Types of acidity
It should be noted that if this indicator changes, then your well-being and performance of the body decrease. It is impossible to ignore the symptoms, because changes in acidity can lead to serious consequences: the appearance of gastritis, ulcers and even cancer.
There are only two types of acidity:
1. Stimulated. It shows how much hydrochloric acid is released during the work of the stomach or after taking certain medications.
2. Basal. It is determined only when the gastrointestinal tract is not working, that is, when a person is hungry.
Each type has its own normal indicators, deviation from which is pathological. Now let's look at how to determine the acidity of the stomach using modern means and at home.
Low acidity
How do you know if your stomach acidity is high or low? Insufficient production of hydrochloric acid is a sign of pathological conditions in the body associated with metabolic disorders. Hormonal imbalance and atrophic processes affect the decrease in acid production in the stomach. To increase acidity to a normal value, the underlying disease should be treated. It is almost impossible to eliminate this problem symptomatically. Some relief can be achieved with diet and herbal teas. The cause of low acidity is identified during an instrumental examination.
Diagnostic features
There are several ways to determine the state of gastric juice.
Moreover, diagnostics can be carried out both in a medical institution and at home. Among the special methods are the collection of gastric juice and its subsequent study using various catalysts in the laboratory. In addition, the doctor may perform gastric intubation. For quick determination, rapid tests are used, which you can purchase at the pharmacy. However, their reliability is questionable. The endoscopy method is more accurate.
You should also focus on some symptoms, which we will consider below. Now you know how to determine stomach acidity.
Symptoms of pathology
Now we should consider how the disease manifests itself.
If you have high stomach acidity, symptoms may include: - constipation;
- a feeling of acute burning and pain in the stomach;
- feeling of heaviness;
- heartburn;
- inability to eat acidic foods.
It should be noted that such patients often have insufficient amounts of protein. They chew gum, drink alcohol, and eat junk food.
If you have high acidity, it is easy to determine the symptoms yourself. As for the opposite situation, it is a little more complicated. Symptoms of low acidity are:
- nausea and frequent rumbling in the stomach;
- lack of appetite;
- unpleasant metallic taste and bad breath;
- anemia;
- belching with a putrid odor;
- hypovitaminosis;
- indigestion, as well as a general deterioration in appearance and health.
Reduced acidity is more dangerous than increased acidity. The fact is that in this case the body digests food poorly and the necessary substances are absorbed in very small quantities.
What is stomach acidity
The definition of what gastric juice acidity is as follows: this is the concentration of hydrochloric acid in its composition. This pH indicator is measured in units; accordingly, the study determines the pH of gastric juice.
How to check the stomach if certain problems appear and there is a suspicion of the development of gastritis? If a patient complains of pain and fermentation in the stomach, then initially a gastroenterologist suggests that he conduct an FGSD study, as well as an analysis of gastric juice . Such an examination makes it possible to determine the state of the gastric mucosa and what the acidity is.
Normal acidity is important for the digestion process. In order for food to be digested as needed, enzymes . The main such enzyme is pepsin , which is produced and functions correctly only in an acidic environment. But further, for the contents of the stomach to enter the intestines and be properly absorbed, neutralization of the acid is necessary.
That is why two zones of the stomach are defined - the body and fundus, in which acid is formed, and the antrum, in which its neutralization takes place. When examining gastric acid and its concentration in gastric juice, these points must be taken into account.
The work of all organs and systems in the body is interconnected. And therefore, any, even the most minor, disturbances in the processes that occur in the stomach lead to disruption of food digestion as a whole. As a result, symptoms of stomach problems appear
Hydrochloric acid is produced by the cells of the fundic glands, they are called parietal glands. Hydrochloric acid in the stomach is produced constantly and equally intensively by these cells. What acid is in the human stomach depends on these cells. If they gradually die off, acidity levels decrease; if their number increases, the person is bothered by symptoms of high acidity. Signs of increased or decreased acidity are also observed if the degree of acid neutralization in the antal region of the stomach changes.
