The Treatment of Modern Western - Biblio.nhat-nam.ru

56PEPTIC ULCERSPeptic ulcers are a chronic inflammatory condition of thestomach and duodenum resulting in circumscribed ulcerationof the mucous membranes penetrating through to themuscularis mucosa and occuring in areas exposed to stomachacid and pepsin. Because there must be exposure tostomach acid and pepsin, these ulcers are called pepticulcers. If such ulcerations occur in the stomach, they arecalled gastric ulcers. If they occur in the duodenum ofthe small intestine, they are called duodenal ulcers.Approximately 25 million or one in every 10 Americans sufferfrom peptic ulcers some time in their life. While, accordingto the U.S. Center for Disease Control, infection by theHeliobacter pylori bacterium is the proximal cause of 90% ofthis disease, not all persons infected with this bacteriumdevelop this disease. For instance, half of all Americans over60 years of age are infected with this bacterium. Dependingon other identified and unidentified factors, this bacteriumappears to weaken the stomach and duodenal lining’s resistanceto acid and pepsin. While this disease may occur inanyone of any sex or age, it is predominantly found in middle-agedand older males. Risk or cofactors of this conditioninclude stress, anxiety, irregular meals or skipping meals,smoking, heavy alcohol use, NSAID use, caffeine use, a familyhistory, and type O blood. Although mortality from thiscondition is low, the suffering it produces is high, not tomention that it accounts for one million hospitalizations peryear in the U.S. alone.The main symptom of peptic ulcer is burning, gnawing, orpinching pain in the upper abdomen between the tip of thebreast bone and navel which may last for minutes or hours.Duodenal ulcer pain is typically absent on awakening butappears mid-morning. It is relieved by eating but recurs 2-3hours after meals. Pain may also awaken the patient between1-2 AM each night. Frequently, the pain occurs once or moreeach day for one to several weeks and then may disappearwithout treatment. However, the pain commonly recurswithin the next two to several years. The symptoms of gastriculcer do not follow the preceding pattern of duodenal ulcers,and eating may actually worsen the pain. Other symptomsinclude anorexia, nausea, and vomiting. If ulceration resultsin hemorrhage, there may be either coffee ground like vomitingof blood or black, tarry defecation of blood. Bleedingmay then result in anemia, fatigue, and weakness.The Western medical diagnosis of this disease is based on thepatient’s history and presenting signs and symptoms, bariumx-ray of the upper gastro-intestinal tract, and endoscopy.Diagnosis of Heliobacter pylori infection is made via bloodtest, urea breath test, and endoscopy with tissue biopsy. Untilrecently, this disease was treated by antacids and histamineH 2 receptor blocking agents, such as cimetidine. Now, whenHeliobacter pylori are found, this condition is commonlytreated by what is referred to as “triple therapy.” This meanstwo antibiotics plus either an acid-suppressor or stomach liningshield. The course of treatment lasts two weeks andrequires taking up to 20 pills per day. When two antibioticsand both acid-suppressors and stomach lining shields areused, this is called “bismuth triple therapy.” If bleeding issevere or recurrent, surgery is sometimes necessary. However,with advances in drug therapy, the number of patientsrequiring surgery has declined significantly.CHINESE DISEASE CATEGORIZATION: This conditionis mainly categorized as wei wan tong, stomach venterpain, and cao za, clamoring stomach. If there is vomiting ofblood, this is called tu xue, while bian xue refers to hemafecia.In addition, torpid intake is na dai, fatigue is juan pi,lack of strength is fa li, and weight loss is xing ti xiao xue,bodily dispersion and whittling.DISEASE CAUSES: Internal damage by the seven affects,unregulated eating and drinking, and habitual bodily vacuitydue to aging