Stomach ache after eating: causes and treatment

Stomach pain is one of the most common complaints with which patients come to a gastroenterologist. The difficulty in making a correct diagnosis is that the stomach reacts quite acutely to any changes in the environment and the body. The stomach is the central organ of digestion, so it is sensitive to stress, taken pills, quality and quantity of food. You can cope with a rare and single discomfort in the stomach area yourself. But if the pain comes back again and again and invariably visits you only after eating - you need to deal with the problem as soon as possible. In this article, we will talk about the causes of this symptom and try to figure out how to get rid of it.

What can cause stomach pain after eating

As a rule, pain after eating is most often associated with various eating disorders.

1. Suhomyatka. If you have to constantly have lunch without interruption from work, if you have a bite to eat sandwiches, if you practically do not eat hot dishes, especially soups, you have pain in your stomach.
2. Quick snacks. This problem also applies to workaholics. If you dine at a fast speed, this usually leads to insufficient chewing of food, which invariably causes stomach pain.
3. Squirrels. A large amount of protein foods in the diet leads to abdominal pain and upset stomach. Patients on a protein diet, as well as athletes during muscle gain, are especially familiar with this.
4. Binge eating. In the process of overflowing the stomach, its walls are stretched, and this leads to unpleasant painful sensations. Overeating is not felt so acutely if we eat while sitting, but pain pierces the stomach when we get up. Especially if the food intake was in a short time.
5. Stress. Everyone knows that the work of the gastrointestinal tract is closely related to the psychoemotional state of a person. Stress, tension, depression, overwork, anxiety and overload can cause irritable stomach syndrome. In addition to pain in the abdomen, this is manifested by belching, flatulence, bloating, heartburn and nausea.
6. Spicy food. Abdominal pain after eating can be the result of too spicy, and especially spicy foods. Often this happens when traveling, when people try exotic dishes, and the stomach is simply not used to such an amount of powerful spices.
7. Food allergy. We are all different people and everyone’s stomach works with individual characteristics. Each person may have an allergy to a particular food product, which manifests itself precisely with abdominal pain. The most common lactose intolerance or celiac disease (gluten intolerance). Identifying an allergen is quite difficult, but still possible. To do this, you need to keep a food diary and write down in it everything that was eaten at each meal, and also record your condition. Based on the records within 10-14 days, you can analyze and identify the product that causes intolerance. By the way, not only foodstuffs, but also medications can cause allergies - this is worth considering.
8. Poisoning. Abdominal pain can be the result of banal poisoning if you ate poor-quality or stale food, drank dirty water, etc. Poisoning can be caused not only by food, but also by alcohol. All this manifests itself precisely in abdominal pain after eating.

As a rule, in all these cases, pain in the stomach after eating is short-term in nature and does not occur constantly.If the stomach hurts after each meal, whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner, most likely this is due to various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

What diseases does the stomach ache after eating?

It is clear that only a doctor should make a diagnosis and deal with treatment, but I would like to outline some of the main diseases, the symptom of which, among other disorders, is pain in the stomach after eating.

1. Gastritis. This is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases, diagnosed in a large number of people. Gastritis is an inflammation of the gastric mucosa that can be caused by Helicobacter pylori. Gastritis is aggravated by stress, malnutrition, alcohol, or the use of certain medications (gastritis is often caused by Ibuprofen-based medicines).
2. Ulcer. This is a wound on the wall of the stomach, as a rule, an ulcer occurs against a background of gastritis, as a complication. An ulcer hurts after eating, when the food mass touches the painful area. In addition, the ulcer is accompanied by symptoms such as an overcrowded stomach, loss of appetite, heartburn, and bloating.
3. Hernia. In the esophagus of the diaphragm, a hernia can develop, which makes itself felt after eating, if part of the full stomach remains in a restrained state.
4. Gastroduodenitis. This disease is characterized by inflammation of the stomach and duodenum. The disease can be asymptomatic for a long time, it can be followed by exacerbation and weakening of symptoms. Pain in this case is usually localized under the spoon and in the navel.
5. Pancreatitis This is an inflammation of the pancreas, since the organs are nearby, the pain can be confused with discomfort in the stomach. The pain with pancreatitis is acute, shingles, it requires urgent medical intervention.
6. Appendicitis. Abdominal pain after eating can be a sign of appendicitis. This is an inflammation of a small process of the intestine - the appendix. If appendicitis is suspected (the pain may be wandering), urgent hospitalization and surgical intervention are needed.
7. Gastric obstruction. This pathology can occur against the background of polyps, sutures, or tumors that physically do not allow food to move from the stomach to the duodenum.

