5 warning signs that your stomach is starting to get damaged

The stomach is an extremely important but also very vulnerable organ in the body. It is negatively affected not only by eating habits but also by other small behaviors in daily life. It is even affected by the external environment to mental emotions such as stress, anxiety, and depression. That is why stomach diseases have become a common group of diseases in all ages, especially in young people in modern society.

The most common stomach diseases are: stomach pain, gastroduodenal ulcers, gastric reflux, gastric antrum inflammation, gastric HP infection, gastric bleeding, stomach cancer... Although each disease may have different symptoms, the common point is that the stomach will be damaged and then the disease will appear. Therefore, early detection of the following signs that the stomach is starting to be damaged is extremely necessary, greatly affecting the effectiveness of disease prevention and treatment:

1. Frequent stomach pain

Pain is one of the most important warning signs of illness. The stomach is located in the middle of the abdomen, above the navel, below the liver and in the epigastric region, close to the spleen. However, when stomach lesions are newly formed, pain is not always located exactly in the stomach.

Many patients with ulcers and stomach cancer say that in the early stages they only feel a vague pain in the upper abdomen. The pain is often episodic, often occurring when hungry or too full. The pain is also often clear in location, lasting longer after eating. The pain feels slightly relieved after going to the toilet or lying down. However, this pain is easily mistaken for food causing indigestion or stomach upset due to overeating.

2. Decreased taste, loss of appetite

If you suddenly feel that your taste buds are poor, that you don't feel like food is as good as before, or that you don't feel delicious when you eat, it's best to see a stomach doctor. The tongue is the organ responsible for taste, but when the stomach is damaged, it can affect gastric acid secretion and disrupt the entire digestive system. A common clinical manifestation is that patients often have a sour taste in their mouth, and everything they eat seems a bit bland or bitter.

In addition, damage to the stomach also causes loss of appetite and poor eating. The reason is that at this time food is not digested well, making patients prone to bloating, abdominal distension or burning, epigastric pain after eating. The discomfort caused by these symptoms makes them not want to eat and no longer feel hungry. One of the common early symptoms of stomach cancer is loss of appetite, especially loss of appetite for meat.

3. Belching and feeling of nausea and vomiting

Stomach damage makes the digestive process of food not go smoothly. When food ferments due to stagnation in the stomach for a long time, it will cause unpleasant symptoms such as heartburn, belching, or heartburn. Of course, eating too fast, too much, or certain foods such as spicy foods, too much fat, etc. can cause this condition, but it is only temporary. If you experience this even when you are hungry, have changed your menu, or it lasts for more than a week, you should have your stomach examined immediately.

When the stomach is damaged or sick, it is difficult to avoid frequent nausea and vomiting. Similar to belching, this condition is also caused by undigested and fermented food in the stomach. In addition, stomach damage weakens the immune system, reduces digestion, and disrupts gastric acid. At this time, the body feels nauseous and vomits as a way to empty and expel harmful substances to protect the stomach.

4. Full stomach, very quickly full

The stomach is the organ that stores and digests food. So when it starts to get damaged, these functions will also be affected.

Because when the stomach's contraction function is impaired, it will lead to the phenomenon of food being stagnant in the stomach, slow digestion, making the patient always feel sluggish and have stomach pain. Indigestion also causes food to stagnate, taking up a lot of space. Or serious stomach damage causes inflammation, swelling, stomach tumors take up space, causing compression, so eating quickly makes you feel full and always feel full.

Poor digestion, belching, heartburn, and decreased taste also cause the patient to lose their appetite, thereby making them less enthusiastic about eating and feeling full faster.

5. Abnormalities in defecation

Because it is the largest organ in the gastrointestinal system, damage to the stomach will also cause persistent disorders of daily bowel movements. According to clinical statistics, early gastric damage often leads to indigestion and constipation. The important thing is that this phenomenon often persists, even when you have changed your diet or taken medication. Constipation due to stomach disease is often accompanied by abdominal bloating, intermittent pain in the abdominal area above the navel, worse when pushing hard.

When the damage progresses and pathologies form, especially with tumors or HP bacteria, it will often cause prolonged diarrhea. Patients often feel the urge to defecate immediately after eating, the stool is loose and changes color to darker such as brown, black and may be mixed with blood. Some stomach diseases can also cause alternating diarrhea and constipation that are not related to food. At this time, it is best to quickly go to the hospital for examination.