Pain in the stomach and intestines

It often hurts the stomach and intestines after eating, indicating a digestive disorder. The digestive process is affected by many factors. This is the emotional state, and the quality of food, and the rate of contraction of smooth muscles, and morphological changes in the mucosa.

Some diseases are characterized by so-called hunger pains that occur at night. To understand the causes of discomfort, it is necessary to undergo a survey, since specific symptoms are not characteristic for GIT diseases (as a rule, it makes sick, stools are broken, appetite decreases, and weakness appears).

Why does the intestine and stomach ache?

Often, diseases of the stomach and intestines are interrelated, as a violation of the activity of one of the organs leads to a deterioration in the functions of the second. So, if the peristalsis is broken in the intestine or there are tumors, excesses, the food mass is delayed longer than necessary, the process of decay and gas formation begins, which causes pain in the stomach region.

The perforation of a stomach ulcer can occur not only in the abdominal cavity, but also in other adjoining organs, for example, the intestines, which will affect the function of both organs. Some diseases cause simultaneous pain in the stomach and in the intestine, as, for example, with gastric emptying, gastroenteritis, food poisoning.

As a rule, the pain is felt in the place where the organ in which the pathological process is located, but it happens that it is difficult to understand exactly where the epicenter of pain is. In addition, the pain is given to other organs, since their innervation is carried out by a single neural bundle. Pain in the intestines can be triggered by various factors. The most common are the following.

Bloating

Due to increased gas formation, stretching of the intestinal muscular tissues occurs, which leads to soreness.

Constipation

Impossibility to empty the intestine due to the decrease in its evacuation function. Fecal masses are delayed, which causes pain, spasms, swelling, malaise.

Increased content of hydrochloric acid in gastric juice

If it is too much, it destroys insoluble mucus (mucin), which protects the stomach and intestinal mucosa from self-digestion. The production of acid affects the bacterium Helicobacter, as well as some diseases of the stomach. When inflammation of the stomach or intestinal mucosa occurs pain, nausea, vomiting, the temperature may rise, there is a weakness.

Gastroenteritis

Inflammatory bowel disease caused by viral or bacterial infection. When lesions occur, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, intestinal cramps, fever, headache; poisoning. Due to the use of spoiled products, gastroenteritis develops, which is characterized by nausea and vomiting, spastic pain, diarrhea, and fever.

Dyspepsia

A similar diagnosis is made only in the event that organic lesions of the intestine are not revealed. It is believed that dyspepsia occurs as a result of a violation of the regulation of bowel function and is caused by stress, eating disorders, taking medications, hypovitaminosis, increasing the concentration of hydrochloric acid in gastric juice or infection with Helicobacter pylori.

For dyspepsia, the heaviness in the stomach is common, nausea, vomiting, hungry pains at the top of the abdomen, a sense of early saturation, slow evacuation of food masses from the stomach into the intestine

Lactose intolerance

Pathology occurs because there is no enzyme that breaks down lactose. The disease can be congenital or develops against the background of damage to enterocytes, which is observed in diseases of the small intestine.

Normally, milk sugar is split in the small intestine by glucose (provides cells with energy) and galactose, necessary for the development of the nervous system. With lactose deficiency, lactose does not disintegrate and enters the large intestine, where it begins to ferment, which causes a decrease in pH, increased gas production and increased water secretion.

After consuming milk, a foamy, liquid stool appears 10-12 times a day, flatulence, intestinal colic, dysbiosis. In infants with lactose deficiency, there is a shortage of weight, changes from the side of the central nervous system.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

It arises because of destructive processes in the large intestine. Pathology, as a rule, is chronic and characterized by periods of exacerbation and remission. Symptoms are spastic pains in the abdomen, then swelling, blistering, violation of the frequency and consistency of the stool, mucus leaves with feces.

In pathology, patients complain of a feeling of incomplete emptying of the intestine and a constant aching or cutting pain in the abdomen, which passes after defecation. Often when the disease appears, imperative (sudden, uncontrolled) urge to empty the intestine.

Ulcerative colitis

Diagnosed for ulcerative inflammatory lesions of the mucosa of the thick colonic and rectum. When the disease develops severe local and systemic complications. Symptoms of colitis are cramping pains in the abdomen, diarrhea with blood, intestinal bleeding.

In 10-20% of patients develop extraintestinal manifestations, such as dermatological pathologies, stomatitis, inflammation of the eyes, joint diseases, softening of the bones, osteoporosis and others.

Appendicitis

It develops due to inflammation of the appendix of the cecum, which is provoked by the overlapping of the lumen of the appendix with calculous stones, overgrown with lymphoid tissue, the bend of the loop. More often the inflammation proceeds acutely and after 72 hours the rupture of the intestine and the release of its contents into the abdominal cavity are possible.

