What to do if your stomach hurts and you lose your appetite

• August 7, 2018
• Gastroenterology
• Anna Mallaalieva

Almost every third person on the planet has problems with the gastrointestinal tract.
Most people are diagnosed with a disease such as gastritis. When it occurs, the mucous membranes of the stomach become inflamed. This leads to the fact that the organ cannot fully perform its functions. Weight loss with gastritis is common. In addition, a person may experience other unpleasant sensations, such as heaviness and pain in the stomach, excessive gas formation, constipation or diarrhea, and so on. All this not only causes inconvenience, but also prevents you from living a full life. Why can this disease be accompanied by severe weight loss? Let's find out the reasons, and also figure out how to regain your rounded shape.

Gastritis - what is it?

With this disease, the mucous layer of the stomach becomes inflamed. This leads to dysfunction. Food entering the body is poorly digested. Naturally, the patient does not receive the necessary nutrients, so his condition worsens greatly. As a rule, with gastritis you feel severe weakness and loss of strength.

This disease has two forms: chronic and acute. Also, with inflammation of the stomach, acidity may increase or decrease. There are patients in whom it does not change and remains normal.

Everyone without exception is at risk. Both children and elderly people can get gastritis.

Causes of gastritis

Before you understand why weight loss occurs with gastritis, you need to understand what causes this disease. The most common ones are:

• Bacterial or fungal infection. These microorganisms affect the walls of the stomach, causing a severe inflammatory process.
• Poor nutrition. This is one of the most common causes of gastritis. Moreover, the disease can be caused by both malnutrition and overeating.
• Bad habits. The biggest enemy for the stomach is alcohol. It contains ethanol, which in large quantities is harmful to the body. Once in the stomach, it leads to the formation of an acid-base imbalance. In addition to this organ, ethanol has a detrimental effect on others, in particular the liver and pancreas.
• Medicine. Unfortunately, medicine uses drugs that can irritate the gastric mucosa. We are talking about analgin, prednisolone, aspirin and others. With long-term treatment with drugs based on them, gastritis most often occurs.

In addition to the above reasons, this disease can be triggered by severe nervous disorders, chronic stress, parasites, and aggressive chemicals.

Prevention

In this case, there are no targeted preventive measures. In general, you should adhere to dietary culture and consult a doctor if you feel unwell, and not carry out therapeutic measures at your own discretion.

Gastritis with high acidity is an inflammation of the gastric walls, accompanied by an increased level of hydrochloric acid. The disease is also called “hyperacid gastritis”. People often between twenty and fifty years old suffer from this disease.

There are many reasons that increase the risk of gastritis. Conventionally, sources are divided into exogenous and endogenous. The main cause is considered to be poor diet, drug abuse, stress factors, and poor lifestyle.

To successfully treat gastritis with high acidity, it is recommended to strictly follow a special diet. The diet will contribute to the disappearance of unpleasant signs of the disease.

We list the risk factors for the occurrence:

• Bacteria Helicobacter pylori;
• Abuse of rough, spicy, hot and spicy foods;
• Binge eating;
• Excessive consumption of coffee, alcoholic beverages, smoking;
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. They provoke irritation of the mucous membrane and an increase in acidity concentration;
• Constant stress;
• Prolonged fasting;
• Hereditary predisposition;
• A high risk of disease occurs when there is a metabolic failure;
• Autoimmune inflammation;
• Chemicals entering the stomach.

What are the dangers of severe weight loss?

Having extra pounds is very harmful, but when uncontrolled weight loss occurs (with gastritis, for example), this may not have the best consequences. In addition to pain and other unpleasant symptoms, problems such as decreased immunity, displacement of internal organs, muscle atrophy, and frequent injuries to joints and bones also develop. Also, in women whose body weight is significantly less than normal, the menstrual cycle is disrupted. This leads to problems with conceiving a child. Often in men, weight loss affects potency. If doctors diagnose anorexia, then in 15% of cases it can lead to death.

Why do people lose weight with gastritis?

This disease is very insidious, so it is necessary to understand why a person begins to suddenly lose weight.

