Gastrointestinal disorder

“ CHRONIC DYSPEPSIA (Chronic Indigestion—Chronic Gastritis—Stomach Trouble) .—A chronic digestive disorder characterized by increased secretion of mucus, changes in the gastric juice, weakening of the stomach muscles and diseased changes in the mucous membrane.
Causes.—The use of unsuitable and improperly prepared food, too much fat, starchy foods, New England pie, and hot meals, biscuits, cakes, etc., greasy gravies, too strong tea or coffee, and too much alcohol. Eating too much food, eating too fast, and eating between meals. Drinking of ice and cold water during or after meals. ”

“ He surveyed the moonlit world to leeward, with the tails of his jacket streaming over his head. "There's something seriously wrong," said Mr. Fotheringay. "And what it is— goodness knows."
Far and wide nothing was visible in the white glare through the haze of dust that drove before a screaming gale but tumbled masses of earth and heaps of inchoate ruins, no trees, no houses, no familiar shapes, only a wilderness of disorder, vanishing at last into the darkness beneath the whirling columns and streamers, the lightnings and thunderings of a swiftly rising storm. ”

“ Its first symptoms are likely to be constipation, flatulency, colic, indigestion, bacterial and other poisons, occasionally diarrhea, and the usual general disturbance of the system as above detailed. It is admitted by all authors that inflammation of the anus, rectum, etc., is by far the most common disease that afflicts mankind at all ages ”

“ Sooner or later, then, gastritis and stomach indigestion develop, with consequent intestinal indigestion. If lie takes strong alcohol, like whisky, oil an empty stomach, he may sooner or later cause serious disease of the mucous membrane of the stomach, first chronic gastritis, and later atrophy of the glands of the stomach. ”

“ As the disease very often implicates the stomach (gastro-enteritis) , the usual lesions of gastritis will be seen. Most commonly the lesions are best marked in the small intestine, and again in other cases in the colon, but usually there is more or less change in all parts of the intestinal canal. The small intestine is almost devoid of aliments and the mucosa deeply congested in patches or striæ, with at points thickening, softening so that it crushes under the finger, hemorrhagic discoloration, and even ulceration, and necrotic changes. ”

“ Infliction, misery, are everywhere. The taint of auto-generated intestinal morbific products, carried and communicated to the remotest parts, manifests itself now here now there as if it were a local trouble, and it is difficult therefore, nay, impossible, to classify scientifically the symptoms of auto-infection. A classification, though necessarily imperfect, will aid in the diagnosis and treatment of the various abnormal conditions of the stomach and intestines, that is, of mal-digestion. ”

“ Slow digestion is perhaps the most common form of functional disturbance of the stomach, due to an insidious auto-infection for years. The eyes and the skin begin to show the effect of the poisonous infection. The skin becomes dry, pale and muddy in color; has more or less annoying eruptions, and exhibits a jaundiced appearance. The body is ill nourished, the nervous system depressed, the blood impoverished, the memory failing, the general appearance languid, irritable, anxious. ”

“ As has been pointed out, inflammation, septic poisoning, intestinal foulness, or retained feces, act as irritants on the mucous membranes, thereby drawing the blood to the colon where it is excreted and exhaustion follows. The great danger in diarrhea, therefore, is the rapid depletion of the vital force. But when the small intestines are affected the consequences may be still more deplorable. Then the unassimilated food is hurried along too quickly for absorption and the body receives but little nourishment to restore its powers. ”

“ The chronic ulceration, the scarring, thickening, and contractions of the gut are irremediable conditions which too often, after months or years of suffering, lead to intestinal obstruction or, very frequently, to atrophy of the glandular and absorbent system of the entire alimentary tract, general wasting, and fatal asthenia. Such patients hardly ever pass a healthy motion; they are troubled with chronic indigestion; at times they pass their food unaltered; they have recurring attacks of diarrhœa ”