If the number of these cells gradually decreases, then over time the fundic glands also atrophy. atrophic gastritis increases significantly . This condition is unsafe, since in patients with atrophic gastritis the risk of developing oncological processes in the stomach increases sharply. In order to take the necessary measures in a timely manner and prevent such a serious disease, a patient with atrophic gastritis should regularly visit a gastroenterologist.
After all, the patient very often perceives the first signs of stomach cancer as an exacerbation of gastritis or its seasonal manifestations.
How to diagnose pathology at home?
Now you will understand how to find out the acidity of the stomach without going to the doctor.
Naturally, these methods cannot give a 100% guarantee, but they will clarify the situation. For example, use regular soda. For the test you need to perform the following steps: 1. A quarter of a teaspoon of raw material must be dissolved in a glass of cold water and drunk. Moreover, the mixture should be consumed in the morning, on an empty stomach.
2. Monitor whether you burp. You only need to wait a few minutes.
3. If belching appears, then there is no pathology. If it is not there, then the acidity may be reduced.
As for the opposite situation, there is no need to carry out special tests. If you have high stomach acidity, the symptoms will help you determine very accurately. Naturally, after a home examination, a visit to a specialist will not be amiss.
Causes of low acidity
With insufficient production of hydrochloric acid, digestion processes slow down, digestive juice enzymes cannot cope with food processing, and it remains in the stomach for a long time. It is this condition that causes heaviness. In most cases, the body reacts with increased acid production, since in addition to its main function, it also helps protect the body from various harmful parasites and microbes. How to find out whether stomach acidity is increased or decreased in a practically healthy person against the background of severe stress, anxiety and eating while “running”? In some cases, there is a decrease in acid production, which can also occur in these cases, but there is no cause for concern and the condition will soon return to normal. If a similar problem recurs, it is already a symptom of the disease:
- gastritis in an advanced stage;
- gastroduodenitis;
- diseases of the endocrine system;
- blood diseases;
- oncopathology.
The doctor will make an accurate diagnosis using various examination and diagnostic methods.
How to eliminate high acidity?
You have already learned how to determine the acidity of the stomach.
Now let's consider the question of how to treat pathology. This question interests a lot of people. In this article you will learn how to reduce stomach acidity. First of all, change the mode and type of food. Try not to eat sour foods, spicy and fatty foods, avoid alcohol and carbonated drinks. You also need to stop smoking. Give preference to fresh fruits and vegetables, juices, plain water, and dried fruit compotes. It is highly advisable to consume cereal porridges. Honey, green tea, and light soups are useful in this situation. They do not burden the stomach and are digested normally, without a splash of juice. In addition, the doctor may prescribe medications that will help get rid of the burning sensation and pain, and also make heartburn attacks rare and short-lived. For example, you can take Mezim, Pancreatin and others. They promote proper digestion of food and prevent excessive secretion of gastric juice.
Try to eat according to a schedule so that the acid is released strictly at a certain time. As for folk recipes, a decoction of nettles and crushed eggshells will be useful. If you adhere to all preventive measures and lead a healthy lifestyle, then heartburn will bother you very rarely.
Diet for every day with high stomach acidity
Day 1. Breakfast includes semolina with milk and meat soufflé. As a second breakfast, a fruit soufflé is offered, as well as tea with milk. For lunch you can give vegetable puree soup, baked apples, and a little jam. For dinner, they give vegetables with minced meat, cottage cheese pudding, 1-1/2 cups of tea (preferably green). Before going to bed, give cream or milk.
Day 2. Buckwheat porridge is prepared for breakfast and eaten pureed. It can be cooked in milk. For dessert they serve cottage cheese soufflé, and you can drink ½ glass of weak tea. For second breakfast you can have a boiled egg with vegetables. For lunch, serve vegetable soup, steamed cutlets, carrot puree and 1-1/2 cups of dried fruit compote. For dinner, it is suggested to cook steamed fish cutlets and pasta (without adding oil). Before going to bed, you can drink milk or kefir.
