Stress ulcer is the destruction of the mucous membrane of the stomach or duodenum. This pathology is usually manifested by multiple ulcers. Under the condition of timely treatment, the disease is completely treatable, with perforation or bleeding, the mortality rate of patients is approximately eighty percent of all recorded cases.
What is a disease?
Stress ulcer of the stomach is such an acute problem that doctors around the world attach great importance to its prevention. Treatment does not always start on time, and most often the disease is complicated by life-threatening bleeding.
The pathology got its name - stress ulcer back in 1936 due to the proven connection of somatic disorders with bleeding from the walls of the stomach. Since then, medicine has stepped far forward. The main danger of this pathology is that the stress ulcer of symptoms that allow it to be diagnosed does not have until the very beginning of bleeding.
Places of occurrence
Gastric stress ulcers can appear on any surface of the tract. These are mainly the walls of the stomach in its wide part. Small ulcers can appear on the gastric walls in the part where it bends, just before the sphincter, which is the gateway in the transition from the stomach to the duodenum, in the duodenum itself, in that part of it called the bulb.
The treatment strategy depends on the depth at which the ulcers arose, which is why the localization of the lesion is given special attention in the diagnosis of pathology.
Causes of the appearance of pathology
Stress ulcer of the duodenum and stomach is a consequence of the impact of a stressful situation on the hypothalamus located in the human brain, with the manifestation of a bleeding wound on the gastroduodenal mucosa.
The hypothalamus under the influence of stress produces corticosteroids that can change the amount and structure of mucus on the inner surface of the walls of the stomach. For this reason, the epithelial cells of the walls are destroyed faster. In this way, wounds and then ulcers arise.
The following body conditions lead to stress that can destroy the walls of the stomach:
- Injury to an internal organ. The result of surgery.
- Acute renal or liver failure.
- Collapse caused by cardiovascular disease.
- The acute form of the disease of the gastrointestinal tract. For example, cholecystitis or pancreatitis.
Corticosteroids are produced in large quantities if one stressful situation overlaps another. In this case, the likelihood of a stress ulcer is much higher. The pathology leads to increased secretion of gastric juice, in turn, caused by a hormone such as gastrin.
Kinds
Stress ulcer is dangerous not only bleeding and perforation. It also slows the motility of the stomach, and therefore the movement of food through the intestines. It impairs the absorption of beneficial trace elements, which leads to the depletion of the body and its immune system.
In medicine, several types of stress ulcers are known, treatment, respectively, depends on the type of pathology. These are post-traumatic ulcers, Curling and Cushing.
Kurgling's ulcer appears due to extensive burns of the body when the patient loses a large amount of blood. Damage of this type occurs only on the walls of the duodenum.
Cushing's ulcerative formation is a consequence of circulatory disorders in the human brain. This situation may occur after a stroke or head injury. Even a planned brain operation, which took place without complications, can lead to the appearance of wounds on the walls of the stomach.
Symptoms of pathology
An ulcer develops imperceptibly for a person, he does not feel any symptoms until a piece of food gets on the enlarged ulcer. Then there is a sharp pain. But if at the same time a person drank, for example, water, then the irritating element shifts and the patient again feels good. Symptoms of ulcers appearing on the walls of the stomach occur already at the stage of their bleeding or perforation into the abdominal cavity.
In this case, a person loses consciousness, experiences severe pain in the upper abdomen. The patient opens vomiting filled with blood. Feces turn black from digested blood.
With these symptoms, the patient needs urgent medical attention, since in such a situation a person may die several hours after the first attack of pain and vomiting from loss of blood, peritonitis or pain shock.
Thus, it becomes clear why such a high mortality rate in patients with this pathology: the symptoms of stressful gastrointestinal ulcers develop so rapidly that sometimes an ambulance just does not have time to save a person.
Diagnosis of the disease
Correct and timely diagnosis can save a person’s life. The disease is detected in several stages. To begin with, the doctor collects a detailed history. Conducts an external examination, palpates the abdominal cavity. After that, he directs the patient to instrumental and laboratory research.
A laboratory blood test may show inflammation or bleeding in the abdomen. Feces are checked for blood particles. The contents of the stomach and the composition of the gastric juice are studied.
The main instrumental diagnostic method is esophagogastroduodenoscopy. This method is used as part of a routine examination of the patient or in situations where there is a suspicion of an ulcer. If the patient bleeds and is in critical condition, this procedure is not possible.
With contrast radiography, you can also see the presence of erosion and ulcers, without causing accidental bleeding.
Pathology treatment
Treatment of a stressful stomach ulcer is aimed not only at eliminating erosion, but also at the very cause of its appearance. Thus, this process becomes complex and lengthy. In addition, a variety of specialists take part in it - a gastroenterologist, surgeon, psychiatrist, neuropathologist.
To eliminate the cause of stress, the patient is treated by a specialist in an individual manner. As for the treatment of erosion itself, the patient should take the following medications: Pantoprazole, Dobutaminin, Misoprostol, Omeprazole, Somatostatin or Sucralfate. The dosage and dosage regimen is prescribed by the doctor, depending on the condition of the patient and the severity of his illness. Self-medication in this case is impossible and extremely dangerous.
Also, therapy is carried out aimed at strengthening the body's immune system.
If treatment began in an emergency with bleeding and perforation of the ulcer, then it is carried out only surgically. During the operation, the ulcers are sutured or cauterized by a laser. In both cases, the surgeon gets access to the stomach through the front wall of the abdomen.
Therapeutic diet
Therapy of ulcers and erosion of the stomach is impossible without a special diet, regardless of the method of treatment. It is indicated for conservative treatment and after surgery.
First of all, foods whose use contributes to an increase in the release of hydrochloric acid are excluded from the patient’s diet. These are fatty, fried meat, alcohol, coffee, carbonated drinks.
The patient's menu includes cereals, boiled fish and lean meats, vegetables, low-fat dairy products.
A person should eat in small portions, but quite often - seven to eight times a day, so as not to overload the stomach. We must not forget about the water and mineral balance in the body, so a person should drink up to two liters of pure water per day. It is water, not sweet juices, coffee or strong tea. These drinks are strictly prohibited in the treatment of the stomach.
Prevention
Stress ulcers develop and proceed rapidly, leading to dangerous conditions, and sometimes death of a person. In this regard, the prevention of ulcers is given great importance in medicine.
So, with extensive body burns, for the prevention of erosion, the patient is transferred to a special diet. This measure helps keep the mucous membrane of the stomach intact.
Also, preventive measures are carried out for patients with traumatic brain injuries, people suffering from coagulopathy, poor blood coagulation. Preventive treatment is for patients with kidney or liver failure and people who have undergone surgery. Moreover, surgical intervention is not only on the abdomen, but also on the legs and arms, for example on the hip or knee joints.
All patients undergoing treatment with corticosteroids are necessarily prescribed prophylactic treatment of the gastrointestinal tract. Usually, in addition to a special diet, the course of such therapy includes the use of such drugs: “Vinylin”, “Vicalin”, “Vicair” or “Sucralfat”. In addition, a person takes complexes of vitamins and minerals that strengthen the immune system.
No wonder folk wisdom says that all diseases arise from nerves. You should protect your psychoemotional state, try to abstract from stressful situations. After all, if you analyze, you can find a way out of any situation.