“ A period marked by constipation, biliousness or poisons generated within or taken into the intestinal canal is often followed by diarrhea. Mental excitement will induce it in some persons. More often man's early and most common malady, proctitis, is the direct or indirect cause. Some forms of ulceration of the lower bowel induce diarrhea. Chronic cases of diarrhea usually follow the decline of vitality marked by the symptom of Costiveness, which means the interruption of all the functions of nutrition. The intestinal canal is then like a rubber tube with the contents hurried through it. ”

“ Acute catarrh of the stomach is associated with intense hyperaemia of its lining coats, with visible engorgement and swelling of the mucous membrane, and an excessive secretion of mucus. The formation of active gastric juice is arrested, digestion ceases, peristaltic movements are sluggish or absent, unless so over-stimulated that they act in a direction the reverse of the normal, and induce expulsion of the gastric contents by vomiting. ”

“ The only point which seems admissible is that this disease, which Moussu considered to have analogies with chronic sporadic dysentery in man, is due to one or several organisms, which develop in the intestine and produce toxins, causing diarrhœa, without, however, marked inflammation of the intestinal mucous membrane. ”

“ In the early history of the disease this habit may serve for a time; but, as the disease progresses, the “laxative” habit is formed, which, in turn, settles into a chronic “drug” habit for all sorts and conditions of gastro-intestinal and other ills, which inevitably ensue. As the ravages of chronic inflammation of the anus and rectum increase, the symptoms rapidly multiply, till finally the victim, in desperation, feels that he must find additional sources of relief—and, among other habits, he forms the “diet” habit. ”

“ Acute Enteritis, as Acute Gastritis, is usually caused by a strong irritant,—either by some food which disagrees, or by a mass of undigested food. A fast of two or three days is the initial dietetic treatment. A free drinking of water not only soothes the irritated intestines but it cleanses the intestinal tract and assists the kidneys in eliminating elements of fermentation ”

“ Proctologists who have written on the subject of mucous colitis have noted the many symptoms very accurately, but have missed the usual location of a most aggravating disease from which mankind suffers early and late in life. Authors of books on stomach and intestinal troubles are also groping very much in the dark and are unable to diagnose the cause of a very common functional disturbance of the whole digestive apparatus, caused by proctitis and sigmoiditis, bringing numerous and severe primary and secondary symptoms to which other diseases may be traced. ”

“ HOW AUTO-INFECTION AFFECTS THE GASTRIC DIGESTION, AND VICE VERSA.
Frederick the Great said that all culture comes through the stomach. This saying emphasizes pithily the dependence of psychology upon physiology. The stomach with the intestines is certainly the source from which every portion of the body receives its nourishment and most of its diseases. The physiological plus and minus processes leave their reflex on the mind. ”

“ Gastric ulcer may develop without an apparent cause. As a rule, however, it manifests itself in individuals between the years of fifteen and forty, particularly after prolonged digestional disturbances, especially those accompanied by a hypersecretion of acid. As the disease progresses, anemia is more or loss severe, adding difficulty to the feeding problem. Many of the symptoms are like those of chronic gastritis, such as pain. ”

“ The great majority of intestinal diseases, as also of chronic blood-disorders, are associated with a torpidity or derangement of the function of the liver. We find this to be the case with diarrhœa and constipation, with dysentery and cholera; as well as with ague and remittents,—gout, and rheumatism,—Phthisis, and scrofula. In all of these diseases it is of great importance to attend to the state of the liver. ”

“ In all these cases too, the glands in the groin may be enlarged by sympathy, and this without the existence of any actual abiding disease. A big abdomen is, of itself, no evidence of it, nor even when associated with indigestion and frequent stomach-ache; but when to these you add abiding tenderness, and an evening temperature always at least one degree above that in the morning, there is every reason to fear that consumptive disease has attacked the organs of digestion. ”

