Erosive esophagitis: causes, symptoms, treatment, diet

What is erosive reflux esophagitis? This is a common question. We will understand it in more detail.

All pathological processes in the esophagus at first glance have no differences from each other and have almost the same manifestations. For a person who is not dedicated to the basics of medicine, erosive esophagitis is another inflammation of this organ of the digestive system, no one can find the difference between such diseases. However, in reality this is not so, and sometimes only a specialist will make the correct diagnosis during the survey, but all points will be finally placed using additional examinations. On the esophagus, erosion appears in a later period of esophagitis or when a strong aggressive factor affects the organ.

Establishing diagnosis

A similar variety of esophagitis is quite rare. However, the disease causes a number of troubles due to the severe course and forced prolonged treatment, which sometimes needs to be selected for a long time.

Erosive esophagitis: what is it? In ordinary inflammation of the esophagus, the mucosa becomes bright pink or red with swelling. However, with the continued influence of aggressive food, harmful chemicals or other irritating factors, serious transformations appear on it. The protective outer layer, every day faced with an unpleasant effect, in some places begins to thin out. Over time, areas with mucosal inflammation appear on it, called erosion. By it we mean places where the mucous membrane is exposed, and the affected organ is not capable of performing its inherent functions.

If the patient does not care about his health and further ignoring all pathological manifestations, even stronger tissue defects are formed with a diagnosis of erosive esophagitis. The disease can develop into an ulcer form. Then both the mucous membrane of the esophagus and the muscle and submucous layer are affected. This variant of the disease is often complicated by narrowing and bleeding of the esophagus, which requires more careful handling and increased attention not only from specialists, but also from the patient.

Stages of Erosive Esophagitis

Several stages are characteristic of the course of the disease, and gradually the symptoms increase, and the erosive lesion of the esophagus becomes more pronounced.

I degree is manifested by individual non-merging erosions and erythema of the distal esophagus.

II degree - erosive lesions merging, but not capturing the entire surface of the mucosa.

Grade III is manifested by ulcerative lesions of the lower third of the esophagus, which merge and cover the entire surface of the mucosa.

IV degree - a chronic ulcer of the esophagus, as well as stenosis.

Causes of erosion

Erosions appear on the mucous membrane of the esophagus due to the strongest effect on its membrane. Why does a disease such as erosive esophagitis of the esophagus occur?

1. In most cases, the cause is excess stomach acid, which is typical for peptic ulcer, duodenal ulcer and GERD.
2. Erosion can occur after surgical interventions on the organs of the chest.
3. In some cases, due to chemical burns that appear on the esophagus after consuming acids or alkalis.
4. Chances are increased for smokers who both smoke a cigarette on an empty stomach and then drink strong coffee.
5. Serious nervous stress.

Signs of erosive esophagitis

The pathological process is characterized by periods of remission and exacerbation. With an exacerbation of the disease, the patient complains of the following symptoms:

1. Heartburn. With ordinary esophagitis, it is characterized only by unpleasant sensations of burning and heat in the epigastric region and behind the sternum, with erosive esophagitis this symptom is more pronounced. A person is constantly haunted by burning pains. If the case is especially serious, then not only seasonings in food and carbonated drinks will cause heartburn, but also a simple daily diet. What other symptoms of erosive esophagitis are there?
2. Behind the sternum, pathological sensations will be felt during meals, in some cases even after tea drinking. Pain also occurs in the upper abdomen shortly after swallowing. Esophagus is particularly irritated by solid and dry food, causing muscle spasms.
3. In some cases, inflammation of the esophagus becomes a hoarse voice.
4. Rare signs are weakness, periodic nausea, and belching immediately after eating.

Erosive esophagitis is difficult, its symptoms can both clarify the picture of the disease and confuse the specialist. One of the nonspecific symptoms is a cough, which most often bothers at night.

Treatment

After a thorough diagnosis (numerous tests, biopsy, x-ray), the doctor determines how and what to treat the person. Erosive esophagitis includes several blocks of therapy:

• conservative treatment;
• diet (the specialist must make a menu based on the indicators of the patient’s body and his individual preferences;
• rational activity (hardening, outdoor activities, exercise).

