What are the symptoms of esophageal reflux gastritis?

Esophageal reflux gastritis is a common disease in the gastroenterology department and it occurs frequently. It is generally more common among middle-aged and elderly people. Everyone should learn more about the symptoms of esophageal reflux gastritis, which will help us strengthen the prevention and attention of this disease. After suffering from this disease, people often feel bloating and fullness in the stomach, loss of appetite, and heartburn, which has a great impact on people's lives.

Symptoms of reflux gastritis:

1. Stomach bloating: abdominal distension and discomfort.

2. Heartburn: Continuous burning sensation in the upper and middle abdomen, which may also manifest as pain behind the sternum. It may worsen after meals, and taking alkaline drugs will not relieve it but worsen it.

4. Gastroesophageal reflux. Whenever you lie down and bend forward after a meal or sleep in bed at night, acidic liquid or food will reflux from the gastroesophageal tube into the pharynx or mouth. This symptom often occurs before a burning sensation or burning pain occurs behind the sternum.

5. Difficulty swallowing. In the early stage, intermittent dysphagia may occur due to secondary esophageal spasm caused by esophagitis. In the later stage, esophageal scarring may cause stenosis, burning sensation and burning pain to gradually decrease, and dysphagia may become permanent. When eating solid food, it may cause a feeling of blockage or pain in the xiphoid process.

6. Bleeding and anemia. Severe esophagitis may cause esophageal mucosal erosion and bleeding, which is mostly chronic small-scale bleeding. Long-term or heavy bleeding can lead to iron deficiency anemia.

7. Burning sensation or pain behind the sternum. It is the main symptom of this disease, which usually occurs about 1 hour after eating. Bending the body forward in a semi-recumbent position or doing strenuous exercise can induce a burning sensation which usually disappears after taking antacids. However, overheated and over-acidic food can aggravate the burning sensation in those with gastric acid deficiency, which is mainly caused by bile reflux. In this case, antacids will have no effect. The severity of the burning sensation is not necessarily consistent with the severity of the lesion. In severe esophagitis, especially in those with scar formation, there may be no or only a slight burning sensation.

8. Associated symptoms: belching, nausea, vomiting, intestinal rumbling, difficulty in defecation, loss of appetite and weight loss; there may be gastric bleeding, manifested as vomiting blood or black stools and a positive fecal occult blood test.

9. Specific symptoms: Bile vomiting. Due to gastric emptying disorder, vomiting usually occurs in the evening or midnight, and the vomitus may be accompanied by a small amount of food or blood.

10. The incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease increases with age. Middle-aged and elderly people, obese people, smokers, drinkers, and people under great mental stress are high-risk groups. Its main symptoms are: acid reflux, food regurgitation, nausea, belching, etc., which often worsen after meals and are prone to occur when lying flat or bending the body forward. The most typical symptoms are burning sensation and heartburn. Atypical symptoms include: chest pain, hiccups, sore throat, cough, asthma, hoarseness, nausea, difficulty swallowing, sleep disorders, etc.