Many people are familiar firsthand with such a nuisance as air in the stomach. This is a fairly common pathology. Very few people, unfortunately, pay attention to such a problem. This physiological process in medical practice relates to functional disorders of the gastrointestinal system and is called “aerophagy” in scientific terminology. Aerophagy is manifested by uncomfortable sensations in the upper gastric regions, an unpleasant fullness of the digestive organ.
The mechanism for the development of pathology is as follows: due to excessive ingestion of air or increased gas formation in the stomach, intragastric pressure increases, which causes the muscles of the body to contract at the same time. In this case, the cardiac sphincter relaxes, but the pylorus contracts.
The characteristic symptoms of air in the stomach are bad breath and belching. Ingestion of too much oxygen or excessive gas formation of the stomach can cause a person many inconveniences, ignoring the problem can lead to the most unpleasant consequences.
Causes of the appearance of pathology
Let us consider in more detail the causes of air in the stomach. Swallowing it when eating is a fairly characteristic sign that plays a positive role for the proper functioning of the digestive tract. Thanks to air, a favorable pressure in the stomach is provided. But in some people, excess air may come along with food, more than is necessary to maintain gastric health. In this situation, the pressure inside the stomach of a child or adult rises, causing a whole range of various ailments. For example, excess air volume can cause bloating or flatulence.
Why is the air in the stomach going, interesting to many.
I must say about the presence of belching. The human body, in which air has accumulated, can eventually release it through the mouth. Air escaping through the mouth from the stomach is characteristic of any person, but healthy people do not pay attention to such a process, since it does not have any obvious features. The presence of belching signals that the body is experiencing pathological perturbations during this period.
There are two types of burping:
- One-time - it is noted after eating a specific dish that causes unpleasant consequences. In this case, you should pay attention to your diet and exclude products from it that contribute to the burping of a person.
- Constant - the main symptom of the development of aerophagy, because it occurs after almost every meal. When such a pathology appears, you need to immediately go to a medical institution where they will prescribe the necessary treatment, prescribe medications. An integral part of therapy is a strict diet.
The presence of an unpleasant odor from the oral cavity is a symptom of aerophagia, associated primarily with belching, which provokes the appearance of pathology. Pain in the stomach, a feeling of bloating or the appearance of other uncomfortable sensations call into question the presence of aerophagia.
Types of Aerophagy
Like most other diseases, aerophagy does not have precisely established causes of the appearance of pathology. That is why in medicine a classification has been developed that covers various reasons for the appearance of air in the stomach.
There are currently three types of pathology:
- Aerophagy is neurological, which, as its name implies, occurs due to prolonged nervous disorders and nervous breakdowns. It must be said that the neurological type of the disease is widespread in the world.
- Traditional aerophagy - occurs as a result of other diseases, for example, ulcers, gastritis. The reasons may also be pathologies of the oral cavity, respiratory tract, heart, and other inflammation processes.
- Causal aerophagy occurs sporadically. It can be caused by various bad habits, accompanied by ingestion of large amounts of saliva or air.
What are the causes of air in the stomach after eating?
Food
Very often, an improper diet becomes the cause of the emergence and development of a wide range of pathologies, and not only the digestive tract. The most common foods that cause excess air to feel in the stomach have been identified by experts. These include:
- carbonated soft drinks;
- rolls and bread;
- champagne;
- fruits;
- cabbage;
- legumes;
- chewing gum.
All of these products when released into the stomach produce gases. That is why the abuse of such food and drinks can cause air in the stomach.
Other causes of pathology
There is a whole list of other reasons, which are a kind of habits that provoke increased gas formation in the human body. For example, smoking after eating adversely affects the stomach in the following moments. First of all, additional air is swallowed while smoking. In addition, nicotine adversely affects the stomach, which causes belching and pain.
The process of eating food and assimilating it in the body must be treated very carefully, since trouble can lie in wait for any person even when there are no prerequisites. Taking a bath immediately after eating increases blood flow in the limbs due to a decrease in current in the gastric region. Fans of sleeping immediately after eating should also be on the alert, as the body slows down the digestive process during sleep, eventually causing unpleasant sensations.
There are several other causes of pathology:
- talking while eating;
- fast food intake;
- excessive amounts of food;
- exercise after eating;
- second trimester of carrying a baby.
Due to all of the above reasons, excess air enters the human stomach, so you need to be responsible and attentive to the food process and refrain from certain activities immediately after eating.
Gases as a symptom of disease
Excessive air in the stomach after eating can indicate the presence of certain diseases in the body.
This phenomenon is often noted with inflammation of the organ mucosa, which develops against the background of the following health problems:
- peptic ulcer disease;
- the functioning of the Helicobacter Pilori bacteria, i.e. gastritis;
- esophageal hernia;
- Zenker diverticulum;
- reflux esophagitis;
- esophageal scleroderma;
- achalasia of the cardia;
- pyloric stenosis;
- diseases of the cardiovascular system (angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, etc.);
- pathology of the gallbladder and liver (pancreatitis, cholecystitis, cirrhosis, etc.).