Treatment of erosive esophagitis lasts over two months. At this time and in the future, it is desirable to stop the use of tobacco products and alcohol.

The main thing in treatment is to establish the correct cause of the pathology and to influence it. For example, if the esophagus is affected by gastric hydrochloric acid in excess, the underlying disease must be treated. In case of a disease caused by a chemical substance, contact should be completely eliminated. Before recovery, you also need to completely change the diet. For this purpose, the degree of organ damage is established and a diet is developed.

Drug treatment

In the standards of treatment with medications, it is intended to use a number of groups of tablets for

• normalization of microflora inside the body (since dysbiosis becomes one of the consequences of the disease);
• regeneration of inflamed tissues, their speedy healing and further functioning;
• strengthening the immune protective function;
• reduce the pathological consequences of the manifestation of infection;
• anti-inflammatory and antiseptic effects on the body.

What else is needed?

Conservative treatment includes the use of biologically active substances and vitamin complexes. Experts advise doing physiotherapy, and with terminal reflux - exposure to current, that is, amplipulse therapy. In addition, with reflux, it is advisable to take alginates, antacids and antihistamines.

To reduce the pain threshold, any painkillers that are suitable for the patient (Nurofen, No-shpa, etc.) are used. Before purchasing medicines, you need to pay attention to standards and certificates of quality, composition, manufacturing time. To normalize your psycho-emotional state, you need to contact a therapist.

In the absence of the effectiveness of conservative treatment, surgery should be prescribed. Diet with erosive esophagitis is very important.

Features of the diet for the disease

Here are the main ones:

1. Gentle food processing. Food is best served stewed, steamed or boiled. In the presence of erosion, it is not recommended even to bake food, since it will irritate the esophagus even more.
2. With erosive esophagitis, the diet is observed for a long time and raw fruits and vegetables are excluded during therapy.
3. It is recommended to significantly limit the diet of dried fruits, it is not allowed to eat seeds and nuts.
4. Seasonings, smoked products, alcohol, cocoa and coffee are removed from the diet.
5. At the same time, all the features of dietary nutrition with pathologies of the digestive system are preserved: you need to eat often in small portions, you need to eat food for the last time three hours before bedtime, exercise after a meal is prohibited.

Drug use

The therapy of erosive esophagitis of the esophagus is long, until the epithelization of its mucosa occurs in full.

What medicines are used?

1. The main disease is treated like this: in case of peptic ulcer or GERD, H2-histamine receptor inhibitors or proton pump blockers are used, alginates, antacids and De-Nol are prescribed.
2. For pain, “Spasmomen” and “No-shpa” are used. Doctors prescribe substances for erosive healing (Solcoseryl).
3. Overstrain of the nervous system is recommended to be eliminated through herbal teas, sedatives, in rare cases, patients need psychotherapeutic advice.
4. If complications of the pathology occur, surgical therapy is required.

Therapy with folk remedies

In some cases, people try to treat erosive esophagitis with folk remedies. However, such therapy is not justified in all cases. The esophagus can be damaged and the course of the disease worsened.

However, in rare cases, even specialists prescribe a flaxseed decoction to the patient, someone benefits from aloe extract as an immunomodulating agent, and potato juice reduces heartburn.

If the patient has erosive esophagitis, this should not become a tragedy. Such a disease is most often characterized by a favorable course and will not cause problems with timely treatment.

Changes in the patient's life

In addition to changing the diet, the patient may need to make a number of adjustments to his usual lifestyle. In the presence of erosive esophagitis, a person needs to give up smoking and drinking alcohol. It is necessary to try throughout the day to eat food more often than usual in a small amount, which will avoid excessive pressure that occurs when overeating, and this, in turn, helps to facilitate digestion and reduce the likelihood of acid reflux.

You should not drink with food - it is advisable to drink drinks and water between meals. A diary should be set up to track which drinks and foods exacerbate signs of erosive esophagitis. If any of them adversely affects the patient's condition, its use must be stopped.

With pathology, treatment should be started as soon as possible, since there is a risk of a complication of the disease such as Barrett's esophagus, and it is fraught with the occurrence of cancer of the esophagus.

What is it - erosive reflux esophagitis, now we know.