Know about Stomach acidity - How to cure

                                                            pic source: The Lancet

Nowadays each fifth person suffers from stomach acidity - an imbalance between the stomach and proximal intestine structure and ensuring their safety protective mechanisms.  The stomach usually secretes acid which helps to break down the food, but its excess ion leads to acidity. Stomach acidity causes such symptoms like heartburn, dyspepsia and erosion of the stomach lining. The latter in most cases provokes formation of ulcers. Similarly, taking alcohol, highly spicy foodstuffs, non-vegetarian diets turn up as preconditions to gastric acidity.

Causes of ulcers occurrence

The stomach and some other inner organs which take part in breaking down the food secrete different ferments and hydrochloric acid.  But at the same time the stomach must also be protected from these ferments and acid. If the acid due to the temporary weakness in the normal sphincter mechanism enters the lower part of the Oesophagus it may lead to heartburn. Ulcers can occur if there is an imbalance between the different protecting stomach factors and the stomach  juices which help to digest the food.

Duodenal ulcers are much more common than gastric, because the first ones arise in the lining of the upper part of the small intestine, and gastric ulcers occur in the stomach.

Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome is a situation when there is an excessively large amount of acid secretion. They are stimulated by tumours located in the duodenum or pancreas.

Another damage for stomach and duodenum is pepsin - an enzyme that breaks down proteins. The defense system of the organism consists of the mucous layer, which coats the stomach and duodenum. It forms the first line of protect.  The body also secretes bicarbonate into the mucous layer, which neutralizes the acid. Hormone-like substances help to protect the organism too. They keep the blood vessels in the stomach dilated, ensuring adequate blood flow.

If there is a lack of these protect mechanisms, pepsin and acid can get into the stomach and cause an ulcer.

Stomach acidity preconditions.

Acidity is caused by the two main symptoms dyspepsia and heartburn. The former is the most common symptom, which in rare cases even may not occur.

Sometimes there is no pain at all, but only a feeling of nausea or indigestion. On the contrary, heartburn is characterized by a burning pain in the chest behind the sternum. It usually arises after meals, at night on lying down and is relieved when the individual sits up.

Commonly speaking, the pain is very closely related to posture. During heartburn regurgitation of the gastric contents may also occur.

Diagnostics and investigations of the stomach acidity

The patient‘s medical history plays a very important role in the diagnosis.  A history of family members with ulcers, taking alcohol and smoking, any present and past drug use are very important and useful facts in the definition the disease cause.

The symptoms may subside when a trial with acid-blocking medication is given. Such course lasts four weeks and the patient is given the acid-suppressing drugs. If the symptoms continue persisting the further testing is required.

Today‘s medicine use the Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscope to reveal the presence of ulcers. To ascertain Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome it is required to measure blood levels of gastrin.  Barium Meal studies are also very important as they reflect active ulcer craters, or deformities and scarring.

Treatment of the stomach acidity and its prognosis

To avoid the causative factors the individual must stop alcohol consumption and smoking, the suitable diet must be strictly followed avoiding fatty, spicy, salty and acidic foods.

A group of drugs called H2 Receptor Blockers cause the stomach to produce less acid by blocking histamine receptors. They are Cimetidine, Ranitidine, Famotidine or Nizatidine.

Another one group of medicine which disables acid-making cells also stops acid production.

Summarizing all the above said, the ulcers must be properly diagnosed and treated to prevent complications.

Do you know what is Bloating ?

The term bloating refers to a stretched or swollen abdominal area, often accompanied by gas, causing the sufferer's tummy to feel tight and uncomfortable.

Bloating can be caused by digestive health issues, water retention, or by hormonal imbalances.

 In this article I will focus on the most common form of bloating; that caused by digestive health issues.

We often say that we feel bloated after eating a huge meal, or after we have over-indulged too many times while on holiday, but we know that this will settle down when we return to our normal habits.

However, abdominal bloating can sometimes occur more frequently, be more troublesome and prolonged, and cause pain and discomfort.

Sufferers from this type of bloating may also experience other symptoms such as stomach cramps, gas or flatulence, and diarrhoea or constipation.

And as food intake is often reduced because of those problems, bloating sufferers may also experience tiredness and fatigue.

Gas & Wind

Gas is one of the normal by-products of a healthy digestive process, and is usually dealt with either by rising up the gullet causing belching or burping, or breaking wind.

In bloating, the build-up of excessive amounts of gas in the intestines has to find an urgent way of escaping, so may be uncontrollably and noisily released, accompanied by distinctly unpleasant odours.

This can, of course, become socially upsetting and embarrassing, adding to the overall discomfort of bloating. 

Bloating is normally a sign that your digestive health is not up to scratch, and as with many other health problems, this is usually caused by some sort of imbalance in the body. The gut, particularly the colon (the main part of the large intestine) is heavily colonised by about 100 trillion bacteria which carry out certain essential tasks such as helping to break down food, and extracting nutrients.

These beneficial and helpful bacteria are known as good or probiotic bacteria, but they exist together with others that are not friendly at all, and these are the bad or 'pathogenic' bacteria. 

A delicate balance of these types of bacteria (collectively known as the intestinal or gut flora) normally keeps our digestion well regulated and running smoothly.

However an imbalance - caused by a poor diet, antibiotics, high sugar levels, or even stress - means there are fewer of the good probiotic bacteria in the gut.

This is known as dysbiosis. Try your best to eat healthily, to get enough sleep, and to avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary; in order to keep your body's good bacteria plentiful.

Other factors to consider

Apart from dysbiosis, other factors causing bloating could include food intolerance - when the body is unable to digest food properly, waste gases are produced and these lead to protrusion of the belly, and bloating.

Often people bloat after eating certain foods; for many these trigger foods are beans or pulses, for others it may be wheat and gluten, or even rice.

Keeping a food diary is a good way of recording which foods you may be intolerant to - if you end up bloated every single time you eat bread, it might be worth replacing your lunchtime sandwich with a salad! For more information see What causes bloating?

Over to you - What is bloating to you?