There is also neurotic aerophagy, in which the patient randomly swallows a large amount of air, regardless of physical activity, bad habits or eating. Her symptoms are aggravated by stress and emotional stress.
Air in the stomach and lumps in the throat often accompany each other.
Symptoms
It is necessary to pay attention to the signs that occur with such a pathology as aerophagy. If one of the following symptoms appears, it is recommended that you visit a gastroenterologist. The characteristic signs of air in the stomach are:
- a feeling of bloating;
- constant burping, lump in throat after each meal;
- tingling in the area of the heart;
- a feeling of oxygen deficiency during breathing;
- flatulence;
- rumbling in the abdomen, accompanied by a lack of rest and discomfort;
- stomach pains of a different nature.
In order not to undergo an unpleasant pathology, it is necessary to pay attention to the existing preventive measures. Naturally, for a healthy person, constant dietary restrictions are not the most pleasant option, considering how much delicious food exists in the world. Therefore, you need to refrain from unwanted foods and get rid of bad habits, if possible, instilling in yourself useful ones.
How to get rid of pain and air in the stomach?
Treatment
First of all, the correct therapy of aerophagy is determined by the cause of the onset and further development of pathology. An important point is that if the disease is caused by disorders of the nervous system, treatment should be carried out under medical supervision in accordance with all instructions. In such a situation, self-medication can worsen the condition of the patient, adversely affecting his health.
Cause-and-effect aerophagy can be cured independently at home, since it has an episodic nature and, by and large, is not a disease as such. Those patients who suffer from this type of ailment need to carefully consider compiling their diet, not to eat foods that cause excessive gas formation and further belching. For a while, you should completely abandon any carbonated drinks, exclude chewing gums, which contribute to the release of excess saliva.
To eliminate this pathology, it is necessary to exclude physical activity immediately after eating. In addition, immediately after eating it is undesirable to drink water or tea. This also negatively affects the body, in connection with which it is advisable to wait a while (after half an hour) after eating, setting aside a cup of tea for this period of time.
In general, all the habits that adversely affect the activity of the gastrointestinal tract described above should be sought to eliminate and not to forget about their negative impact.
After a short time of abstinence from unwanted habits, the cause-effect type of aerophagy will no longer bother the patient. The most important thing is not to provoke your body in the future to excessive gas formation.
How else to get rid of the accumulation of air in the stomach?
Medication treatment
Naturally, the best option to get rid of any disease is to contact the appropriate specialists in medical institutions. However, aerophagy can be eliminated with the help of drugs that can be bought and taken without a medical prescription. Activated carbon or Smecta perfectly copes with the task. It is advisable to take these medicines during overeating. In addition, doctors advise magnesia as an auxiliary therapeutic method.
Simethicone successfully copes with gas formation, which affects the intestinal and gastric walls, reduces the formation of gases and stabilizes the activity of the gastrointestinal tract. To artificially break down non-absorbable carbohydrates found in foods, you can take dietary supplements with enzymes.
The accumulation of gastric air, thus, becomes an unpleasant pathology, which can develop on the basis of another disease or cause excessive gas formation in the human body. If you start treatment on time, you can get rid of such a disease with minimal financial resources and in a short time. If self-treatment does not give the desired effect, a rational decision will be to visit a doctor who will choose the right treatment course individually for each patient.
How to get rid of air in the stomach using folk methods?
Folk ways
In folk medicine, too, there are methods for dealing with such a pathology in patients. Her followers recommend drinking onion juice, which improves the functioning of the stomach. For this purpose, you need to squeeze the juice of one large onion, mix it with beet juice in a 1: 1 ratio, add a few drops of lemon juice. The resulting composition in the amount of thirty milliliters is diluted in half a glass of warm water and taken three times a day before meals.
The activity of the gastrointestinal tract will be able to establish herbal infusions and decoctions. The undoubted leaders are ginger, mint leaves, lemon balm, fennel. Quite effective is an infusion of eucalyptus leaves (one spoon per five hundred milliliters of boiling water), it must be drunk twice a day. A simple and accessible parsley will save the air in the stomach: fresh herbs are chopped and boiled with boiling water for eight hours, then taken as desired throughout the day.
Possible consequences
Such a pathology as the accumulation of air in the stomach or aerophagy is far from always harmless, as it may seem. The danger of the disease lies in the fact that the air accumulated in the stomach begins to put pressure on the internal organs located in the neighborhood. In turn, this will certainly affect the cardiovascular system. In addition, a combination of aerophagy with other symptoms may indicate the presence and progression of certain diseases.
The worst occurrence is excessive gas formation during pregnancy. The accumulated gases, which provoke a feeling of fullness of the stomach, can cause a frozen pregnancy or spontaneous miscarriage.
Such cases are rare in medicine, but you still do not need to take risks. In the first trimester, the appearance of pathology is a rather rare phenomenon, in the second and third it affects every second woman, and this is scary and painful for her. A consequence of neglect of health becomes harm to the formed baby. A timely visit to a doctor will help prevent negative consequences.
We examined such a pathology as excessive accumulation of air in the stomach. Causes and treatment are described.