with the candidal variety of the disease. If the patient's he alth leaves much to be desired,antibiotics are exchanged for drugs with nitrofuran or various bacteriophages: staphylococcal, proteus, and so on.
The recommended course of treatment with nitrofurans and antibiotics does not exceed 10 days. Bacteriophages take a little longer, several courses, each of which lasts about a week with a break of about 3 days. How many courses are needed, the doctor decides, taking into account the severity of the disease and the effectiveness of the impact of each course of treatment.
After drug therapy, the stage of restoration of the intestinal microflora begins. To do this, prescribe probiotics: "Lactobacterin", "Bifidumbacterin", "Bifikol" and so on. The duration of use depends on the damage caused by the underlying disease, and therefore ranges from a couple of weeks to 2 months. For additional exposure, enzymatic medicines, vitamins and immunostimulant drugs are prescribed. The need for their use is determined by the doctor. For maximum effect, he can advise how to clean the stomach and intestines at home.
flatulence disease
Manifested in an increased level of gas formation and is quite a common pathology of the gastrointestinal tract. Quite he althy people are also affected, especially when they begin to overeat, giving preference to foods that provoke abundant gas formation.
If gases exceed the level allowed for the intestines, which it is able to absorb or remove, then favorableconditions for the accumulation of gases in the gastrointestinal tract. They, in turn, provoke the development of flatulence, which occurs in several varieties:
- being at a certain height, contributing to an increase in pressure in the intestinal area;
- a diet high in legumes and cellulose;
- stress, nervous tension or emotional overload;
- digestion pathologies;
- disorders of the circulatory system;
- the presence of dangerous bacteria in the intestinal area;
- intestinal membranes lose their motor functions;
- a disease that prevents the intestine from eliminating the waste products of the body in time.
Symptoms
The main symptoms are bloating in the abdomen, excruciating pain similar to contractions, nausea and belching, lack of appetite, constipation, painful diarrhea.
Meteorism can manifest itself as follows:
- Abundant and regular gas formation, practically beyond the control of the person himself. This fact negatively affects his social ties and social life. But, despite such a nuisance, their release is not accompanied by severe pain. The maximum that patients note is discomfort, similar to rumbling and overflowing feeling.
- Visually noticeable bloating without the slightest sign of gas. They are not released by spasms of the large intestine, causing discomfort throughout the body and provoking an upset stomach and intestines.
Sometimes flatulence provokes the development of parallel, at first glance, notdiseases associated with it. These can be sleep disturbances, lack of energy, mood swings, heart rhythm abnormalities, and so on.
Treatment
All treatment of this disease is aimed at eliminating the provocative factor responsible for the increased degree of gas formation. It consists of certain points:
- restructuring the daily diet into a corrective diet;
- cleansing the intestines from stagnant gases;
- drug treatment of the cause of the disease;
- elimination of pathologies in the biocenosis of the intestinal microflora;
- motion error prevention.
When it comes to the treatment of flatulence, absorbing drugs are especially popular: coal, white clay, Polysorb, Polyphepan, Dimethicone. They prevent the absorption of harmful substances contained in the gases, and gradually remove them from the body. To achieve a carminative effect, the general course includes herbal medicines for the stomach and intestines: cumin, mint, coriander, chamomile, dill and fennel.
If the underlying disease is complicated by a lack of digestive enzymes, then gradually the patient will discover pathologies in the process of digestion. To avoid this, "Pepsin", medicines containing real stomach acid, "Pancreatin" and some combination drugs are prescribed.
