Is it possible to smoke with gastritis and how to give up the bad habit to avoid exacerbation of the disease

The cause of gastritis is considered to be the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. Helicobacter can be present quietly in the human body without causing disease. The bacterium becomes active when conditions are favorable. For example, with a weakened immune system and irritating substances entering the stomach. What inevitably happens when smoking. Smokers often suffer from bronchitis and emphysema, which provoke hypoxia of the gastric mucosa. The tissue changes, Helicobacter begins to actively multiply, causing gastritis.

Patients suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract must know information about the ban on smoking for gastritis. The article is useful to all adherents of a bad habit.

Many heavy smokers think that perhaps nicotine only negatively affects the lungs, and the stomach does not experience any negative effects. But smoking is extremely dangerous for the whole person. The esophagus and stomach suffer greatly from this bad habit. There is a clear connection between smoking and gastritis.

Increasingly, doctors are concerned about the increase in gastritis among the population. According to the latest information, every second adult and every third child suffers from gastritis. The risk group is smokers, active and passive, who are forced to inhale tobacco smoke.

Smoking deprives the body of vitamin C and group B. Substances are essential for the normal functioning of the gastric mucosa. Gastritis is an inflammation of the membrane, causes disturbances in cell division and changes the process of hydrochloric acid production in the stomach. It is obvious that smoking has a negative effect on the stomach. Moreover, gastritis requires careful treatment of the digestive organs.

If gastritis worsens or develops into a chronic form, smoking is often to blame. If a person cultivates the habit of smoking on an empty stomach, there is a high chance of developing a stomach or duodenal ulcer.

Negative effects of smoking on gastritis

Gastritis is considered a bacterial disease. It occurs with pronounced symptoms; against the background of pathological processes in the human stomach, it worries:

1. Pain that occurs after eating.
2. Feeling of tightness in the stomach.
3. Nausea that occurs periodically, heartburn.
4. Stomach bloating, digestive problems.

Pathological processes occur in the stomach, which develop under the influence of provoking factors, one of which is smoking. Tobacco smoke negatively affects the mucous membrane of the organ, gradually disrupting its functioning.

Over time, the mucous membrane becomes thinner, atrophic changes begin and, under the influence of smoking, gastritis “turns” into a stomach ulcer.

What causes the negative effect of smoking on the functioning of the digestive system:

• Tobacco smoke contains carcinogens and harmful, toxic tars;
• once on the mucous membrane, they irritate it;
• Under the influence of nicotine, food is digested more slowly.

Smoking also leads to vasoconstriction and increased blood pressure. The result of systematic entry of nicotine into the blood is considered to be the development of arterial hypertension and impaired blood flow in organs.

Effect of nicotine on the stomach

The tar and nicotine of cigarettes have a bad effect on the whole person, primarily affecting the lungs and stomach. If smoke penetrates the gastric mucosa, the tissue becomes irritated, smoke provokes inflammation, and the thickness of the lining decreases. Nicotine provokes the appearance of ulcers and interferes with healing. As a result, smokers are more likely to develop gastritis with increased stomach acidity.

When a smoker takes a drag, the tone of the gastrointestinal tract muscles decreases within 15 minutes. Normal stomach function is restored after half an hour. Abnormal changes disrupt digestive processes.

Entry through the blood

Nicotine enters the stomach in another way. When a person smokes, nicotine is absorbed into the blood. Then, along with the bloodstream, it is transported throughout the body and enters the stomach. Nicotine constricts blood vessels, disrupting the blood supply to the stomach. Nicotine poison affects the human nervous system, intestinal motility is disrupted and hydrochloric acid in the stomach begins to be secreted incorrectly.

Ingestion with saliva

When smoking, dangerous compounds from cigarette smoke linger in the mouth and then penetrate into the stomach along with saliva. The result is similar - the gastric mucosa is inflamed, the tissue is irritated by poisons obtained from smoke. The production of hydrochloric acid inside the stomach increases, the vessels of the organ narrow, then the motility of the stomach decreases, which stops working normally.

Is it possible to smoke electronic cigarettes if you have gastritis?

Vaporizers, according to manufacturers, are absolutely safe, but doctors say the opposite:

• with steam, a person receives a dose of nicotine, which negatively affects the functioning of the digestive system;
• the substance stimulates the secretion of gastric juice, provokes inflammation and leads to exacerbation of chronic gastritis.

Cigarettes filled with liquid that does not contain nicotine are absolutely safe for health. But not every smoker is ready for such changes. To give up addiction, you will have to understand the negative impact of cigarettes, including electronic ones, on your health.