Sometimes the cause of abdominal pain can be Esophagitis - inflammation of the walls of the esophagus, the pain in this case is formed not after eating, but directly with food. In addition, abdominal pain after eating can be associated with diseases such as colitis, pyelonephritis, stomach cancer, cholecystitis, constipation, spleen diseases, cholelithiasis and urolithiasis. Sometimes pathologies can be completely unrelated to the gastrointestinal tract - the stomach hurts after eating with a heart attack, with fractures and bruises of the ribs, etc. That is why you can not self-medicate. But it is still possible to take some measures that can alleviate the patient’s condition.

What to do if your stomach hurts after eating

Here are some tips and tricks regarding nutrition and lifestyle that will help you get rid of temporary and minor stomach pain.

Start eating properly, strictly limit the amount of food eaten at a time - the volume of a serving should not exceed 300 ml.

You need to adhere to a diet - no fried, salted, pickled or spicy dishes. Everything is only lean, steamed, boiled or baked in the oven. You can eat cereals, low-fat dietary meat - turkey, chicken or rabbit. Refuse fresh fruit juices - fruits are only baked.

You need to eat every 3-4 hours, you can not take long breaks (except at night), it is very harmful for the stomach. In most cases, fractional nutrition can get rid of many problems with the stomach.

Do not eat up at night - at night the body sleeps, the stomach cannot fully digest food, eat dinner at least three hours before bedtime.

Try not to eat outside, do not dine in dubious catering establishments. Be sure about the quality of the food you consume.

Refuse from processed foods and fast food, eat hot food. At least once a day, you need to eat soup or something liquid.
Meat dishes - only in the morning, they are quite heavy.

After eating, you can not go to bed, you need to be upright for some time. Give up alcohol for a while, do not drink alcohol on an empty stomach!

Try to drink at least two liters of fluid per day.

If abdominal pain is caused by taking certain medications, you should definitely consult a doctor and, perhaps, think about analogues of these medicines. Sometimes you can change the method of administration of the drug - intramuscularly, rectally, intravenously.

These are the basic rules that will help you establish the digestion process and get rid of many gastroenterological problems.

What to do if abdominal pain persists

If all of the above methods did not help you get rid of the pain, you should definitely consult a doctor, especially if abdominal pain is accompanied by other symptoms - frequent belching, flatulence, fever, bloating, diarrhea or constipation.

To make a diagnosis, the doctor may prescribe additional studies - as a rule, this is a general blood test, ultrasound of the abdominal cavity. Gastroenterologists rarely do without the EFGDS procedure. It consists in swallowing a special probe at the end of which there is a camera. The doctor visually examines the condition of the surfaces of the mucous membranes and sees possible inflammation and ulcers. Sometimes a colonoscopy may be needed - when the condition of the colon is examined with an endoscope.

If you can’t urgently see a doctor and you are in pain in your stomach, you can temporarily get rid of your symptoms with medications such as Almagel or Gastal. Almagel gently envelops the walls of the stomach and relieves inflammation. Gastal has an adsorbing and analgesic effect. If such preparations are not at hand, you can drink fresh potato juice - just a couple of tablespoons and it will become easier for you. Such techniques help with gastritis and ulcers - these gastrointestinal diseases are more common than others. If the pain has receded, this is not a reason to refuse to go to the doctor. And remember that with acute and unbearable pain you need to immediately contact the surgical emergency department - the pain can be associated with rupture of appendicitis or perforation of the ulcer, it can be life threatening, and requires immediate intervention.

The stomach is a reflection of our lifestyle, condition and nutrition. Most often, stomach diseases begin to develop in students when we are far from my mother’s home cooking, we are forced to eat cheap foods, most often on the run and dry. Do not neglect taking care of yourself, devote enough time to eating, because it is not in vain that the lunch break does not last 10 minutes, but an entire hour, and in some countries even more. Keep track of nutrition and stomach problems you will no longer have!

Video: heaviness in the stomach and nausea