Gastritis is a stomach disease, in which, the patient suffers from inflammation in the inner lining of the stomach.
1. Intake of chemicals: Patients may suffer from gastritis, if he/she take inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or aspirin.
2. Injury/infections: Sometimes, some kind of physical injury may lead to infections in the inner lining of the stomach causing inflammation.
3. Weight loss: Patients, who have irregular diet patterns or people, who try to lose weight, may suffer from inflammation in stomach.
4. Medical problems: Medical problems such as pernicious anaemia, autoimmune disorder or bile reflux can also cause gastritis.
Erosive gastritis: It is caused by the erosion of gastric mucosa that is the inner lining of the stomach. The main reason for erosive gastritis is consumption of alcohol and this situation may later evolve into peptic ulcer. It can also be caused if the patient takes NSAIDS, also known as anti inflammatory medicines, such as aspirin, which hinders the production of enzymes in the stomach causing gastritis.
Chronic gastritis: It is caused, when some particles of food go back to the esophagus causing heart burn and the main cause of chronic gastritis is abnormality in the gastric tissues, which is caused by infection of H. pylori.
Body has immune system to fight external infections, but if the system attacks the body thinking it to be a foreign particle, it can cause damage in the stomach lining. The bile used for digesting food may get back to the stomach and this may cause gastritis.
Chronic gastritis can be caused if the person suffers from AIDS, connective tissue disorder, failure of kidney or liver or Crohn's disease.
Atrophic gastritis: It can be of type A or B. The person suffers from inflammation caused by stomach mucosa and the stomach couldn’t secrete digestive acids such as HCL and pepsin. The patient suffers from megaloblastic anaemia and deficiency of vitamin B12.
Type A gastritis is most commonly found in patient suffering from pernicious anaemia.
Type B gastritis is caused by the infection of H. pylori and it infects antrum.
Autoimmune Metaplastic Atrophic Gastritis: Patient may develop achlorhydria, Hashimoto's disease or gastric, if he/she suffers from AMAG or Autoimmune Metaplastic Atrophic Gastritis, which is caused if the immune system attacks the partial cells of the body and the attack is mostly caused by H. Pylori.
Gastritis is diagnosed by doctors by inserting a tiny camera inside the stomach. Sometimes, gastritis is present in the patient, who has no other symptoms and sometimes, elderly people have stomach damages, but they do not suffer from pain, vomiting or nausea.
Common symptoms of gastritis are vomiting, pain and dullness. Sometimes, pain is found in left upper part of the abdomen and the back part of the body. Sometimes, sore sensation in stomach or burning sensation is found in stomach. Iodine deficiency has also been linked to the problem.