Day 3. For breakfast, give a soft-boiled egg with a piece of dried bread. For second breakfast, it is suggested to prepare a soufflé of carrots and apples. For lunch on the 3rd day, rice soup with milk, steamed chicken cutlets, an omelette without oil and fruit jelly are served. For dinner, the patient can have mashed meat and mashed potatoes with a small amount of spinach. Before going to bed, you can eat cottage cheese soufflé.
Day 4. For breakfast, prepare oatmeal with milk, as well as meatballs (steamed, from lean meats). They also serve tea with milk and mashed potatoes and carrots. For the second breakfast of the second day of the diet, you can prepare cottage cheese and beetroot pancakes. For lunch it is suggested to serve squash puree soup with croutons, beef stroganoff with noodles (boil the meat), and plums as a dessert. For dinner, you can make lazy dumplings (minimizing the amount of butter) and a glass of weak tea. Before going to bed, give the patient a glass of milk or sourdough and cookies.
Day 5. Breakfast includes egg soufflé, pureed oatmeal porridge, and tea (not strong). For second breakfast they give milk jelly. For lunch there is carrot soup with croutons, mashed potatoes, and steamed fish balls. For dinner on this day, you can give boiled potatoes with spinach, veal schnitzel, rose hip decoction (1 glass). Before going to bed, give a liquid milk product with 1-2 crackers.
Day 6. For breakfast, give pureed rice porridge, you can have ½ glass of tea. The second breakfast includes a sandwich of dried bread, butter and cheese, as well as tea with milk. For lunch you can have pureed vegetable or fish soup, boiled veal with rice and vegetables, apple mousse. For dinner on the 4th day, boiled potatoes, Polish fish, and a decoction of herbs or rose hips are offered. Before going to bed, give milk or cream with cookies.
Day 7. For breakfast, you can give the patient noodle casserole with cottage cheese, tea with milk. As a second breakfast, fruit or berry jelly with a bagel (preferably pre-dried) is offered. For lunch on the 5th day, pureed chicken soup, baked chicken meat with rice, a salad of grated apples and boiled carrots are offered. For dinner on this day, serve beef meatballs with a side dish of vermicelli, washed down with ½ glass of tea. Some time before bedtime, they give milk or a decoction of herbs with a small amount of cookies.
How to increase low acidity?
In this case, you also need to pay attention to nutrition.
However, this alone will not do. To increase acidity, you will have to take medications that will stimulate the secretion of more gastric juice (Phesam). In addition, grapes eaten 20 minutes before the main meal help. Apricots will be useful, both fresh and dried. Eat lemons and other acidic foods. Try not to overload your stomach or overeat. The fact is that your gastrointestinal tract simply cannot cope with a large amount of food, this will lead to an increase in the above symptoms.
Traditional medicine also successfully copes with this pathology. We advise you to use decoctions of blueberry leaves, plantain, and laxative buckthorn branches. Tea made from rosehip, rowan and lingonberry will also be useful. Drink decoctions of yarrow, St. John's wort, and sandy immortelle. However, be careful when consuming herbs, as you may have an intolerance to certain components that make up them. Now you know how to increase and how to decrease stomach acidity. However, it is much more important to prevent the development of pathology.
Preventive measures
The most important factor that will prevent the disease from manifesting itself is maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Give up bad habits, switch to a healthy diet, love yourself and your body. Start doing gymnastics or sports. Walking in the fresh air and running are very useful.
Significantly limit your trips to fast food establishments. For prevention, you can use infusions and teas of medicinal herbs. However, don't overdo it. You should drink them when you feel some discomfort in the stomach. Spend fasting days from time to time.
Now you understand how to check the acidity of the stomach and eliminate all problems in the gastrointestinal tract. Be healthy!
