How to treat intestinal inflammation

Inflammation of the intestines is one of the most common pathologies in people who abuse alcoholic beverages, allow periodic errors in their diet, and smokers. Colitis of the intestine can develop against the background of an infectious lesion of the gastrointestinal tract, with chronic stress and neurosis, hypodynamia (weakening of muscle strength caused by a sedentary life). A slowly progressive inflammatory process in the large intestine can be triggered by vascular disease, with which increase the risk of atherosclerosis of the superior and inferior mesenteric arteries, providing blood supply and nutrition to the thick intestines.

Treatment of colitis is aimed not only at eliminating the cause that provoked the immunopathological reaction, but also at strengthening the immune the status of the patient, on which the functioning and formation of immunity and the development of antiviral and antimicrobial mechanisms depend protection. It is the decrease in the general resistance of the organism that creates the conditions for the reproduction and growth of pathogenic microorganisms, therefore an important stage in the treatment of chronic colitis is lifestyle correction and diet.

Treatment-and-prophylactic nutrition

With any form of inflammation in the intestine, the patient is assigned a treatment and prophylactic table No. 4 according to Pevzner. This diet is indicated for acute intestinal lesions, including concomitant forms of inflammation (for example, gastroduodenitis or gastroenteritis) and intestinal infections (salmonellosis, dysentery and etc.). The duration of such a diet should be determined by the doctor individually, but in most cases the minimum period for achieving stable remission in chronic colitis is 6 months.

Table number 4 has its own characteristics, for example:

• reducing the daily caloric intake of the diet to 1900-2000 calories by reducing the amount of carbohydrates and fats in foods nutrition (the calorie index can be increased according to individual indications, for example, for patients with obesity 3-4 degree);
• limiting salt and sugar intake;
• complete elimination from the diet of any seasonings, spices and herbs that can be stimulating and irritating effect on sore intestines (with the exception of some types of fresh herbs, for example, fennel, dill and basil);
• cooking dishes using gentle heat treatment methods (boiling in slightly salted water, braising under a lid, steaming or baking in foil).

Until a stable remission is achieved, the use of hot and cold foods and drinks is prohibited. Sour milk drinks and other products from the refrigerator should be kept at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes before use. Drinking water for patients with gastritis should also be at room temperature: drinking chilled drinks can provoke a spasm of inflamed intestinal walls and cause cramping pain. Meals for any diseases of the gastrointestinal tract should be frequent - 5-6 times a day. The recommended serving size for a 70 kg person is 260 g.

Important! During the acute period, mechanical sparing of food is shown. This means that all dishes should be served chopped, mashed, mashed or mushy.

Colitis products

It is important not only to follow the recommendations for therapeutic and prophylactic nutrition, but also to choose the right foods for drawing up a menu with an inflamed intestine. A detailed list of permitted and prohibited foods for colitis is given in the table.

Colitis food products

Product group	Image	Allowed	Forbidden
Bakery and flour products		Rye and wheat croutons without flavoring agents and flavor enhancers, yesterday's wheat bread, bread without yeast, pasta made from premium flour	Durum wheat pasta with a high fiber content, fresh and rich pastries, bread made from peeled and rye flour, baked goods with the addition of bran, cereals, seeds
Biscuits		Crispy biscuits, lingering biscuits	Soft biscuits with chocolate, sugar biscuits, bagels, drying
Meat and poultry		Veal, beef tenderloin, turkey, chicken, chicken, rabbit, lamb, lamb	Pork (occasionally, a small amount of pork tenderloin without lard is allowed), sausages, lard, meat broth
A fish		Any varieties (fatty fish should be consumed no more than 1 time in 10 days)	Canned fish in oil, salted and smoked fish
Fruits and vegetables		Puree of vegetables and fruits (apples, pears, peaches, bananas), baked fruits with a little honey, mashed soups	Fresh vegetables and fruits, canned and pickled fruits and vegetables
Eggs		Chicken and quail eggs (3-4 times a week)	Duck and goose eggs
Berries		Cherries, white currants, gooseberries, raspberries, sweet cherries (in limited quantities). Concentrated berry fruit drinks are diluted with water in a 1: 1 ratio	Strawberry, black currant, blueberry, blueberry, blackberry
Milk products		A small amount of cottage cheese, yogurt, milk whey, acidophilus. Use cow's milk, kefir and yogurt only for preparing other dishes	Fermented baked milk, sweet yoghurts and drinks, bifidok, sour cream, cheese, cream

Menu option for one day

Eating	Dishes
Breakfast	Mannik with berry gravy; green tea; bread with a thin layer of butter
Lunch	Baked apple with honey
Dinner	Mashed potato soup with bell peppers and carrots; veal meatballs; dried apricot compote
Afternoon snack	Cherry jelly; rice balls
Dinner	Boiled fish; buckwheat casserole with vegetables; herbal tea
Before bedtime	A glass of acidophilus

Acute drug treatment

Severe forms of acute inflammation in the intestine can be treated on an outpatient basis only if the general condition of the patient is considered satisfactory by the local doctor. Hospitalization in a hospital is indicated for repeated vomiting, profuse diarrhea, severe diarrhea with a frequency of stools up to 15-20 times a day. All these conditions are dangerous due to dehydration of the body. Together with the liquid, the body loses potassium and magnesium ions, which are necessary for the functioning of the heart muscle, the nervous system and the regulation of respiratory function, therefore, in patients predisposed to cardiovascular pathologies, dehydration can lead to acute respiratory or cardiac failure.