• As mentioned above, with gastritis the gastric mucosa becomes inflamed, so the digestion process is disrupted. Food is not digested, and the body experiences a lack of carbohydrates and proteins.
• The acute form of gastritis is accompanied by a constant feeling of nausea. Patients often vomit, sometimes up to 20 times a day. This condition is complicated by diarrhea. Weight loss occurs because nutrients do not have time to be absorbed in the body. And this, in turn, leads to exhaustion.
• Atrophic gastritis leads to a sharp decrease in appetite. Losing 20 kg of weight is critical. Often with this form of the disease, patients completely refuse to eat. In this case, immediate hospitalization is necessary.
• It is worth noting that during exacerbation of gastritis, doctors recommend adhering to a special diet. Because of this, patients refuse their usual high-calorie foods. For this reason, natural weight loss may occur at the beginning of treatment.
• Severe, incessant pain in the stomach leads to the fact that a person simply cannot eat. Because of this, sudden weight loss occurs. This behavior of the patient is quite reasonable. After gastritis goes from acute to chronic, body weight will gradually be restored.
• Psychological reasons that cause sudden weight loss cannot be ruled out. Most often, patients understand that they experience pain after eating food, so they consciously refuse it so as not to experience such discomfort again.

Diet therapy

You can reduce your appetite with diet. In this case, it is necessary that the body receives all the necessary substances and does not experience a strong feeling of hunger.

To do this, you should eat foods that take longer to digest and leave you feeling full:

• Fried and fatty foods, although they take a long time to digest, are harmful to the body. Therefore, it should be excluded from the diet or consumed in small portions during the day.
• It is necessary to ensure that the products are combined and do not cause increased gas formation or stomach upset.
• You should not drink liquid during meals; it dilutes the gastric juice and prevents the feeling of fullness from occurring in a timely manner.
• Do not use seasonings that increase appetite when preparing dishes.
• Dishes should be moderately salted or slightly under-salted. Salt stimulates appetite.
• Eat fiber more often. It takes longer to digest and helps cleanse the body of toxins.
• You need to have breakfast, lunch and dinner at certain times. Fruit snacks are allowed between them.
• Sweets should be replaced with dried fruits, and sugar with honey.

Finding out the reasons for weight loss

From all of the above, you can understand how interconnected gastritis and weight loss are. Treatment that will relieve the inflammatory process of the mucous membranes of the stomach is prescribed only after the necessary examination. Since other factors can influence weight loss, doctors rule them out first. To do this, the patient is prescribed tests for hormones and the presence of parasites, as well as a general blood test. An ultrasound examination of the thyroid gland is required. In some cases, fluorography may be prescribed.

Such an examination allows you to determine with maximum accuracy the reason why weight loss occurs. A course of therapeutic treatment is prescribed only after the source of the problem has been identified. Only a doctor should prescribe medications and plan a diet. Self-medication can lead to exacerbation of gastritis, as well as cause serious side symptoms.

Diagnostics

It is strictly not recommended to self-medicate and take medications without a doctor’s prescription if you discover symptoms of the disease. This approach will lead to a rapid transition of gastritis to an ulcerative form.

PAY ATTENTION! Do not prolong gastritis or an ulcer until stomach cancer, it is better to be on the safe side, but this will be necessary. read the story of Galina Savina >>

At the first suspicion of a disease, you should contact a gastroenterologist, who will give you a referral for fibrogastroscopy and an x-ray of the stomach. The study will confirm or refute the diagnosis. The doctor can also send you to donate blood and stool, tests will clarify the phase and form of the disease, and reveal the presence or absence of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.

How to gain weight?

Weight loss with gastritis can be considered normal if no more than 3-4 kg of the initial weight is lost. After the inflammatory process is relieved by drug treatment, the patient recovers within 2 months. Since after gastritis you cannot immediately return to fatty foods, weight normalization occurs gradually.

It is important to understand: in order to regain lost pounds and feel healthy, you need to eat right, dividing meals into 5-6 times. Drink up to 2 liters of clean water daily. It is recommended to distribute physical activity. Don't forget to eat fresh vegetables and fruits. Vitamins are simply necessary if the patient is diagnosed with erosive gastritis. Weight loss will stop if you give up bad habits forever.

