SUMMARY
FACTORS INDUCING GASTRIC DISTURBANCES
1. Errors in Diet.—Over-feeding, under-feeding, improper food, unbalanced diet.
2. Disturbed Secretory Processes.—
(a) Over- or under-secretion of gastric juice.
(b) An excess or deficiency of hydrochloric acid in the juices.
3. Impaired Motility and Tone of the Gastric Organ.—The peristaltic waves and muscular contraction of the stomach walls becoming sluggish prevent the food mass from passing into the intestines at a normal rate of speed, thus giving rise to a fermentation of the food and a consequent dilatation of the organ from the gas thus produced.
Other Factors.—Lack of fresh air and exercise, indoor occupation, bad hygiene, unsanitary surroundings, heredity, certain diseases which are accompanied by gastric disorders.
Diseases of Gastric Organ.—Acute and Chronic Gastritis, Gastric-Ulceration, Gastric Cancer.
Treatment.—Tests—Test meals, X-Ray examinations (pictures and Fluoroscope). Patient is given no breakfast on day of test. In X-Ray laboratory a bismuth or barium meal is given, this meal consists of a pint of fluid, either buttermilk or malted milk, into which a certain amount of bismuth or barium chloride is mixed.
Starvation Period.—A period of abstinence from food is instituted in most of the gastric disorders, (a) to determine the extent and character of the disease, (b) to rest the digestive tract.