Consequences

Each cigarette smoked begins to have a negative effect, provoking stomach diseases, already in the oral cavity. A smoker's teeth are usually in poor condition. Consequently, the food that has entered the stomach is not crushed enough. As a result, it is poorly digested, negatively affecting the body.

Smoker's gastritis develops gradually:

• the basic functions of the stomach are disrupted;
• if you smoke often and a lot, the disease will worsen. Manifests itself in the form of cramps and heartburn.

If a person smokes, gastritis develops, even in the absence of other risk factors. If the patient already suffers from gastritis, there is a high probability of exacerbation. When smoking, superficial gastritis can develop into atrophic gastritis, which is considered a precancerous form. Gastritis tends to transform into erosion or gastric ulcer, including perforated one. An ulcer is a painful disease that is difficult to treat.

Smoking dulls the feeling of hunger, as a result a person begins to eat less often than usual or tries to take very small portions of food. Insufficient nutrition for gastritis is strictly contraindicated. People who smoke instead of breakfast or drink coffee while smoking are at great risk (caffeine stimulates the production of gastric juice). Even if a smoker has a strong digestive tract, there is a high risk of developing gastritis. People who smoke have impaired stomach function, especially if they smoke more than half a pack of cigarettes a day. If a person, in addition to smoking, eats incorrectly, the combination leads to erosive gastritis, duodenitis and ulcers. It has been revealed that 70% of cases of stomach ulcers are caused by smoking.

Smoking often causes various infectious diseases in the mouth. Then, with saliva, the infection enters the stomach, and small cracks appear in the organ. Then ulcers form from the cracks.

If a patient with gastritis smokes, the stomach hurts, intestinal motility is disrupted, and heartburn begins. The patient notices disturbances in appetite and bowel movements.

Let's say a person has not been diagnosed with gastritis before, but the future patient smokes - complications will appear 4 years after the start of smoking. If gastritis has already been diagnosed - in a year. After another ten years, the gastric glands atrophy, and the amount of hydrochloric acid in the stomach becomes less. Attacks of nausea, heaviness in the stomach, and constipation begin. The case ends with stomach cancer.

If a person undergoes treatment for gastritis without stopping smoking, the recovery process can be extremely prolonged. Or not come at all. Even if you follow a diet for gastritis and adhere to the correct daily routine, the effect of treatment is invisible. You can take the necessary therapeutic medications, but smoking for gastritis removes medications from the body before the drugs begin to act. Gastritis and smoking are incompatible.

How does smoking hookah affect gastritis?

Having given up cigarettes, a person begins to look for an alternative, and then the question arises about whether it is possible to smoke a hookah with gastritis. It is believed that such a hobby, widespread among young people, is harmless to health. But this is far from true.

Why is hookah dangerous?

1. The vapor that a person inhales contains carcinogens and other harmful substances.
2. Systematic hookah smoking negatively affects the functioning of the digestive system.
3. Smoking disrupts the natural component of the organ mucosa and provokes the development of pathological processes.

It is unlikely that hookah and its smoking can be called a safe process, but if a person decides to give up cigarettes and use hookah periodically, as an alternative. There is nothing strange in this, provided that you can give up smoking completely.

Symptoms

Let's consider the main signs of acute inflammation of the gastric mucosa. Aching pain in the upper abdomen, heartburn, and belching begin. The patient is worried about nausea, bloating, constipation. Appetite with this type of gastritis decreases or increases; the condition cannot be called normal. Hunger and night pains come.

Chronic gastritis of a smoker does not have such pronounced symptoms. Such symptoms appear only when provoking factors occur. For example, when overeating or, conversely, undereating, under stress, after smoking or drinking alcohol.

Why is it forbidden to smoke before gastroscopy?

The examination involves inserting into the esophagus, and then the stomach, a special tube, which is equipped with a camera and helps to obtain information about the condition of the mucous membrane and find the affected area in the stomach.

Preparation for gastroscopy:

• you will have to stop eating food and water for a day to cleanse the stomach and duodenum;
• You should also refrain from smoking, as this may cause some difficulties during the procedure.

If a person smokes before the examination, the production of gastric juice will begin, and mucus will interfere with the receipt of information. An aggressive environment caused by excessive production of gastric juice will cause vomiting or nausea.

You can't smoke at all!

You need to understand that tobacco smoke is harmful to the body in any case. And it doesn’t matter how the poison gets inside a person. Neither a cigarette filter nor a hookah pipe with filters will protect against the negative effects of nicotine.

