How to stop gastric bleeding?

Are you tired of constantly feeling like your stomach is being put through a blender? Have you been graced by the presence of blood in your vomit or stool lately? Fear not, my friend. We have compiled a comprehensive guide on how to stop gastric bleeding and restore peace within your gut.

What is Gastric Bleeding?

Before we dive into remedies and cures, let’s begin with the basics. Gastric bleeding, otherwise known as gastrointestinal hemorrhage (try saying that 5 times fast), refers to any form of internal bleeding within the digestive system. This can occur anywhere between the mouth and anus, including organs such as the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon and rectum.

There are two forms of gastrointestinal hemorrhage: acute and chronic. Acute bleeds happen suddenly with symptoms appearing rapidly whereas chronic bleeds may be ongoing over a longer period.

Bleeding in general isn’t exactly subtle so it shouldn’t take more than two active brain cells to identify if it has made an unwelcome appearance in one’s body. Nonetheless, here are some common signs & symptoms that could hint at its arrival:

  • Vomit containing blood
  • Stool containing blood
  • Black-colored stool due to digested blood (now who said eating food at fancy restaurants won’t help?)
  • Weakness
  • Shortness of breath
  • Chest pain – this warrants immediate medical attention

Note: Not everyone will experience symptoms from gastric bleeding so if you suspect something’s off – best get checked anyway!

Causes

Now that we know what gastric bleeding looks like let’s discuss possible causes for its occurrence:

Peptic ulcers

Peptic ulcers refer to painful wounds or inflammations forming inside our stomach lining due mainly to bacterial infection – Helicobacter pylori. The good news is ulcers are treatable and can heal without bleeding occurring but the bad news? If bleeding does occur, peptic ulcer complications alone account for up to 80% of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhages.

Strong medications

We know that diarrhea medication probably isn’t at the top of everybody’s wishlist but prolonged use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Aspirin and Ibuprofen could lead to stomach lining irritations and eventually cause gastric bleeds. Similarly blood-thinning medications like warfarin have also been known to cause effects detrimental to our digestive system e.g, hemorrhaging when they thin a clot too much.

Prolonged Alcohol usage

Eating/drinking stuff we shouldn’t rank pretty high on our list so it only seems fitting this would makes its way onto here… Consuming alcohol excessively frequently can inflame or break down stomach linings- leading them more prone toward acute gastritis or chronic inflammation putting one at risk for developing an ulcer which could progress to gastrointestinal reddening if excused over time.

How Can I Prevent Gastric Bleeding?

When diving into how one can prevent their insides from going haywire let’s split things up into gastroesophageal sphincters aka UES & LES Sphincters because well aren’t long fancy words a necessity in medicine?

UES (Upper Esophageal Sphincter)

The upper esophageal sphincter is located in between the throat & where food/water enters your body- primarily used for ballroom dancing & keeping air from getting “dragged” inside us whilst we chew +/- swallow food/water.

  1. Avoid talking with your mouth full – Why rush through all that deliciousness anyway?
  2. Chew slowly/ thoroughly – Let’s face it ; salads weren’t meant to resemble a blender post munching
  3. Breathe through your nose – This keeps airflow in check without disrupting the UES’s role completely.

LES (Lower Esophageal Sphincter)

The lower esophageal sphincter talks to the stomach alone and plays a critical role of keeping gastric juices down from returning up into our throats aka heartburn – yes, there’s actually an anatomical reason for why we feel as though fire ants have made camp inside us.

  1. Avoid chocolate or anything else that could aggravate symptoms.
  2. Eat smaller portions- quantity over quality? Not when it comes to eating apparently
  3. Wait for about 2 hours after eating before lying down- remember grandma always said taking naps after lunch would result in getting “fat”

Treatment

Prevention is key but what happens if things are already out of whack? Good thing you’re reading this then!

Non-Surgical:

Depending on severity treatment options vary & can range from providing blood transfusions, medications and endoscopic therapy which refers to various techniques used by gastroenterologists including injecting sclerosis agents usually ethanol/goat milk (que?!) directly onto reddened parts within ones gut lining thus coagulating/clotting around bleeding vessels thereby reducing/ ceasing leakage by basically gating off channels causing irritation that lead such bleeds OR less curdled alternatives like Argon plasma coagulation ; Electrocautery etc

Surgical:

If non-surgical treatment shouldn’t cut it doctor’s may suggest going the surgical route meaning they’ll try their best not mess up and cause more injury than was present before instead incising / ligating dilated veins or ulcers plus occasionally removing neoplasms depending on how bad things have become hoping not having Chopped discourages future culinary endeavours.

Aren’t you just pumped at all these fancy terms now rolling off your tongue like abc-waffles & feeling one step closer to being board-certified gestures vaguely in the direction of wall?

We’ve gone over a lot: Identifying symptoms, preventatives and treatment making you more aware/able to maintain healthier habits whilst giving you confidence something can be done even if sht starts going down. So whip those hands out from beneath everything that’s been sitting on them and pat yourself on the back -you’re now basically half-monty version of Dr.Who.

Take care, folks!

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