The burning sensation in the stomach area is familiar to almost every adult and is no longer habitually perceived as a serious violation of the digestive tract. Getting rid of an unpleasant symptom comes from 1-2 lingual tablets or a bag of gel enveloping the mucous membrane of the esophagus, and the cause of a possible disease remains unclear until the development of critical complications.
Burning and accompanying symptoms
Often, burning sensation in the stomach area occurs as a single symptom, but with constant ignoring of the sign, a seemingly insignificant deviation in the work of the gastrointestinal tract "acquires" details, among which may be observed:
- nausea and gagging;
- bitter or sour belching;
- constant sour taste on tongue;
- changing voice to hoarseness or hoarseness;
- tingling while swallowing food;
- dry cough without the dynamics of transition to a wet cough.
In addition, the pain syndrome, starting with a mildburning in the stomach and growing to cutting pains between the shoulder blades or on the left side of the chest. A characteristic sign of obvious problems in the intestines and the digestive tract as a whole will be halitosis, which is not interrupted by any local refreshers.
Gastritis as a cause of burning sensation
Gastritis is a general term that combines several pathologies of different origin that develop and proceed in approximately the same scenario and in the same direction - affecting the gastric mucosa. In total, gastritis is divided into two main forms and several subspecies that characterize the symptoms of an acute course.
The simplest gastritis occurs as a result of eating food that irritates the walls of the stomach and provokes thinning of the mucous tissues. The natural acidic environment of the stomach, continuing to act on the damaged mucosa with the same intensity, gradually corrodes it, leading to the development of the disease. The primary and main symptom indicating this pathology will be a burning sensation in the stomach.
Other causes of gastritis can be:
- population of the intestinal bacterium Helicobacter pylori;
- chronic neuroses;
- certain medicines;
- aggressive factors of production.
It has been proven that those who abuse alcohol and smoke more than 7 cigarettes during the day are in the most extensive risk group for gastritis.
Pregnancy causes heartburn
Burning in the stomachpregnancy refers to the symptoms of acid dyspepsia, that is, heartburn, provoked by compression of the organs of the digestive tract by a large-sized fetus. This happens after the 20th week of pregnancy, when the pressing force of the muscular sphincter of the esophagus is weakened and the gastric juice is able to seep into the esophagus.
Another reason for burning in the stomach area for a long time can be fluctuating hormonal levels at high levels. As a result of the frequent release of the secret, the digestive process slows down significantly and this manifests itself in unpleasant sensations almost immediately after eating, especially spicy, fried or fatty.
Reaction to drugs
Drugs taken in exactly the prescribed dosages and at the time (relative to meals) indicated in the annotation rarely cause side effects in the form of burning and pain in the stomach. The exception is preparations containing salicylic acid or an active formula of iron or potassium as the main active element. Such medicines cause irritation - cutting, pain, burning - if taken too often or drunk on an empty stomach.
Try to take only controversial drugs that have a protective and slowly dissolving shell. They slip into the stomach faster, without irritating the delicate walls of the esophagus as they go, and are activated only when most of the negative aggressive reaction is absorbed by the acidic environment of the stomach.
Incorrect nutrition
Illiterate food can be called if its nature does not belong to the generally accepted rules of the culture of eating. In isolated cases of deviation from these rules, severe problems with the stomach should not arise, since the digestive system has a certain margin of safety and the ability to recover quickly. However, the accumulation of periodically stacking factors of a gross violation of the food culture will sooner or later lead to one of the severe forms of gastritis, as already mentioned above.
The main serious "crimes" against the stomach are:
- snacking "on the run" dry food;
- meal irregularity (occasionally);
- lack of hot meals in the daily diet;
- synthetic, low-quality food (fast food);
- stale food;
- abuse of spices, hot spices and preservatives.
