What Causes Gastric Irritation?
Gastric irritation may be a symptom of a stomach or intestinal disorder or may be a disorder in itself. Symptoms can include gas, abdominal pain, rumbling noises, bloated feeling, belching, nausea, vomiting, and a burning sensation after eating.
Swallowing air while eating can cause indigestion. Drinking liquids with meals contributes as well because it dilutes the enzymes needed for digestion. Certain foods and beverages can cause indigestion because they are irritating to the digestive tract. These include alcohol, vinegar, caffeine, and greasy, spicy or refined foods. Other factors include intestinal obstruction, malabsorption, peptic ulcers, and disorders of the pancreas, liver or gallbladder. Food allergies and intolerances (such as lactose intolerance) can also cause gastric problems.
If food is not digested properly, it can ferment in the intestines, producing hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Foods high in complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains and legumes; vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, onions, artichokes and asparagus; fruits such as pears, apples, and peaches; drinks such as fruit juice, soft drinks and milk products are the primary foods responsible for gas because they are difficult to digest and therefore more likely to yield undigested particles on which the intestinal bacteria act.
Psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, worry, or disappointment can disturb the nervous mechanism that controls the contractions of stomach and intestinal muscles. A lack of digestive enzymes can also cause intestinal problems.
Gastritis is an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. It has been found that H.pylori (a bacterium) can cause gastritis and is related to the pathogenesis of gastric carcinoma and B-cell gastric lymphoma.
The three types of gastritis are: If any of these types is suspected, please see your health care provider:
1) Erosive and hemorrhagic seen in persons taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, people under great amounts of stress, alcoholics who are actively drinking;
2) Non-erosive as a result of H.pylori gastritis, pernicious anemia, reactive gastropathy, and lymphocytic gastritis.
3) Distinctive infections such as cytomegalovirus gastric disease, Menetrier's disease, generalized GI disease, Crohn's disease, eosinophilic gastroenteritis, systemic disease and sarcoidosis.
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