Few people realize it, but our stressful
lifestyle does affect our stomach. Our eating habits may, for instance,
lead to certain stomach problems including indigestion. There are just too many types of stomach
ailments (problems) to list. There are some, however, which occur more
often than others. Here we discuss some of the more common stomach
problems.
Indigestion
Simply put, indigestion is associated with
a meal that is eaten too quickly or after an unusually spicy or fatty
meal. Indigestion normally causes some pain in the centre of the chest.
This is usually accompanied by a slight bloated feeling, excessive wind
and nausea. Occasionally, an indigestion sufferer will actually vomit.
Very few people who have indigestion will be interested in food as the
pain tends to be accompanied by a full feeling and a loss of appetite.
Indigestion can be caused by smoking and
drinking too much alcohol. It is also known to be caused by too much tea
or coffee. However, although these specific causes are significant, many
individuals who suffer from indigestion do so directly as a result of
stress.
Heartburn
An acid mixture helps to digest food within
the stomach and is kept away from the oesophagus by a sphincter. This
allows food to travel down into the stomach but doesn't allow food and
acid to travel back upwards into the gullet. If the sphincter, which
usually divides the oesophagus from the stomach in this way, doesn't do
its job properly, acid can sometimes splash upwards and irritate the
oesophageal mucosa. The word "heartburn" is very descriptive. Even when
the sphincter is in good working condition, acid can irritate the
oesophagus when you lie down or bend over. Naturally, individuals who
have a weak sphincter, will find that they suffer far more when they are
lying flat or bending over than they do when they are standing up
straight. Despite the fact that heartburn can have a physical cause,
many individuals who suffer from this symptom also have it as a result
of stress.
Gastritis
Gastritis is an inflammation of the stomach
that can be caused by several factors: alcohol, by the consumption of a
foodstuff to which you are allergic, by a virus infection or by any one
of a number of other mechanisms which are not yet properly understood.
There are some specific changes in the stomach mucosa when gastritis is
present, but in practice, it is virtually impossible to differentiate
clinically between dyspepsia, gastritis and peptic ulcers without
undergoing specific investigations such as a barium meal examination or
an endoscopy.
Peptic and Gastric Ulcer
A peptic ulcer is simply any ulcer in the
upper part of the intestinal tract. The word "peptic" is used as a
synonym for digestion. A gastric ulcer, however, is one that is found in
the stomach, while a duodenal ulcer is one that is found in the
duodenum. Ulcers of all kinds result from an imbalance between the power
of the secretions produced by the stomach and the resistance of the
lining of the part of the intestine concerned.
Duodenal Ulcer
The most important symptom of a duodenal
ulcer is usually pain, and this is often the only symptom that occurs.
The pain is usually localized in the epigastrium, and, unlike gastric
ulcers, eating usually helps relieve the pain. People who have duodenal
ulcers will often wake up at night and sneak downstairs to get a glass
of milk and a biscuit to give them some comfort of the pain.
The other characteristic factor of the pain
that people get with duodenal ulceration is that it tends to disappear
for weeks or even months at a time for no apparent reason. However, just
when you think your problem is over, it'll come right back!
Nausea
This is by no means a symptom caused
extensively by the consumption of food-stuffs which upset the system.
Nausea and vomiting can also be a sign of stress and distress. Nausea
and vomiting are usually symptoms of acute stress rather than chronic,
long-lasting anxiety.
Wind
The normal gastrointestinal tract is said
to contain between 100 and 200 milliliters of gas under normal
circumstances. A normal individual will often produce one to two liters
of gas per day. It is, therefore, quite obvious that there must be
tendency for wind to pass out of the gastrointestinal tract at one end
or the other.
Wind is produced within the
gastrointestinal tract as food is digested, and some foods are more
likely than others to result in the production of large quantities of
wind. Brussels sprouts, cabbage and beans are often recognized as
offending vegetables as they are known to have a fairly bad reputation
in this aspect. However, vegetables can not be solely blamed.
Some of the wind that causes such
embarrassing noises gets into the intestinal tract in the same way that
food gets in: it is swallowed. People who chew gum, smoke cigarettes or
eat too quickly will often swallow air, as will those individuals who
gulp air as a nervous habit.