“ In consequence of debility, over-exertion, anxiety, or chronic inflammation of the stomach, there is not a proper secretion, in quantity or quality, of digestive solvents, and it matters not whether it be a deficiency of the fluids of the stomach, or of the intestines, or of the pancreas and liver, the result is indigestion. The question of what important agent is lacking, naturally presents itself to the physician. ”

“ A few of the many primary symptoms of proctitis and colitis are con­sti­pa­tion, diarrhea, indigestion, biliousness, flatulency, putre­fac­tion, and gaseous and bacterial poisons—a foul gastro-intestinal canal, through which there are daily absorbed from the bowels two-thirds to three-fourths of the excrementitious matter into the system. With these facts before us we need not be astonished at the statement that nine-tenths of human ills have their origin in the digestive apparatus. ”

“ But we are liable to be misled by pain: gastric pain is not a characteristic symptom; subacute forms of the disease may exist without any fixed pain; the sensation is rather that of burning, uneasiness, and oppression of the epigastric region. The appetite, as a rule, is greatly impaired—indeed, the sense of hunger is rarely experienced—and nausea and vomiting frequently follow the ingestion of food. This is especially the case when catarrh of the stomach is associated with renal disease, portal congestion, or chronic alcoholism. ”

“ Even too much water at meal-times may cause indigestion, since the food in the mouth is apt to be softened by the water instead of saliva, and also the gastric juice becomes unduly diluted, rendering the digestion in the stomach too slow and prolonged. Carious teeth and oral sepsis, from whatsoever cause, lead to the same trouble. ”

“ It does seem sometimes that man in his ignorance gets nothing right except to walk forward instead of backward. Even so, most likely he walked on all fours for ages, judging from his progress to date, before he learned to walk on his hind legs. To-day we find him self-poisoned, auto-intoxicated, a gastro-intestinal neurasthenic. His bowels are filled and stretched with ancient feces and gases, and his stomach is burdened with undigested food and tenacious mucus. ”

“ There is a legion of secondary symptoms of proctitis, all of which medical empiricism considers and denominates causes. As constipation is such an every-day complaint of almost everybody one meets, it will not tax our imagination unduly to conceive how it may be a frequent cause of diarrhea, which is only Nature's effort to get rid of its useless and excessive burden of retained feces and gases. Constipation, semi-constipation, and irregular action of the bowels, excessive fermentation, putrefaction, self-generated or auto-infection, are the factors to be considered. ”

“ Millions on millions of these glands, lacteals and follicles in the stomach and small intestines, are destroyed like the rootlets of a plant or tree in unwholesome soil. The active circulation of the digestive fluids ceases, and the sufferer is said to be costive or to have chronic diarrhea. Both symptoms are the outgrowth of many years of intestinal foulness, and indicate the degree and character of intestinal irritability and semi-starvation of the body, as a consequence of either the absorption of poisons or the excessive elimination of the vital substance of the body through diarrhea. ”

“ The most acute and fatal forms occur in connection with a sudden change from dry to rich, luscious, green food in spring, the unwonted stimulus giving rise to general irritation of the whole gastric mucosa, with disordered and impaired function of all four stomachs, but especially of the third. ”

“ Diseases of the pancreas seriously embarrass digestion in the intestine. Lesions of this organ, as catarrh of the duct, cancer, fatty degeneration, etc., may result in impaired emulsification of fats, fatty diarrhoea, and wasting.
Intestinal indigestion accompanies hyperæmia and catarrh of the intestinal mucous membrane, diseases of the heart, lungs, and liver, and all other causes which impede portal circulation. ”

“ When bile is redundant, the intestinal excretion is often putrid and offensive, with bilious diarrhœa or dysentery, in repetition and quantity profuse, exciting tenesmus, and sometimes excoriation of the anus; to these may be added pain in the stomach and intestines, tension and elevation of the belly. According to Lind, the tropical remittents are the most virulent, yet are not contagious, unless accompanied with dysentery, or the sick crowded together ”