Gastritis and homeopathy goes hand in hand why? Because gastritis a disease that anyone faces anytime and there is no particular line of treatment in the modern medicine but homeopathy does give a ray of hope for its cure!
First let us understand basic about the stomach:
The stomach is a hollow muscular organ of your body. It is a part of the digestive system. The top part is connected to the esophagus, and the lower part is connected to the duodenum. The stomach wall is lined with several layers of different tissues, which are serosa, muscular externa, submucosa and mucosa.
The serosa is the outermost layer, followed by the muscularis externa, which helps in churning, mixing the food, and pushing it to the intestine by contraction and relaxation. The next layer of the sub mucosa has blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves. The innermost layer, the mucosa is a soft, smooth-surfaced layer containing gastric glands that contain cells producing mucus, an enzyme called pepsinogen, hydrochloric acid and the intrinsic factor which helps in absorbing vitamin B12. The mucus also protects the stomach tissue from being eaten away, damaged, or corroded by its digestive secretions.
Any factor that harms the protective mucus barrier of the stomach exposes the stomach tissue to the strongly acidic stomach secretions. This results in the inflammation of the stomach lining and is called gastritis.
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Types:
Gastritis can be:
- Acute or Short term
- Chronic or Long term
- Erosive
- Non-erosive
- Atrophic
There is only inflammation in non-erosive gastritis. But, in erosive, the mucus lining erodes, which cause breaks, sores or ulcers in the stomach lining.
Atrophic gastritis is where gland cells are destroyed due to long term inflammation and replaced by intestinal and fibrous tissue. It causes impairment of the production of hydrochloric acid, pepsin, and gastric intrinsic factor. It is caused by either autoimmune or due to long term infection of Helicobacter pylori.
Causes:
The primary causes of gastritis are:
- Infection with Helicobacter Pylori bacteria.
- Excessive use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and aspirin.
- High alcohol intake
- Stress
- Injuries
- Burns
- Smoking
- Crohn’s disease
- Autoimmune disorders like Hashimoto’s disease and Type 1 diabetes
- Tobacco
- Age, because the stomach lining thins naturally with age.
Symptoms:
Gastritis causes many noticeable symptoms such as:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Feeling of fullness in your upper abdomen, particularly after eating
- Indigestion
- Belching
- Loss of appetite
- Anemia
- Lethargy and weakness
- Black or hard stools
- Foul-smelling of mouth
Gastritis and Homeopathy:
Homeopathic treatment for gastritis is very effective. These medicines help to reduce the inflammation of the stomach lining and relieve the symptoms. These medicines are selected for each patient individually as per the presentation of symptoms. The treatment is very helpful for both short term and long-standing gastritis. The treatment should start in time and it will prove beneficial in preventing the development of sores and ulcers in the stomach lining.
Some medicines for gastritis are Arsenic Album, Argentum Nitricum, Phosphorus, Lycopodium, and Bismuth but, it depends on case to case and the presentation of the symptoms in a patient.
