Some common gastrointestinal diseases in the elderly

In old age, the digestive system also shrinks (excluding fat masses adhering to the digestive tract when obese), while reducing all 3 functions: contraction, secretion and absorption. It is for these reasons that many gastrointestinal diseases arise when high age such as choking, hiccups, bloating, constipation or moldless stools.

Elderly people need to eat easily digested foods to avoid choking, hiccups, bloating, constipation . (Photo: w73) However, depending on the person, the rate of aging of the digestive system is not the same. Understanding the transformation of the digestive system will help you overcome difficulties caused by age.

Why are old people choking?

In general, the muscular layer of the digestive system when it gets older is less or less shrunken and therefore reduces the contraction. Normally, the sphincter fibers in the esophagus are always in mild contraction (with tonic), which causes the tube to be closed, but when doing the "swallowing" action, the passage on the esophagus opens to receive food and soon after. it shrinks to push the food down to the lower section (it is open to wait); Just like that, the food was pushed to the stomach for only a few seconds.

But in the elderly, the esophagus is both relaxing (or moderately), then 'inert', it takes longer to recover to continue (or relax), especially the co-extension of the above paragraph. With the lower part of the rhythm, the elderly can easily choke. Don't worry too much, just stop eating for a minute, you can swallow a small sip of water. When you continue eating, you need to chew carefully, concentrate on swallowing your mind firmly.

However, if choking occurs continuously, many times, it is necessary to see a physician, because it is possible from other causes. Also due to decreased esophageal tone, many elderly people suffer from gastroesophageal reflux on the esophagus. However, the culprit or culprit of this condition may be due to abnormal stomach contractions and sphincter muscles that prevent stomach from lax esophagus.

Sa stomach

If poor stomach contraction can cause stomach to fall low from mild to severe (met in one third of elderly over 70 years). There are cases of stomachs falling down below the navel, including the pelvis. A very low case of gastric ulcers will cause a feeling of "bloating" after eating: food lasts a long time in the stomach, causing a feeling of "sluggish", "heavy stomach".

Another cause of gastric saucer is the bland muscle (muscle) in the abdomen - which is evidenced by the fact that when standing upright, the stomach is "open" to the front without being related to the thick fat layer in the abdominal wall. . Therefore, many cases only need to exercise the abdominal muscles regularly to overcome stomach ulcers. For example, lie on your back in bed, straighten your legs and slowly raise your legs up.

The feeling of not eating well

The contraction of the intestinal muscles is also often impaired in the elderly, causing food to move from the upper intestine to the lower part so many elderly people often do not feel hungry when it comes to meals. However, there are other causes of loss of appetite, such as loss of appetite, saliva intake, or a chronic disease that causes fatigue and pain; or have a worry, frustration that makes the mind restless or insomnia.

Bowel feces are not healthy

The cause of this condition is the ability of the digestive system to digest and decline. Some elderly people lose their teeth, so the ability to crush poor food, besides choosing soft, easily digestible foods should bring dentures.

Stomach ulcers

Bacteria that cause problems for the elderly (which are less likely to cause illness for young people) are called Helicobacter Pylori (HP for short). When acidity in gastric juice decreases (due to advanced age), this bacterium will cause stomach ulcers. Normal gastric acidosis has trouble getting gastroesophageal reflux (esophagitis, esophageal ulceration), with burning sensation in the esophagus.

There may be gallstones

From the age of 40, gallbladder has begun to show signs of 'aging'. bag atrophy (containing less bile), the muscles of the gallbladder are inferior to the force (pushing the bile into the intestine), in addition, the liver is also less productive of bile, the remaining amount of bile is easy to form stones. It can be said that gallbladder disease and biliary tract (inflammation, stones) in the elderly have a very high rate compared to young people.

Constipation

Older people who are sedentary (due to their age, due to their occupational habits, have to sit for a long time) will make long stools stored in the rectum, long time leading to constipation. Long-term constipation causes swelling of the anal region, called hemorrhoids. The anal ring muscle in the elderly is no longer as tight as in the youth. Many tools when it comes to defecation are very difficult to hold back.

In addition to the above diseases, intestinal irritation syndrome, malabsorption syndrome also cause many problems for the health of the elderly. To overcome these diseases, the elderly need to eat easily digestible foods, do not eat too much, eat many meals a day, do not eat salty, not eat a lot of fat, need to exercise regularly as walking. Need to have a health check periodically.