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Friday, June 28, 2013

Endoscopy For Gastritis

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Recently, I had an endoscopy done where a small tube with a camera down your throat to look at your upper stomach. The procedure is performed under general anesthesia or you can have it without anesthesia if you do not have a gag reflex.
The procedure is less than 30 minutes and the only side effect of the procedure that I experienced was a sore throat and some bruising due to IV. After the procedure, it still takes 30 minutes recovery time for the anesthesia to wear off.
Once I was fully awake, the doctor just told me that I did not have ulcers, but have spotted a few granules and removed to the laboratory for a biopsy tissue. He informed me that the biopsy tissue take about a week and the results will come in the mail.
A week later, I received the results and I discovered that I have gastritis. Gastritis is an inflammation of the stomach lining which explains my swollen belly. Inflammation of the stomach is usually caused by excessive alcohol consumption, but there are other causes such as prolonged use of aspirin or ibuprofen use, infections of the stomach, gastric surgery such that weight loss surgery such as gastric bypass or bacteria.
Having bacteria h. pylori which is short for Helicobacter pylori is another cause of gastritis. H. pylori is a spiral-shaped bacterium found in the stomach and penetrate the protective lining of the stomach causing the lining to weaken and damage the stomach gastric acid. The h. pylori is associated with ulcers and gastric cancer.
The most common symptom of gastritis is a pain in the upper stomach with nausea, swelling or fullness in the stomach such as bloating, indigestion, belching, gas and vomiting that may produce blood. Gastritis is not treated can lead to severe loss in blood.
The pain of gastritis for me feels like a rodent burning and sometimes drink milk will relieve the pain, but it is not recommended because it does not solve the problem of gastritis it aggravates producing more acid. If you are lactose intolerant like me, omit the milk consumption.
Avoid eating spicy foods, alcohol, and if your gastritis is caused by h. pylori, your doctor should prescribe a combo of antibiotics with an antacid to reduce stomach acidity. The symptoms of gastritis should be treated and h. pylori killed to rid your body of gastritis.

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