What are the symptoms of gastrolithiasis?

The common symptoms of gastric stone disease are a lump in the upper abdomen, accompanied by varying degrees of pain, nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. Some patients may feel a large, hard, smooth, and freely movable lump in the upper abdomen.

1. Symptoms

The nature of gastric stones is different, and therefore the degree of gastric irritation and the presence or absence of complications such as ulcers and obstruction also vary. Many cases can be asymptomatic for a long time. Typical symptoms include a lump in the upper abdomen, accompanied by varying degrees of pain, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and weight loss. Generally, loss of appetite, upper abdominal tightness, emaciation and weight loss occur slowly, followed by nausea, vomiting, upper abdominal pain and other symptoms. The abdominal pain may be mild or severe. Some patients may experience constipation or diarrhea, bad breath, and a thick and greasy tongue coating.

2. Physical signs

The most important sign is a large, hard, smooth, freely movable mass that can often be felt in the upper abdomen.

3. Pathological causes

1. Hairballs Hairballs made of hair are more common, accounting for about 55% of the cases of hairballs reported in the literature. 90% of this disease occurs in women, especially neurotic girls who often have the habit of biting and swallowing their hair and are most susceptible to this disease. The hair ball is mainly composed of a large number of hair of different lengths, and may also be mixed with wool, yarn, and plant fiber. Because it contains various food decomposition products, its color is mostly dark green or black, and often has an abnormal foul odor.

2. Plant balls are formed by the skins, seeds, leaves, roots and fibers of various plants, accounting for about 40% of hairy fecal stones. The most common ones are formed after eating persimmons, and some are formed by eating fibers such as coconut, celery and pumpkin. It is easiest to form plant balls after eating raw persimmons. This is because raw persimmons contain a large amount of persimmon tannic acid, which reacts with stomach acid to become a very sticky colloid, which can combine the plant's fiber, skin, seeds, etc. to form plant balls.