Gastric rupture: causes, symptoms

surgeon

“Many people who tend to be overweight justify the extra pounds with a “distended” stomach. In fact, this is nothing more than a myth. The size of this organ has nothing to do with the weight of the patient.”

Is it possible to stretch the stomach with a large volume of food?

Nowadays, the number of people who suffer from problems with the gastrointestinal tract (GI) has increased significantly. Medicine is even known cases of diseases accompanied by damage to organs, for example, rupture of the stomach. Their consequences are extremely dangerous and require urgent medical attention. Among the symptoms:

severe and sharp pain;
muscle tension;
elevated body temperature;
gas intrusion into the abdomen.

Cases with rupture of the stomach due to a large amount of food eaten are extremely rare, because almost everyone has a defense mechanism against this – the gag reflex.

That is why only people who lack this reaction due to any mental or physical abnormalities can undergo stomach rupture. Most often these are participants in speed eating competitions – during repeated training they learn to extinguish the gag reflex in order to eat more.

However, the causes of gastric rupture may be different. Often, patients seek help after suffering various kinds of trauma, such as traffic accidents.

How much food the stomach can hold

The stomach is a muscular organ and stretches according to the amount of food consumed. The normal size of the organ varies and depends on the constitution of the person. On average, it is from 1.5 to 3 liters. With systematic overeating, a person can “stretch” it to himself, but the increase in size is not the very cause of obesity and weight gain in general.

In the hope of rapid weight loss, many people decide to undergo surgery to reduce the stomach. However, even this does not always lead to the desired results.

After surgery, patients follow certain dietary recommendations. For example, they are forced to limit the intake of carbonated drinks, including beer and champagne, and avoid overeating for life. Accordingly, portions after gastric surgery rarely exceed 150-200 ml.

Why is there recurrent weight gain after surgery?

A big contribution to the recurrence of weight gain is made by patients themselves, due to the eating patterns already embedded in them in childhood. As a rule, this occurs in the fifth to seventh year after surgery and can lead to dumping syndrome – a condition in which food in the stomach is not fully digested and enters the duodenum in an accelerated mode.

This happens after eating fatty or sweet foods and is manifested by general malaise, attacks of cold sweats, increased pulse, dizziness, “dark flies” before the eyes, and sometimes even loss of consciousness.

Manifestations of these short-term and completely usually pass within 15-20 minutes without a trace. In case of overeating, regular vomiting and non-compliance with dietary recommendations in the first three months after bariatric surgery, there may be complications.

In other cases, if you stick to a proper diet and have no serious health conditions, gastric rupture is extremely unlikely.