| |
|
|
|
| |
Understanding common stomach pain |
|
|
| |
Stomach discomfort is caused by many factors - mainly by something that you've consumed, which may not agree with you. Unknown to many, stress too plays an important role in causing stomach discomfort. |
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Your stomach and stress |
|
|
| |
The intestinal tract's function is to make food supplies available to the body. Whatever is not absorbed by the body is excreted at the end of tract. The intestinal system is a long tube. Food passing through the alimentary tract isn't "in" the body until it has been absorbed through the intestinal wall at some point.
It's a common fact that wen you are busy, anxious, depressed or just stressed out, eating habits take a dive for the worse. It is during these times that you:
• Over-eat or lose your appetite
• Eat too quickly
• Binge on spicy and greasy food and "sinful" foods such as chocolates and cakes
• Eat irregularly
• Consume too much caffeine and alcohol
When all these happen, your stomach takes the brunt of the overload. However, the stomach is smart. In no uncertain terms, it tells us by several ways that it is not feeling good. Some of these ways are:
|
|
 |
|
| |
• Indigestion
• Stomach ache
• Flatulence
• Vomiting
• Poor appetite |
| |
|
| |
 |
|
|
| |
The digestive system |
| |
The intestinal tract is an average adult is about nine metres (30 feet) long and is divided into a number of different parts. Each part of the intestinal tract has its own job to do.
Semi-digested food passes from the stomach into the small intestine where another set of enzymes completes the digestive process. The resultant tiny particles are absorbed into the wall of the intestine.
By the time food reaches the end of the small intestine and is about to enter the part of the intestinal tract known as the large bowel, it is little more than waste residue. Water is removed in the colon and mucus is secreted to help the stools pass easily along to the exit point; but the actual digestive process has finished much earlier on.
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
How the stomach works |
| |
Your stomach helps digest food in two ways. First, the cells of the stomach lining produce something like three litres of gastric juice every day. Of the different substances which make up these juices, the most important one is probably hydrochloric acid which is produced by the parietal cells. These exist in the stomach wall in a total population of something approaching a billion.
The power and effect of these juices is enhanced by the stomach's muscular wall which churns the food and the juices together before squirting the resultant soup-like mixture through a valve into the next part of the intestinal tract, the duodenum.
It is these two properties of the stomach which give it its power as a digestive force and there are a number of different factors which can influence both the production of acid and the activity of the stomach's muscular wall. Of these factors, the two most important in a normal stomach are the presence and absence of food.
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Why things go wrong
|
|
 |
How your stomach functions depends mainly on the type of food you consume and how often you consume it. Its only function is to prepare food for digestion and if there is too little or too much of the wrong sort of food, then your stomach is bound to show some signs that all is not well.
Researchers are still not absolutely certain what other problems can cause damage to the stomach. There is considerable evidence, however, to suggest that drinking too much alcohol, smoking too many cigarettes and taking too many of the wrong sort of drugs will all damage the digestive part of the intestinal tract. These behaviours affect the rate at which acid is produced and the speed and nature of the movements of the stomach's muscle wall.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Individuals who are under stress are very often also the same sort of people who drink too much alcohol, smoke too much and eat irregularly or too quickly. These types of activities can also cause stomach disorders. Therefore, establishing a strict and formal relationship between stress and stomach problems is difficult.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
There are just too many types of stomach ailments to list. There are some, however, which occurs more often than others. Here we discuss briefly some of the more common ailments.
1) Indigestion
Simply put, indigestion is associated with a meal that is eaten too quickly or after an unusually spicy or fatty meal. Indigestion normally causes some pain in the centre of the chest. THis is usually accompanied by a slight bloated feeling, excessive wind and nausea. Occasionally, an indigestion sufferer will actually vomit. Very few people who have indigestion will be interested in food as the pain tends to be accompanied by a full feeling and a loss of appetite.
Indigestion can be caused by smoking and drinking too much alcohol. It is also known to be caused by too much tea or coffee. However, although these specific causes are significant, many individuals who suffer from indigestion do so directly as a result of stress. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
*Indigestion is the most common symptom caused by overeating, irregular meals or rushed meals.
2) Heartburn
An acid mixture helps to digest food within the stomach and is kept away from the oesophagus by the sphincter. This allows food to travel down into the stomach but doesn't allow food and acid to travel back upwards into the gullet. If the sphincter, which usually divides the oesophagus from the stomach in this way, doesn't do its job properly, acid can sometimes splash upwards and irritate the oesophageal mucosa. The word "heartburn" is very descriptive. Even when you lie down or bend over. Naturally, individuals who have a week sphincter, will find that they suffer far more when they are lying flat or bending over than they do when they are standing up straight.
Despite the fact that heartburn can have a physical cause, many individuals who suffer from this symptom also have it as a result of stress.
3) Gastritis
Gastritis is an inflammation of the stomach that can be caused by several factors: alcohol, by the consumption of a foodstuff to which you are allergic, by a virus infection or by any one of a number of other mechanisms which are not yet properly understood. There are some specific changes in the stomach mucosa when gastritis is present, but in practice, it is virtually impossible to differentiate clinically between dyspepsia, gastritis and peptic ulcers without undergoing specific investigations such as a barium meal examination or an endoscopy.
4) Peptic and gastric ulcer
A peptic ulcer is simply any ulcer in the upper part of the intestinal tract. The word "peptic" is used as a synonym for digestion. A gastric ulcer, however, is one that is found in the stomach, while a duodenal ulcer is one that is found in the duodenum. Ulcers of all kinds result from an imbalance between the power of the secretions produced by the stomach and the resistance of the lining of the part of the intestine concerned.
|
| |
|
|
5) Duodenal ulcer
The most important system of a duodenal ulcer is usually pain, and this is often the only symptom that occurs. The pain is usually localized in the epigastrium, and, unlike gastric ulcers, eating usually helps relieve the pain. People who have duodenal ulcers will often wake up at night and sneak downstairs to get a glass of milk and a biscuit to give them some comfort for the pain.
The other characteristic factor of the pain that people get with duodenal ulceration is that it tends to disappear for weeks or even months at a time for no apparent reason. However, just when you think your problem is over, it'll come right back!
6) Nausea
This is by no means a symptom caused extensively by the consumption of food-stuffs which upset the system. Nausea and vomiting can also be a sign of stress and distress. Nausea and vomiting are usually symptoms of acute stress rather than chronic, long-lasting anxiety.
7) Wind
The normal gastrointestinal tract is said to contain between 100 and 200 millilitres of gas under normal circumstances. A normal individual will often produce one to two litres of gas per day. It is, therefore, quite obvious that there
|
|
| |
|
| |
must be a tendency for wind to pass out of the gastrointestinal tract at one end or the other.
Wind is produced within the gastrointestinal tract as food is digested, and some foods are more likely than others to result in the production of large quantities of wind. Brussel sprouts, cabbage and beans are often recognized as offending vegetables as they are known to have a fairly bad reputation in this aspect. However, vegetables can not be solely blamed.
Some of the wind that causes such embarrassing noises gets into the intestinal tract in the same way that food gets in: it is swallowed. People who chew gum, smoke cigarettes or eat too quickly will often swallow air, as will those individuals who gulp air as a nervous habit. |
| |
|
 |
| |
|
|