A serious and increasingly common cause of burning sensation in the stomach and esophagus is systematic overeating. Disturbed by the stretched walls of the muscle bag - the stomach - pain receptors, begin, first as they “eat”, and then “out of habit”, to stimulate the brain with irritating signals. In response, the brain sends pain signals that are not always recognized as epistragal, and the problem continues to accumulate.
Stress
Severe burning sensation in the stomach, accompanied by intestinal upset and even acute pain, may occur due to neuroses or frequentstressful situations. On the basis of a nervous shock, the entire human body, including the stomach, is subjected to severe oxygen starvation - the blood flow begins to move more slowly and the supply of nutrients to the digestive tract decreases several times.
It is believed that more than half of the population of European countries are subject to symptoms of the so-called nervous gastritis. They even give statistics on stomach cancer, which in almost 20% of all cases originates from a lesion of the body at the mental level, after which it develops into pure physiology of gastritis, ulcers, pancreatitis or oncology.
To understand that the burning sensation in the stomach area came precisely from the nerves, it is possible by excluding other negative factors: alcohol and smoking addiction, stable "sitting on drugs", improper nutrition. If none of these examples fit your lifestyle, but there are frequent stresses, then the cause of the diagnosis has been found.
Diagnosis
Diagnosing diseases associated with pain and burning in the stomach area is done by a gastroenterologist. From the entire set of diagnostic studies, the doctor will select several (with a mandatory blood test) that best respond to the symptoms collected in the anamnesis, as well as focusing on the results of the physical examination performed by himself.
All tests and imaging studies in the absence of an "acute abdomen" are performed on an outpatient basis:
- gastroscopy is an endoscopica study that displays a picture on a monitor in real time and allows you to assess the state of all organs of the digestive system, where the camera will have access;
- x-ray of a hollow organ (stomach), which helps to identify any abnormalities in the form of pathological growth or damage to the tissues of the stomach;
- exhaled air sample to determine Helicobacter pylori in it;
- sample of tissue of the gastric mucosa (biopsy), analyzing the presence of tumor growth.
Taking a sample of gastric juice, as well as a clinical blood test, is mandatory if gastritis is suspected.
Folk treatments for burning in the stomach
The most "popular" method - drinking a 1% soda solution - is recommended to be used only as a last resort and in the absence of other means at hand. Slightly slower, but safer for the gastric mucosa, is high-fat milk or still mineral water (4-5 large sips).
A universal remedy for the treatment of all types of gastritis is the raw juice of young potatoes. You need to drink it regularly - 1/3 cup in the morning on an empty stomach and before bed at night; in just 3 weeks. An unpleasant taste saturated with starches, the liquid normalizes the level of acidity of the body, envelops the mucous membrane and at the same time serves as a unique source of iron - there is even more of it in potatoes than in apples. The product is suitable for adults and children from five years old.
Temporary relief is obtained by chewing and swallowing a piece of calamus rootor horse sorrel. You can even prepare complex herbal infusions from equally divided chamomile flowers, plantain leaves and St. John's wort. However, such a remedy will only work while it is being taken.
It is impossible to cure gastritis or stop the development of complications only by using alternative therapy. In this way, symptoms are relieved - burning, cramps or indigestion - but full treatment is carried out only with medications.
Drug Therapy
After receiving the results of the diagnosis, a patient with complaints of burning in the stomach is prescribed a treatment regimen. Be sure to include among the drugs:
- antacids to soothe irritated esophagus (Renny, Almagel);
- gastroprotectors protecting the mucous membranes of the digestive organs ("Tribimol", "De Nol");
- alginates that prevent the effects of gastric acid on the walls of the stomach ("Tagamet", "Zantac");
- prokinetics - metabolism accelerators due to increased intestinal motility ("Fractal", "Cerucal").
It is not superfluous to say that even the most effective prescribed treatment will lead to half the result without revising and correctly assessing the factors that led to the disease - poor nutrition, stress, excess weight, bad habits. Responsibility for recovery, shifted entirely to doctors and the means taken, in 100% of cases leads to relapses and deterioration of the general condition.