Significantly less common is chronic appendicitis, when the inflammation develops for a long time, which causes atrophic and sclerotic processes in the appendix, as well as inflammatory-destructive, in which spikes and cysts are formed, granulation tissue grows in the walls and lumen of the organ.

Crohn's disease

Inflammatory disease, which can develop in any part of the gastrointestinal tract. More often the lesion is found in the walls of the ileum. Has a chronic, progressive course.

Symptoms of the disease are pain in the intestines and stomach, diarrhea with blood, iron deficiency anemia, loss of appetite and weight, defeat of the musculoskeletal system, skin and eyes. Provoke the disease genetic predisposition, autoimmune reactions, bad habits and uncontrolled use of drugs, poor ecology.

Neoplasms

Most often, benign or malignant tumors grow in the large intestine. They affect the evacuation of stool, can bleed and cause painful sensations along the bowel. Benign formations are incapable of metastasizing, unlike malignant ones, and do not cause symptoms of poisoning. More often a tumor is found in people older than 50 years.

Intestinal ischemia

It arises because of a violation of blood circulation in the bowels. It manifests a strong, cramping pain in the entire intestine, rumbling, flatulence, constipation or diarrhea, weight loss. The disease is a complication of atherosclerosis, diabetes, varicose veins and other similar pathologies.

When a painful syndrome arises the muscles of the abdominal cavity in a relaxed state. Pain appears half an hour after eating and localizes it in the navel area, characterized as cramping or cramping. As the disease progresses, the pain syndrome becomes more intense.

Bowel obstruction

Food can not pass through the intestine, because the lumen of the intestines is blocked (because of spasm, squeezing, blockage) or there is a disorder of innervation or hemodynamics. In case of obstruction, stool and gas retention occurs, vomiting, nausea, cramping abdominal pains that are not dependent on food intake are repeated and repeated at intervals of 15-25 minutes.

Allocate complete or partial obstruction, as well as acute, subacute and chronic. In acute intestinal obstruction within 2-12 hours, the leading symptoms are pain, then the pain syndrome decreases, the peristalsis weakens, but the gases do not depart, and the asymmetry of the abdomen is observed.

Why often the stomach hurts can be determined only after a complete diagnosis, including a physical examination, laboratory and hardware studies

Why does the intestine and stomach ache in pregnant women?

During pregnancy, pain in the area of ​​the stomach and intestines can have physiological or pathological prerequisites. The woman during this period increases the level of estrogen and progesterone, and these hormones have a relaxing effect on the smooth musculature of the intestine, which is why the peristalsis decreases. In addition, the uterus begins to press on the intestines and stomach, which can cause discomfort.

In addition to physiological changes during pregnancy, functional, inflammatory or infectious diseases of the intestine may also occur. Pathological abnormalities are manifested by pain in the periapical or iliac region, in the side, bloating, rumbling, fever, stool, mucus, pus, blood and feces.

Some women (especially after second childbirths) experience pain due to gastric emptying. Pathology occurs as a result of loosening of the ligamentous apparatus and stretching of the muscles of the abdominal cavity.

In the early stages, the disease does not manifest itself, but as it develops, pain occurs after eating or exercise, as the movement of food through the digestive tract is disturbed. Pain is characterized as dull, aching, giving to the heart area. It disappears if you lie down and pull your legs to your stomach. If the stomach presses on the intestine, then there are symptoms such as nausea, eructation, constipation.

Treatment of pain in the stomach and intestines

To eliminate pain in the stomach and intestines, drug therapy is prescribed, which involves taking the following drugs:

• antispasmodic. Have a relaxing effect on smooth muscles. Used to relieve spasms caused by the expansion of the intestinal wall by excess gas volume. This group of drugs includes No-Shpa, Drotoverin, Mebeverin, Duspatilin;
• laxatives. Soften the stools, increase osmotic pressure or activate peristalsis, irritating the receptors of the large intestine. Produced in tablets, candles, powders. The medicine has no therapeutic effect, but only helps to empty the intestines. The laxatives include Fitomycil, Bisacodyl, Fortrans, Dufalac;
• enterosorbents. The drugs act in the gut as a sponge, they absorb toxins and gases, which helps to eliminate swelling and soreness. They are often prescribed for food poisoning. The most famous drugs of this group are activated charcoal, white coal, Smecta, Polysorb.

