In the article, we consider the symptoms and treatment of eosinophilic gastritis. An inflammatory process that affects the mucous surface inside the stomach can develop as a result of the ingestion of certain components into the digestive tract to which a person has hypersensitivity. In such situations, gastroenterologists make a diagnosis called eosinophilic gastritis. Another name for this condition is allergic inflammation of the stomach, or granuloma.
Who is suffering?
Most often, people who are prone to allergic reactions and have a hereditary predisposition suffer from pathology. Sometimes this disease affects infants when they are weaned early and switch to artificial feeding.
Eosinophilic gastritis is not a rare disease and is quite common. However, the diagnosis of pathology is difficult due to the complexity of identifying an allergen. If an allergic lesion of the small intestine is attached to eosinophilic gastritis, the disease takes the form of eosinophilic gastroenteritis.
Afflicting Factors
Granuloma of the stomach can develop as a result of exposure to food, medicines, chemical components. If an eosinophilic gastritis in a person becomes chronic, the determination of an allergen is complicated, and the diagnosis of the disease is a laborious and expensive process.
Allergic gastritis develops most often as a result of exposure to the following factors:
- Foods saturated with a large number of chemical components, which include food additives, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers and flavors. If the substance that causes allergic gastritis is on the list, a person has to constantly monitor the composition of the products that he uses.
- Brightly colored vegetables and fruits. Most often, cases of the development of allergic gastritis as a result of eating orange or red fruits, in particular strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, oranges, are recorded. Green fruits can provoke allergic gastritis only if they are treated with ethylene for better preservation. This substance is a refined product and can provoke allergies.
- Helminthiasis often acts as a factor provoking eosinophilic damage to the intestines and stomach. Even with full confidence in the absence of parasites, a person who has noted the first symptoms of allergic gastritis should be checked for the presence of helminths.
Quite often, an allergic reaction is caused by seemingly harmless products: milk, fish, eggs, nuts and mushrooms. Even chocolate can provoke an attack of eosinophilic gastritis, if the body is not adapted to its composition. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully use foods that are popular allergens.
Symptoms of eosinophilic gastritis in humans
An acute disease has a pronounced symptomatology, which develops immediately when an allergen enters the body. First of all, the patient begins to complain of a sensation of itching:
- First, itching is localized in the lips. Subsequently, the whole body of the patient is covered with small itchy rashes.
- Swelling of the inner surface of the mouth, tongue, and nasopharynx begins.
- Salivation increases, stitching burning pain in the epigastrium appears.
- Nausea, frequent belching, vomiting is added.
Vegetative manifestations
Often, these manifestations are accompanied by vegetative changes in the form of blanching of the skin, pain in the head, dizziness, palpitations, weakness. In severe cases, vomiting with blood is noted. Such signs cause fear in a person, it seems that poisoning has occurred, and blood vomiting suggests an ulcer or cancer.
If these acute symptoms appear, you should immediately consult a doctor, otherwise the disease can progress and provoke dangerous complications. Determining the exact diagnosis is the task of an experienced gastroenterologist.
Ailment in chronic form
The chronic form of allergic gastritis manifests itself differently. The severity of the disease directly depends on the individual response of the patient, as well as on how much the eosinophils damaged the gastric layer. Symptoms
- The patient completely disappears appetite.
- The stool is broken, bloating is noted.
- Irrepressible diarrhea and constant constipation are observed.
- Allergic rashes appear, which are localized most often in the abdomen.
When an allergen enters the stomach, the secretion of glands located in the mucosa begins to increase, intestinal motility increases, the anal area and the cecum begin to spastically contract. In some cases, the development of gastroesophagitis with reflux begins - a situation where the contents of the stomach are thrown into the esophagus canal. As a result, the patient experiences pain and burning in the epigastric region.
Diagnostics
Diagnosis of eosinophilic gastritis is carried out in two ways: the specialist will evaluate the instrumental, laboratory, clinical data, and diagnose the diet. It is also necessary to determine the relationship of symptoms with the use of allergenic products. The patient needs to start keeping a nutrition diary, on the basis of which the doctor assesses the degree of violations in the digestive tract, takes into account the symptoms that other organs respond to the allergen.
What tests are carried out?
In order to identify the causes should be carried out:
- Provocative test. This test allows you to detect a sensitivity reaction in contact with an allergenic product. The test is carried out sublingually, inhalation, nasal or by application to the conjunctiva.
- Prik test. Reminds a scarification test when a drop of allergen is applied to a sensitive area of the skin.
- IgE level. Allows you to determine how much immunoglobulin E is present in the blood. It is a marker of the body's increased susceptibility to irritants.
What does FGDS show with eosinophilic gastritis? The procedure allows you to visually assess the inner surface of the stomach and duodenum, to make a tissue biopsy. With pathology, the affected areas of the organs are inflamed, often have erosion, and can bleed.
To determine the etymology, an elimination test should be performed - a product that is supposedly an allergen is excluded from the patient’s diet for two weeks. If you suspect that several products are allergens at once, each of them is removed stepwise, in order.
The specified diagnostic methods can be used only after the acute signs of the disease have disappeared, not earlier than a month after their relief.
Therapy
How to treat eosinophilic gastritis? Therapy of the disease is carried out immediately by two specialists: an allergist and a gastroenterologist. Treatment is divided into two types:
- Specific. With specific therapy, the patient is prescribed the use of antiserotonin medications, systemic glucocorticosteroids, immunomodulators, drugs that can normalize the functions of the gastrointestinal tract (these include prebiotics, probiotics, pancreatic enzymes, enterosorbents, hepatoprotectors).
- Nonspecific. The allergen and the products of which it is included are excluded directly from the patient’s diet. If the alleged allergen is not precisely defined, absolutely all alleged food products are excluded.
Products
Most often, with eosinophilic gastritis, certain types of meat and fish, honey, tomatoes, citrus fruits, eggs are banned. However, there is always a way out. The patient can replace the prohibited products with similar, but not causing a negative reaction. Pork can be replaced with rabbit meat, cow's milk with goat's milk, chocolate with marmalade or fruit jelly.
Subject to the diet recommended by the gastroenterologist and when using these medications, the symptoms of exacerbation disappear within a week. Rapid eosinophilic gastritis recedes in a short period, the prognosis becomes favorable.
Prevention of Allergic Gastritis
Prevention of eosinophilic gastritis involves the exclusion of contact with allergenic products from a very young age. During the period of bearing a child, a woman should rationalize her diet. Babies should be nourished as much as possible. If this is not possible, it is recommended to use only adapted artificial mixtures. If the patient has a hereditary predisposition to allergic gastritis, he should consult a gastroenterologist to draw up an individual nutrition plan.
It is important to remember that when the primary signs of allergic gastritis appear, you should not postpone a visit to a gastroenterologist. Only timely diagnosis and treatment of eosinophilic gastritis will make life easier for the patient and avoid possible complications.