Part 18

4 Cirrhosis of the liver is sometimes one of the secondary causes of gastritis

GASTRITIS--THE SYMPTOMS

The symptoms are usually a dull pain in the region of the stomach and upper intestines, a swollen full feeling, now and then biting pains, followed by a dark vomit, especially when the attack comes late at night.

Gastritis is often confused with gastric cancer, and in diagnosis it is difficult to speak with authority as to whether the case is ordinary gastritis, as above described, gastric ulcer, or gastric cancer. The diagnostician in making up his opinion must be governed largely by the time the condition has endured, and the immediate causes, giving especial care to the food and drink that has been consumed just prior to the attack.

GASTRITIS--THE REMEDY

In severe cases the patient should be given a glass of cool water. In fact, one of the best means of allaying the inflammation of gastritis--or as a matter of fact any other inflammation--is cool water.

All food should be omitted for at least twenty-four hours, then the patient should be given vegetable juice prepared as follows:

Grind spinach, carrots, squash, or turnips, any two or three of these, very fine; cook about ten minutes in enough water to make a pint of thin vegetable soup. Put through a colander; strain through a coarse cloth, discarding the pulp. Give this to the patient every two hours in quantities not more than one or two ounces, dependent upon the condition.

The diet may be varied by changing vegetables, always selecting one green plant such as spinach, lettuce, beet or turnip-tops. As the patient improves more of the pulp may be used. After the second or third day a thin puree may be used, care being exercised not to overfeed.

In milder cases the patient should be fed after the same methods, only more of the vegetable pulp may be used, thereby increasing the strength of the diet after four or five days; or, when the patient shows signs of substantial recovery, egg whites, baked potatoes, and the ordinary fresh vegetables may be given in moderate quantities.

Inasmuch as stomach fermentation is the beginning or parent cause of gastritis, the causes, symptoms, and menus given for fermentation would apply in cases of gastritis, limiting the quantity of food according to the severity of the condition.

In cases of gastritis:

OMIT (In severe cases) EAT (In severe cases)

Coffee Baked bananas Condiments Egg whites Flesh foods Lettuce Fruit Puree of tender beans Intoxicants Puree of tender carrots Starchy foods Puree of tender corn Sweets Puree of tender peas Tea Spinach Tobacco Squash Vegetable juices

In the earlier stages of acute gastritis, all foods should be omitted except, perhaps, vegetable juices. (See recipe, p. 451.)

See also Fermentation and Superacidity, pp. 424 and 418.

NERVOUS INDIGESTION

There are millions of nerve fibers leading out from the stomach and alimentary tract to every part of the anatomy, so that the nervous connection, especially between the stomach and the brain, is very direct and sensitive. The stomach seems to bear the same relation to the brain that a basket bears to a balloon so far as their nervous connection is concerned. Thus it is that the irritated stomach produces an irritable temper, insomnia, forgetfulness, and a lack of ability to concentrate the thoughts. These are the milder symptoms or first warnings.

NERVOUS INDIGESTION--THE CAUSE

The use of stimulants or narcotics, such as tea, coffee, liquor and tobacco are most prolific causes of nervousness. These drugs act upon the body in a dual capacity: (1) They excite or raise the nervous system above normal, only to drop it below when the reaction takes place. (2) In addition to this, they irritate the stomach and the intestines by causing superacidity.

Nervousness caused by sedatives and narcotics acts both upon the mental and the physical organism, and the source of such nervousness can be easily traced by ascertaining the habits of the patient.

When the patient has used stimulants and narcotics long enough to cause nervousness, the mucous membrane of the stomach is usually in a state of irritation. The presence of blood, under these conditions, causes abnormal appetite, frequently followed by overeating, especially of sweets, starches, and acids, for which the patient usually has a great craving. This is followed by fermentation, and comes into or envelops superacidity and must necessarily be classed with it.

Overeating and the constant use of stimulants and narcotics will, after a time, cause a chronic state of fermentation, and the stomach will seldom be free from acid, the constant presence of which will ultimately cause gastric ulcer, and perhaps stomach carcinoma.

NERVOUS INDIGESTION--THE SYMPTOMS

The more advanced stages of stomach irritation which are expressed by nervousness cause melancholia and a gloomy sort of pessimism. These are among the last signals the stomach gives to the brain before final collapse, and if these signals are not heeded, the victim may expect to go down in the maelstrom of nervous prostration within twelve months from the time the first signals are given. These fits or spells of melancholia often come on suddenly. The palms of the hands become moist with a cold, clammy perspiration, and the mind is flooded with a train of thoughts such as "What's the use of living?" "Why all this struggle for mere existence?" The victim of this condition invariably believes that his mind is becoming affected; that he is becoming insane, and will soon be a public charge, and shunned by those whom he loves. While under these spells many people take their own lives rather than face what they believe to be insanity and ostracism.

The patient should be made acquainted with his true condition, and shown that it is only temporary, and that all such thoughts are mere mental aberrations which will disappear when the causes of stomach irritation are removed.

The above-named symptoms always point with certainty to an irritated stomach, the severity of which can be determined by the symptoms above described.

Stomach irritation is expressed largely through the mind, as in irritability, nervousness and melancholia, while intestinal irritation is generally expressed by some physical symptom, such as restlessness, twitching of the muscles and a general lack of physical tranquillity.