Gut pain

Unpleasant sensations in the stomach, bloating and heartburn, nausea and, as they say, pain in the intestines. These symptoms are common to everyone and almost daily. The digestive system sometimes cannot cope with what we "force" it to digest. The more often failures occur in the digestive system, the more likely it is that one or a whole complex of diseases will appear.

Read also: Pain in the intestines

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Causes of pain in the intestines

Of all the listed digestive participants, pain in the intestines can be provoked by colitis - inflammatory diseases in the large intestine and enteritis, inflammation in the small intestine. There are combined diseases, such as: gastroenteritis, of various etiologies, nonspecific ulcerative colitis, chronic non-ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (covers the large and small intestines simultaneously), chronic enteritis, and so on.

The intestinal mucosa, during inflammatory processes, becomes edematous, its natural pale pink color turns into bright red (pronounced hyperemia). The ongoing digestive processes cause severe irritation of the intestinal walls, which in turn leads to pain. In addition to irritated mucosa, intestinal pain is caused by accumulated gases in the intestines.

A food lump moving through an inflamed intestine causes not only pain and irritation, its movement can stop altogether, which will result in long-term constipation. If you "let the acute stage of colitis take its course", endure the pain and relieve all the unpleasant symptoms on your own, there is a high probability of acute colitis turning into chronic, which occurs with major complications and the involvement of the entire body in the inflammatory process.

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Causes of colitis

It is customary to identify several reasons leading to the development of colitis:

• the presence of a progressive inflammatory disease of one of the digestive organs, for example, gastritis, ulcerative duodenitis, pancreatitis;
• infectious diseases or intestinal toxic infections;
• acute poisoning;
• incorrect diet;
• frequent stress.

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Symptoms of colitis

Colitis is an inflammatory disease of the large intestine, which is very severe, with pronounced symptoms. Acute and chronic colitis are distinguished.

The main symptoms of acute colitis

Acute colitis develops spontaneously, in attacks, against the background of a generally favorable state of health. Symptoms can follow one another, with intervals in time, or appear all at once;

• severe pain in the intestines, manifested in the form of spasms;
• bloating;
• loose stools (diarrhea) that recur many times;
• frequent urge to defecate, ending without result;
• there may be nausea accompanied by vomiting;
• malaise and weakness;
• weight loss due to fluid loss;

If you do not take urgent medical measures, the suffering can continue for several weeks. After some time, if you do not undergo treatment, the pain in the intestines will subside, the symptoms will gradually go away, and acute colitis will turn into chronic colitis.

Symptoms of chronic colitis

• the presence of mucus with streaks of blood in the feces;
• pain in the intestines in different locations (every day it hurts in a new place);
• Frequent constipation alternates with diarrhea.

General health, in most cases, does not suffer. There is a slight malaise, nausea, bloating, especially in the evening. Chronic colitis is dangerous because the musculoskeletal system is involved in the inflammation process, which leads to a change in the overall length of the intestine. It either shortens or lengthens, adhesions, polyps, ulcers are formed. Blood vessels suffer, because of this there is blood in the feces. The presence of mucus clots indicates severe swelling of the intestinal mucosa.

Constant pain in the intestines leads to loss of appetite, which in turn leads to weight loss. Therefore, people suffering from chronic forms of colitis have a lack of muscle mass.

Diagnosis and treatment of colitis

Treatment of acute colitis involves urgent hospitalization of the patient. Intestinal pain should never be reduced by painkillers. Self-medication leads to the fact that the picture of the disease is "blurred" and there is a high probability of making an incorrect diagnosis. After hospitalization, microflora tests are taken to identify the causative agent of the infection, endoscopic examination methods are used - rectoscopy, irrigoscopy and colonoscopy.

In acute forms of colitis, treatment begins with cleansing the body of toxins:

• gastric lavage and administration of siphon enemas;
• use of enterosorbents;
• replenishment of lost fluid (due to frequent vomiting and diarrhea) through intravenous infusions (rehydration solutions) and drinking (warm tea);
• After the acute symptoms have subsided, enzymes and prebiotics are prescribed.

In chronic colitis, during an exacerbation, treatment is carried out in a hospital. Before starting treatment, tests are collected to determine the form of colitis - infectious or parasitic. Depending on the identified pathogen, drug therapy is prescribed: everything begins with a fractional sparing diet, the use of enzymes, broad-spectrum antibiotics. Drug therapy is prescribed to each individual, taking into account concomitant diseases, the presence of allergic reactions and other characteristics of the body.

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Participants of the digestive system

The gastrointestinal tract is a whole system of organs that perform the same functions - splitting, absorption and excretion. Food is split, food components are absorbed, what has become unusable for the body is excreted. To understand at what stage and from what pain in the intestines can appear, let's look at the list of participants in the digestive system.

The organs that form it are usually called the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and include:

• oral cavity;
• esophagus;
• stomach;
• duodenum;
• small intestine;
• large intestine;
• sigmoid colon;
• rectum.

We will highlight the glands involved in digestion in a separate list. These include:

• salivary glands;
• pancreas;
• liver and gall bladder.

How to prevent gut pain?

Healthy food, an active lifestyle, giving up cigarettes and alcohol, eliminating solid food - this is what every body needs for normal functioning. Experts recommend consuming fermented milk products, preferably low-fat kefir, with an expiration date of no later than 3 days from the date of manufacture. A glass of fresh kefir drunk at night will make you forget about pain in the intestines forever, in addition, it will satisfy hunger, support the natural microflora of the intestines, reduce peristalsis and bring many other useful things.