In the article we will consider the symptoms and treatment of eosinophilic gastritis. An inflammatory process affecting the mucous surface inside the stomach can develop as a result of some components entering the digestive tract, to which a person has hypersensitivity. In such situations, gastroenterologists make a diagnosis, which is called eosinophilic gastritis. Another name for this condition is allergic inflammation of the stomach, or granuloma.
Who is suffering?
Most often, pathology affects people who are prone to allergic reactions and have a hereditary predisposition. Sometimes the disease affects infants when they wean early and switch to bottle-feeding.
Eosinophilic gastritis is not a rare disease and is quite common. However, diagnosispathology is difficult due to the complexity of identifying the allergen. If an allergic lesion of the small intestine joins eosinophilic gastritis, the disease takes the form of eosinophilic gastroenteritis.
Factors causing disease
Gastric granuloma can develop as a result of exposure to foods, medicines, chemical components. If eosinophilic gastritis in a person becomes chronic, the determination of the allergen becomes more complicated, and the diagnosis of the disease is time-consuming and expensive.
Allergic gastritis develops most often as a result of exposure to the following factors:
- Food products saturated with a large number of chemical components, which include food additives, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers and flavorings. If a substance that causes allergic gastritis is included in the list, a person has to constantly monitor the composition of the products that he consumes.
- Vegetables and fruits with bright colors. Most often, cases of allergic gastritis are recorded as a result of eating orange or red fruits, in particular strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, oranges. Green fruits can provoke allergic gastritis only if they are treated with ethylene for greater safety. This substance is a product of petroleum refining and can provoke allergies.
- Helminthiasis often acts as a factor provoking eosinophilic lesions of the intestines and stomach. Even with full confidence in the absence of parasites to humans,who noted the first symptoms of allergic gastritis, should be checked for the presence of helminths.
Quite often, an allergic reaction is caused by seemingly harmless foods: milk, fish, eggs, nuts and mushrooms. Even chocolate can provoke an attack of eosinophilic gastritis if the body is not adapted to its composition. Therefore, you need to be careful about eating foods that are popular allergens.
Symptoms of eosinophilic gastritis in humans
A disease with an acute course has a pronounced symptomatology that develops immediately when an allergen enters the body. First of all, the patient begins to complain about the sensation of itching:
- First itching is localized in the lips. Subsequently, the entire body of the patient is covered with small itchy rashes.
- Swelling of the inner surface of the mouth, tongue, nasopharynx begins.
- Salivation increases, there is a stabbing burning pain in the epigastrium.
- Added nausea, frequent belching, vomiting.
Vegetative manifestations
Often these manifestations are accompanied by vegetative changes in the form of blanching of the skin, pain in the head, dizziness, palpitations, weakness. In severe lesions, vomiting with blood is noted. Such signs cause fear in a person, it appears that poisoning has occurred, and bloody vomiting suggests an ulcer or cancer.
Whenthe appearance of these acute symptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor, otherwise the disease can progress and provoke dangerous complications. Determining an accurate diagnosis is the task of an experienced gastroenterologist.
Chronic disease
Chronic form of allergic gastritis manifests itself differently. The severity of the disease directly depends on the individual reaction of the patient, as well as on how much eosinophils have damaged the gastric layer. Symptoms:
- The patient completely loses his appetite.
- Stool is disturbed, bloating is noted.
- There is persistent diarrhea and constipation.
- Allergic rashes appear, which are most often localized in the abdomen.
When an allergen enters the stomach, the secretion of the glands located in the mucous membrane begins to increase, intestinal motility increases, the anal region and the caecum begin to contract spastically. In some cases, the development of gastroesophagitis with reflux begins - a situation when the contents of the stomach are thrown into the esophageal canal. As a result, the patient experiences pain and burning in the epigastric region.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of eosinophilic gastritis is carried out in two directions: a specialist will have to evaluate instrumental, laboratory, clinical data, and diagnose a diet. It is also necessary to determine the relationship of emerging symptoms with the use of allergenic products. The patient needsstart keeping a food diary, on the basis of which the doctor assesses the degree of existing disorders in the digestive tract, takes into account the symptoms that other organs also respond to the allergen.
What tests are being done?
In order to identify the causes, you should conduct:
- Provocative test. This test allows you to detect a sensitivity reaction upon contact with an allergenic product. The test is carried out sublingually, inhalation, nasally or by applying to the conjunctiva.
- Prick test. Reminiscent of a skin prick test, when a drop of the allergen is applied to a sensitive area of the skin.
- IgE level. Allows you to determine how much immunoglobulin E is present in the blood. It is a marker of increased susceptibility of the body to irritants.
What does EGD show in eosinophilic gastritis? The procedure allows you to visually assess the inner surface of the stomach and duodenum, to biopsy the tissues. In pathology, the affected areas of the organs are inflamed, often have erosion, and can bleed.
To determine the etymology, an elimination test should be carried out - a product that is supposedly an allergen is excluded from the patient's diet for two weeks. If you suspect that several products are allergens at once, each of them is removed stepwise, in order.
These diagnostic methods can be used only after the acute signs of the disease have disappeared, not earlier than one month after theycupping.
Therapy
How to treat eosinophilic gastritis? Therapy of the disease is carried out immediately by two specialists: an allergist and a gastroenterologist. Treatment is divided into two types:
- Specific. With specific therapy, the patient is prescribed the use of antiserotonin drugs, systemic glucocorticosteroids, immunomodulators, drugs that can normalize the functions of the gastrointestinal tract (these include prebiotics, probiotics, pancreatic enzymes, enterosorbents, hepatoprotectors).
- Non-specific. The allergen and the products in which it is included are excluded from the patient's diet directly. If the suspected allergen is not clearly defined, exclude absolutely all suspected foods.
Products
Most often, with eosinophilic gastritis, certain varieties of meat and fish, honey, tomatoes, citrus fruits, and eggs are banned. However, there is always a way out. The patient can replace the prohibited products with similar, but not causing a negative reaction. Pork can be replaced with rabbit meat, cow's milk with goat's milk, chocolate with marmalade or fruit jelly.
If you follow the diet recommended by the gastroenterologist and use these medications, the symptoms of exacerbation disappear within a week. Rapid eosinophilic gastritis recedes in a short period, the prognosis becomes favorable.
Prevention of allergic gastritis
Prevention of eosinophilic gastritis involves the exclusion of contact with allergenicproducts from an early age. During the period of bearing a child, a woman should rationalize her diet. Babies should be fed naturally whenever possible. If this is not possible, it is recommended to use only adapted artificial mixtures. If the patient has a hereditary predisposition to allergic gastritis, he should consult a gastroenterologist for an individual nutrition plan.
It is important to remember that when the primary signs of allergic gastritis appear, you should not postpone visiting a gastroenterologist. Only timely diagnosis and treatment of eosinophilic gastritis will make life easier for the patient and avoid possible complications.
