Regurgitation is the return movement of food from the stomach or esophagus without the presence of nausea or active contractions of the abdominal muscles. As a rule, this condition is caused by an acid reflex, blockage of the esophagus or its narrowing. A blockage can cause a number of reasons, including a malignant tumor, impaired sphincter and nervous regulation.
If regurgitation has no physical reasons, then it is called rumination. It usually occurs in children in the first year of life. It is much less common in adults. Adult rumination can be caused by emotional disorders, especially during a period of nervous tension.
Features of the phenomenon
Regurgitation is the rapid movement of gases or liquids in the opposite direction to the natural that appears when the hollow muscle organs contract. Basically, this condition is noted in violation of the muscle pulp of the stomach or heart valves, as well as in the opposite direction of the wave of muscle contraction. Regurgitation is the same burping. There is also regurgitation of blood in the atria from the ventricles, which occurs with insufficiency of tricuspid or mitral valves of the heart.
Minimal regurgitation in children
The return movement of food occurs quite often in infants (in the first months of life). It occurs as a result of contraction of the smooth muscles of the stomach without the participation of the diaphragm and
abdominals. This act occurs involuntarily and most often is not accompanied by any functional impairment. Sometimes regurgitation is repeated several times in the process of feeding the baby. At the age of six months, she usually disappears.
At the same time, degree 3 regurgitation can be caused by organic lesions: congenital short esophagus, ulcerative esophagitis, esophageal diverticulum, and so on. It can be one of the symptoms of a duodenal ulcer with pylorospasm, tightness of the pylorus and hypersecretion.
Rumination
Rumination and regurgitation are physiological phenomena that can occur in infants who quickly suckle their mothers breasts. At its core, rumination is a phenomenon that is observed in ruminants. In some cases, infants return part of the contents of the stomach back to the mouth, chew it again and swallow it. Moreover, part of it flows involuntarily between the lips. Some children put their fingers in their mouths in order to get their stomach contents back. As a rule, rumination begins half an hour after a meal and lasts one to two hours.
Rumination and regurgitation are analogues according to the mechanism of manifestation and clinical significance. The only difference is that food does not flow out of the mouth during regurgitation. Doctors believe that the most common cause of regurgitation is dysfunction of dividing walls and sphincters. It arises as a result of active muscle contraction, but is not similar to reflux - passive flow of fluid into neighboring spaces.