If you have gastritis, it is not recommended to smoke even periodically. Any number of cigarettes has a bad effect on the gastrointestinal tract.

It will be possible to completely eliminate the effects of nicotine on the stomach only if your smoking history is no more than three years. If a person smokes for more than the specified period, changes in the gastric mucosa become irreversible. Quit smoking as early as possible, eliminating the chance of developing gastritis, perforated ulcers, or even gastrointestinal cancer.

How to quit smoking with gastritis

The disease itself and the appearance of its signs is a reason to give up the addiction. You should not think that quitting tobacco will cause your health to deteriorate. It will lead to a decrease in intoxication, but these processes will be observed over several days.

At this time, a person is worried about the following symptoms:

• appetite decreases and performance decreases;
• dizzy, coughing fits;
• Patients often complain of nausea and digestive disorders;
• a person’s sleep is disturbed, irritability and nervousness appear, which indicates withdrawal syndrome.

The symptoms described above are temporary and disappear after a few days. To make it easier to get through this time, psychologists advise to “keep yourself busy.” It is worth starting to go for morning runs or sign up for a swimming pool. Automotive training will also help, stabilizing the state of the nervous system and eliminating unnecessary nervousness.

Research results

Only through numbers can a smoker be proven how harmful his habit is. For example, over the past 10 years in our country alone, about 50 thousand men and women have died from smoking. These are those people who, at a certain stage in their lives, simply did not have enough willpower to quit smoking. That’s why it’s stupid to believe that smoking has no effect on existing diseases in your body, be it gastritis or any other disease.

The smoker is confident that he is not doing anything wrong, reassuring himself that his body is in normal condition. If something starts to hurt, then the cause could be anything, but not cigarettes.

In addition, smoking can completely displace the pleasure hormone (endorphin) from your life. It plays an important role for every person. If you don't enjoy life, is that okay? You need to clearly set priorities and understand what is important to you, and you need to protect yourself from such minor things as smoking. In addition, we should not forget that a person who smokes surrounded by close people primarily harms the non-smoker, since he involuntarily inhales smoke and thereby risks developing serious illnesses.

The poison that is released when smoking cigarettes travels from the lungs to the brain in literally 10 seconds. It also has a negative impact on the functioning of all internal organs. As for addiction, according to statistics, a person takes longer to get used to tobacco than to cocaine or heroin. Only after 6 months of regular smoking can you be sure that a person has become addicted. Of course, everyone has the right to choose for themselves whether to continue smoking or to quit. If you want to quit smoking, but cannot do it on your own, it is better to consult a specialist.

Exacerbation after quitting the habit

Deterioration in well-being after quitting smoking is a rare occurrence. But it may be due to a number of factors:

Smoking can “mask” some pathologies in the functioning of the digestive system; giving up cigarettes will lead to the fact that unpleasant symptoms will intensify.

Hookah and cancer risk

One study confirmed that when smoking a hookah for more than 45 minutes, a person inhales the same amount of carbon monoxide as when smoking a pack of cigarettes. Even if the hookah is tobacco-free. An evening in the company of friends smoking increases the level of nicotine in the body, which can cause addiction.

Another danger is toxic chemicals in smoke that cause cancer. Irritation of the mucous membranes of the mouth, larynx and lungs when smoking can develop into inflammation, and then into cancer.

The dangers of smoking before gastroscopy

Another question that smokers often ask is whether it is possible to smoke before gastroscopy? Gastroenterologists, answering this question, advise abstaining from cigarettes at least an hour before the procedure. Ideally, this time should be increased by at least two, or even three times.

This is due to the fact that nicotine, as mentioned above, leads to spasms of the throat, stomach and intestinal muscles. Gastroscopy involves examining internal organs using a special tube with a camera at the end, which is inserted into the patient’s abdominal area through the mouth.

When examining the gastrointestinal tract using this technique, this tube passes throughout the entire esophagus, and if the muscles have spasms, internal tissue damage may occur or the procedure will have to be postponed for a long time. Damage to tissues can lead to serious internal bleeding and also cause exacerbation of gastritis. This is why you should not smoke before gastroscopy.

Smoking is one of the most common bad habits that seriously affects the body. The lungs, circulatory system and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) are especially susceptible to negative effects.

With regular exposure to nicotine and tobacco tar, some diseases may worsen and be aggravated by concomitant diseases. The appearance and exacerbation of gastritis, followed by its development into an acute form, is a precursor to an ulcer.

In this regard, many smokers are interested in the answer to the question - is it possible to smoke with gastritis of the stomach, and how this bad habit affects the body with this disease.