It is important to understand that the human body consists of several types of tissues. When losing weight due to illness, muscle mass most often decreases. And if you start eating abundantly, then weight restoration will be carried out due to fatty tissue. It is for this reason that it is important to balance all foods and correctly distribute physical activity. Under no circumstances should you give up protein-rich foods. It strengthens muscle tissue, due to which a person’s well-being significantly improves.

Make mealtime an enjoyable experience

How to increase your appetite easily and pleasantly? Cooking and dining with others can help stimulate your appetite more than eating alone. To make your food more appetizing, you can invite friends and family over for lunch/dinner. If they can't come and keep you company, try eating while watching TV.

These strategies can help take your attention away from food. The study found that eating with friends can increase food consumption by 18%, and eating while watching TV can increase food consumption by 14%. Having lunches and meals together, combined with entertainment, can help you enjoy food more and improve poor appetite.

Let's summarize:

If you eat with friends and family or eat in front of the TV, you can distract yourself from the food you are eating, which will encourage you to eat more of it.

Proper nutrition

If a person has already experienced weight loss due to gastritis, then he needs to learn how to eat properly. First of all, you will need to get rid of the root cause that caused the loss of body weight. After relieving inflammation of the mucous membrane, you need to create a nutrition schedule. As mentioned above, it is better to divide meals into five to six times. Each serving should not exceed 200 g. The diet must include the following products:

• fermented milk: sour cream, kefir, cottage cheese, yogurt;
• meat: it is better to give preference to white lean meat, such as chicken.

It is not advisable to give up fish. It is easily absorbed in the body, filling it with useful substances. You should also include hard cheeses in your diet.

Symptoms of hunger

As we have already said, the feeling of hunger comes to a person when the stomach begins to give signals about a lack of “fuel”. If a person feels satisfactory and is not bothered by any pathologies, the desire to eat should arise 10-12 hours after eating food. When hunger occurs, the stomach begins to contract in the form of spasms, the duration of which does not exceed 30-40 seconds. Then there should be a break, after which the spastic pain will resume. After a certain time, the appearance of cramping sensations becomes permanent and is felt with greater intensity.

The person is also worried about another accompanying symptom - a feeling of sucking in the pit of the stomach, the stomach begins to growl, making loud sounds. Please note that emotional outbursts can dull hunger, but for a short time. As medical statistics show, the feeling of hunger is more likely to bother people with high blood sugar (diabetes).

Weight loss with gastritis

With the development of gastritis, inflammation is observed in the mucous tissues of the stomach, which occurs due to a number of reasons: Helicobacter, dietary errors, bad habits, stress. Inflammation occurs in an acute stage or becomes chronic. In the chronic form of the disease, inadequate absorption of nutrients and breakdown occurs, a fact that contributes to a decrease in the patient’s appetite.

If an acute stage of gastritis is observed, in addition to a negative effect on appetite, the period is characterized by painful sensations in the epigastric region and heaviness in the stomach. In the absence of appropriate treatment, acute gastritis always becomes chronic.

The unfavorable sensations that accompany gastritis lead to a decrease and even loss of appetite, causing weight loss.

Causes

With gastritis, the process of absorption of elements important for the body is disrupted, resulting in an acute lack of vitamins and nutrients, proteins and carbohydrates. Consequently, the patient’s weight decreases, especially if the person periodically suffers from nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea.

As a result, a patient with exacerbation of gastritis has to exclude from the menu many foods containing an abundance of calories:

• Baked goods, baked goods, especially fresh ones.
• Fried and smoked products.
• Sausage, sausages.
• Products with a lot of fat.
• Highly carbonated, alcoholic drinks.
• Chocolate.
• Selected cereals.

This is not a complete list of foods prohibited for gastritis.

There are cases when the patient managed to overcome the disease and return to his usual lifestyle and diet, but weight loss continues. This happens if the patient continues to refuse high-calorie foods after recovery, having realized the importance of proper and balanced nutrition.