Some sorbents can accelerate peristalsis

The list of drugs continues:

• antifoams(carminative drugs). Split gas molecules formed in the intestines, after which they can be absorbed and removed. Means should not be taken with injuries of the intestinal mucosa and with complete obstruction. This group includes Espumizan, Simikol;
• prokinetics. Preparations (Motilium, Motilak) accelerate the contraction of the intestines, which contributes to the removal of gases and emptying, the removal of gravity in the stomach, eructations;
• probiotics and prebiotics. These medicines help to restore normal intestinal microflora. With dysbiosis, bloating, diarrhea, pain and heaviness in the abdomen, nausea, loss of appetite. Probiotics contain live bifidobacteria, and prebiotics promote the proliferation of beneficial microorganisms. To achieve a therapeutic effect, drugs are taken in courses of several weeks. Normalize the intestinal microflora Linex, Lactofiltrum, Probifor, Bifidumbacterin;
• enzyme preparations. They contain substances that help to break up incoming food, which speeds up digestion and does not allow undigested particles to ferment, provoking increased gas production. "Mezim Forte" on the basis of pancreatin, compensates for the inadequacy of the function of the pancreas, eliminates the severity, swelling, flatulence. "Cholenzim" activates the synthesis of bile, helps to eliminate dyspeptic symptoms in chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• antacids. Preparations neutralize hydrochloric acid, contained in gastric juice. Also, the medicine reduces the pressure in the stomach and duodenum, spastic contractions, prevents the acid content from being thrown back into the stomach from the intestine and stimulates food advancement. Such properties are possessed by Rennie, Vicair, calcium and magnesium carbonates, burnt magnesia, Almagel, Gastal, Phospholugel;
• antibiotics. Appoint if the cause of pain in the stomach and intestines is a bacterial infection. There are antibiotics of a wide spectrum of action that act on several types of bacteria, and a narrow spectrum that destroy a particular pathogen. It is preferable to take a narrow-spectrum antibiotic, since it does not affect the beneficial flora and does not lead to bacterial resistance, which is opportunistic. The definition of an infectious agent requires time, therefore, antibacterial drugs with a broad spectrum of action are often prescribed.

Before proceeding to medical treatment it is necessary to undergo examination and determine the causes of pathology. Laxatives, antacids, enzyme preparations, defoamers and antispasmodics have no therapeutic effect, they only relieve the symptom and relieve the intense pain.

Frequent use of them is not recommended, as they are able to mask a progressive disease. What you need to do to avoid relapse and prevent the development of the disease, the attending physician will decide.

It is necessary to take into account the course and etiology of the disease, the patient's age, individual drug tolerance, the propensity to allergies, concomitant pathologies, therefore, self-administration of medications is undesirable, although most of them are dispensed without a prescription.

Only after the diagnosis can be given adequate treatment

In some cases, pain in the stomach and intestines can only be removed by surgery. Laparotomy is used, in which the abdominal wall is dissected, and manipulations are performed (removal of thrombosis, congenital anomalies, tumors with part of the intestine or stomach).

When laparoscopy to remove adhesions and benign tumor is introduced into the abdominal cavity device through the incisions. During the endoscopic examination (the instrument is inserted through the anus), it is possible to remove polyps or foreign objects, stop bleeding.

Diet in the pathology of the intestines and stomach

When treating diseases of the digestive system, a special place is given to diet therapy. If the diet is not respected, it is possible to negate medication and provoke a complication of the disease. The organ, in which the pathological process developed, requires functional rest, that is, it is necessary to relieve the load from it.

The diet depends on the symptoms of the disease. With constipation, a No-3 diet is prescribed, which helps improve peristalsis. It involves the use of whole grain bread, fresh vegetables and fruits, porridges (buckwheat, barley, barley), low-fat varieties of fish and meat.

Diarrhea shows a diet No4, which excludes foods that accelerate the contraction of smooth muscles and increase gas production. These include baking, chocolate, milk pudding, sweet yogurt. Recommended cleaned homogeneous porridge, puree soup without pasta and potatoes, berries and fruits with astringent effect (bird cherry, quince, dogwood, blueberry).

Any diet involves the exclusion from the diet of alcohol, soda water, strong coffee or tea, garlic, radish, fatty and fried foods, seasonings and spices

For the removal of pain in the stomach and intestines can be used and recipes of traditional medicine. With diarrhea and inflammation of the intestines, decoctions are recommended on the basis of St. John's wort, sage, motherwort, oak bark, mint and yarrow. Infusion of linseed can improve peristalsis. Anti-inflammatory and regenerating properties have honey and aloe.

It is necessary to treat diseases of the digestive tract, it is not enough just to get rid of pain. With pathology of the intestine, absorption of necessary substances is impaired, anemia and hypovitaminosis develop, and this already affects the functioning of all body systems.

If the stomach or the intestine is very sore, emergency medical care may be required, for example, if the ulcer is perforated, the intestinal obstruction needs surgery. Even periodically arising pains in a stomach or belly the reason to address to the gastroenterologist or the therapist.