Anacid gastritis: symptoms and treatment

For a long time passed those times when people did not think about the quality of food, because they grew everything themselves and ate only homemade food. Today, most manufacturers care only about their purse, pumping products with various substances. In addition, mankind has a predilection for fried, spicy, smoked, salted, sweet and fatty foods, drinks an unthinkable amount of carbonated drinks and coffee. Treatment of certain diseases is impossible without antibiotics, and not every patient hastens to restore the intestinal microflora after antibacterial therapy. As a result of all these and many other causes, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract develop, one of which is an anacid gastritis. Symptoms and treatment, diagnosis, the role of proper nutrition and other important information are all in this article.

What is an anacid gastritis?

The medical term implies one of the varieties of this chronic type of disease, which is characterized by a decreased acidity of the gastric juice. It is caused by insufficient (or rather, zero) secretion of hydrochloric acid by parietal cells. This specific fluid is necessary for the digestive system to digest food and assimilate it.

The role of acidity in the human stomach

Hydrochloric acid performs several important functions:

• Takes an active part in protein digestion.
• It has a bactericidal effect, which helps to destroy pathogenic microorganisms. Otherwise, the mucosa will be constantly inflamed.
• It is necessary for normal peristalsis.

When an anacid gastritis is diagnosed, all these functions are violated. It is also known that a lack of hydrochloric acid causes a decrease in immunity. This leads to frequent illnesses and causes a feeling of chronic fatigue and development of tumor diseases.

Causes of pathology development

This type of gastritis is much less common than, for example, hyperacid, so it was not possible to identify the "culprits" of its occurrence with 100% accuracy. Nevertheless, scientists were able to determine what is capable of provoking an anacid gastritis:

• Too hot and hot food.
• Excessive consumption of coffee, especially on an empty stomach.
• One or two meals per day with a large interval between meals.
• Food is dry (lack of soups in the diet).
• Alcohol abuse and frequent smoking.

Symptoms reporting this disease

Since any form of this pathology shows about the same signs, without clinical studies it will be difficult to understand that it is an anacid gastritis. Symptoms:

• Unpleasant odor from the mouth, which does not go away even after brushing your teeth;
• Vomiting with an admixture of mucus or bile;
• Pain in the stomach and a feeling of heaviness;
• Weight loss for no good reason;
• Stool disorder - diarrhea or constipation;
• Belching with an unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth;
• Rapid fatigue and decreased appetite.

The longer the anatomic gastritis develops, the more symptomatic it becomes. In addition, if you do not start treatment, there is a high probability of joining a number of other signs of the disease:

• Progressive weight loss;
• Development of concomitant pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract;
• Aversion to certain foods, which was not previously available;
• Flatulence and rumbling in the abdomen;
• Development of anemia.

Both lists of symptoms can also refer to other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, so in any case, if one or more symptoms appear, you need to visit a gastroenterologist and take tests to clarify the diagnosis.

Diagnostic methods of investigation to confirm the diagnosis

When a doctor has a suspicion of a chronic anatomic gastritis, he prescribes to the patient a procedure whose purpose is to determine the level of acidity. To do this, a tube with electrodes is used at the end, connected to a special device. It is introduced into the oral cavity of the patient, then gradually advanced through the pharynx into the esophagus, and from there to the stomach. During the journey, the device takes readings from the mucous membrane and transfers it to the screen. This procedure is called "intragastric pH-metry".

Anatsidny gastritis - is when the results of the study, the pH level fluctuates at 5-6. There are also other analyzes that allow you to clarify the patient's health and determine a treatment plan. Among them:

• General and biochemical blood analysis;
• X-ray of the stomach with contrast agent;
• Spinal cord puncture - this procedure is necessary for the definition of anemia;
• Fibrogastroscopy;
• Analysis of the contents of the stomach to detect bacteria;
• Biopsy of the gastric mucosa.

Than such disease is dangerous?

Anacid gastritis, the symptoms of which at the initial stage are poorly expressed, so dangerous that it does not make itself felt right away, because the patient would have the opportunity to immediately start treatment. In the opposite case, that is, without appropriate therapy, the state of health will only worsen.

As it was already written above, hydrochloric acid is necessary for digestion of food entering the stomach, and also it acts decontaminating and bactericidal. When the synthesis of this important fluid is degraded, the functions are disrupted, in which pathogenic microbes that destroy the microflora are activated. This condition leads to the development of a wide variety of diseases, such as enteritis, pancreatitis, colitis, cholecystitis and dysbacteriosis.

Treatment of anacid gastritis: all available methods

To eliminate the disease, you need to work on the causes of its development - this is the basic rule of quality therapy for any pathology. In the case of an anatomic gastritis, everything is more complicated, since it has not yet been possible to establish pathogens. Nevertheless, treatment is necessary, and doctors have their own ideas on this score.

Faced with this disease, gastroenterologists act as follows:

• Conduct symptomatic therapy.
• Prescribe antibacterial agents.
• Prescribe drugs designed to stimulate the production of hydrochloric acid.

To cure an anacid gastritis, drugs for treatment can be selected as follows:

• Enveloping action ("Almagel", "Fosfalugel");
• Antispasmodics ("No-Shpa", "Drotaverin");
• Enzyme preparations ("Pancreatin", "Pepsin");
• Vitamin-mineral complexes, in particular containing cyanocobalamin (B12).

If the analysis revealed a Helicobacter pylori bacterium, antibiotics are additionally prescribed, for example, "Amoxicillin" or "Metronidazole". But any medicine can be prescribed only by a doctor.

The disease is well treated with folk remedies. The most frequently used infusion of prunes, fresh juice of plantain and various herbal preparations.

It is important that a specialist appoints a treatment plan, since inadequate intake of medicines will not only not produce the desired effect, but can also adversely affect the patient's health.

Recommendations for proper nutrition

It's easy to guess that an anatomic gastritis disease is much easier to cure if you follow a certain diet. Proper nutrition in general is a panacea for almost all diseases, and related to gastrointestinal tract - especially. It is worth paying attention to these recommendations:

• To refuse from fat, fried and rough food;
• Cook on vegetable or melted butter;
• To eat daily at the same time and at least 5 times a day, but in small portions;
• If you want a vegetable salad, it is better to boil half the vegetables and leave the other fresh, because this dish will not turn out to be too rough, but at the same time it will stimulate the production of digestive juice.

It is recommended to include in the diet lean meats, such as chicken breast and turkey fillet. Garnish can be prepared with cereal or pasta, and bread at the time of consumption should be yesterday. It is useful to eat fruits and berries, drink milk, herbal decoctions, fruit drinks and compotes. For example, you can study the healing table number 2 for Pevzner.

Preventive measures

Anacid gastritis, the symptoms and treatment of which have been described above, can be overcome if one adheres to a healthy lifestyle: eat right, spend more time in the open air, exercise moderately actively and give up bad habits. If these recommendations are followed, it will be possible to prevent the development of not only gastrointestinal diseases, but almost all the others, and then nothing will stop them from achieving their life goals!