In other cases, continued weight loss is associated with pathologies accompanying gastritis. To determine the cause, the patient is diagnosed, including the following measures:

1. General blood analysis.
2. Determination of thyroid hormone levels.
3. Ultrasound examination of the thyroid gland.
4. Fluorography.
5. Tests aimed at identifying parasites.

In a similar way, they try to find out the reasons that explain the reason for weight loss rather than weight gain.

How to make up for weight loss

In an alarming situation, you need to think about how to create conditions for improving appetite so as not to harm your health. In other words, how to gain weight with gastritis. If a person continues to lose weight, the body is likely to become exhausted, exacerbating health difficulties.

It is possible to achieve body weight growth in several ways: by measures to increase muscle or fat tissue, by strengthening bones.

If there are health difficulties that affect loss of appetite, first try to eliminate them. Treatment for gastritis is required. The fight is not easy, it may take a lot of time, but if you follow the doctor’s recommendations, the desire is quite feasible. When the main symptoms of the disease are eliminated, attempts are made to gain weight.

A useful addition to drug treatment for gastritis is a special diet, without which medications will not help. It is necessary to develop a diet that has a gentle and protective effect on the mucous membrane, delivering maximum benefit to the body, replenishing the lack of important elements. When compiling a list of permitted and prohibited foods, it is recommended to take into account the type of disease and its characteristics. In this case, it will be possible to gradually replenish the required number of kilograms.

An important component of a healthy diet is the proper preparation of dishes, either steamed or boiled.

Main recommendations

1. It is important to develop an individual diet for the patient. Meals occur at set times daily, at intervals of two and a half or three hours. It is necessary to exclude dry snacks and eating food outside the set time. The food entering the stomach is thoroughly chewed; one should not rush during a meal; eat in small portions. It is useful to eat chopped or grated foods, and do not overeat. You should not eat food that is too hot, as it irritates the epithelium of the stomach and can negatively affect the digestive process. A similar situation applies to overly cold foods. During an exacerbation of gastritis, especially in the first days, it is recommended to drink warm milk, which neutralizes the increase in acidity in the hollow organ. Following the rules when eating food will make it easier for the stomach.
2. It is necessary to maintain the correct ratio of proteins, carbohydrates and fats in the diet. It is useful to eat chicken meat enriched with protein. Don't get too carried away with carbohydrates and fats, especially with gastritis. A good option for consuming animal fats would be fish, preferably boiled or baked. The main point is to ensure a balanced diet so that the fat layer appears in the right places.
3. It is useful to lead a healthy and active lifestyle; the mentioned factors are directly related to the metabolism in the human body. In order for body weight to increase, paradoxically, it will be necessary to provide the body with physical activity and do gymnastics. Special exercises have been developed that help build muscle mass. The best option would be to visit the gym to be able to work out with an instructor. During training, a lot of energy is expended, take into account the energy consumption in your diet. Try to quit smoking, which negatively affects appetite and helps the patient lose weight.
4. Many biological additives, medicinal and herbal preparations have been created that can eliminate the loss of appetite and weight loss that accompany diseases. The products contain enzymes that have a beneficial effect on the process of digesting food and stimulate a person’s appetite. There is a possibility of weight gain with gastritis. But taking dietary supplements is not recommended without consulting a nutritionist; contraindications or unwanted side effects are possible.

Drug therapy

If hunger is not a symptom of the disease, then to eliminate it, the therapist or nutritionist prescribes drugs that act on the nervous system and suppress sensitivity to hormones that increase appetite. But after finishing taking them, the symptom may return.

Medicines make it possible to temporarily reduce hunger and weight:

• apetinol . A food supplement that promotes a quick feeling of fullness;
• meridia _ Increases metabolism and reduces appetite.
• turboslim . Reduces appetite and helps normalize digestion;
• reduxin . Affects the production of hormones. Dulls hunger. Normalizes the metabolic process.

These products are dietary supplements and their effect has not been fully proven. They have contraindications, which should be discussed with a specialist. Uncontrolled use of drugs can harm the body.