The situation is complicated if the patient is diagnosed with profuse vomiting, in which all the drugs are excreted from the body through the mouth within 5-10 minutes after taking them with emetic masses. Such patients are selected drugs in the form of rectal suppositories and solutions for injections, and the condition and the most important functions of the body are monitored by medical workers in a hospital setting.

Antiemetics

If vomiting is not abundant and does not depend on medication, oral dosage forms can be used: capsules, tablets, suspensions. The most sparing are drugs based on domperidone, a central blocker of dopamine receptors. You need to take domperidone 15-20 minutes before meals, 10 mg 3 times a day. It is recommended to drink the last dose 30 minutes before bedtime to avoid morning vomiting. The maximum daily dose for adolescents over 12 years of age and adults is 30 mg.

Domperidone-based prokinetics include drugs with the following trade names:

• Motilak;
• Motonium;
• Domstal;
• Passage;
• Doom.

If the patient has repeated and profuse vomiting, drugs in the form of injections based on metoclopramide are used to stop it (Cerucal, Ceruglan, Perinorm).

Important! Preparations based on metoclopramide can cause serious side effects in patients with respiratory and heart diseases, therefore, only a doctor can give injections of Cerucal and its analogues.

Hormonal drugs

For the rapid relief of an acute inflammatory process in the intestine, glucocorticosteroids are used - analogs of endogenous hormones produced by the adrenal cortex. The drugs of this group have a pronounced anti-inflammatory, eliminate the manifestations of body sensitization and exhibit immunosuppressive and antitoxic activity.

Hydrocortisone and Prednisolone are considered the most effective for the treatment of acute intestinal colitis. They are administered by injection (jet or drip into a vein), and the dosage regimen is selected individually. It is necessary to start therapy with the most effective dosage, gradually reducing it to a therapeutic and maintenance dose. The duration of the use of glucocorticosteroids should not exceed 10-14 days.

Antibacterial and antimicrobial agents

Medicines with antibacterial and antimicrobial activity are needed when an intestinal infection is the cause of inflammation. If infectious colitis is accompanied by diarrhea, the patient is prescribed nifuroxazide drugs (Stopdiar, Enterofuril). They bind bacteria and their toxins in the intestinal lumen and are removed from the body without undergoing systemic absorption.

In severe cases, the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics is indicated. These can be drugs of the penicillin series (ampicillin and amoxicillin), fluoroquinolones, tetracycline or cephalosporins. Less commonly used macrolides and combined preparations of amoxicillin with clavulanic acid.

Important! To restore normal microflora in the intestine and prevent dysbiosis, which can be one of the provoking factors in the development of chronic colitis, the use of prebiotics is shown (Bion-3, Normobakt, Lactofiltrum). They should be drunk from the first day of antibiotic therapy, after making sure that the selected drug is compatible with the prescribed antibiotic.

Traditional treatment for chronic inflammation

Therapy of chronic inflammation in the intestine is carried out using a complex of drugs aimed at eliminating the causes inflammation, stimulation of regenerative processes and healing of mucous membranes, and an increase in general resistance organism.

Diarrhea medications

Antidiarrheal agents are used mainly for infectious inflammation, accompanied by frequent loose stools and false urge to defecate. The traditional drugs used to stop diarrhea in adults are loperamide-based drugs (Loperamide, Lopedium, Diara, Imodium). It is impossible to use these drugs without consulting a doctor, since they are contraindicated in ulcerative colitis, acute dysentery, and some types of bacterial colitis.

The dosage of loperamide is 2-4 mg per day.

Laxatives

Inflammation of the intestines, in which the patient has prolonged constipation, most often develops against the background of irritable bowel syndrome. To normalize stool, you must adhere to dietary recommendations and not violate the diet prescribed by a specialist. If the initial correction of the diet for the affairs of the desired result, you can use laxatives. Osmotic drugs that increase the pressure in the abdominal cavity and saline preparations should not be taken for a long time, therefore, for occasional constipation, it is better to use herbal and plant-based products (senna leaf, corn silk) or syrup lactulose.

Preparations containing lactulose:

• Portalak;
• Lizalak;
• Poslabin;
• Legendal;
• Livolyuk-PB;
• Evict;
• Romfalak.

The dosage depends on the age of the patient, the duration of constipation and can range from 15 to 45 ml of syrup per day.

Enterosorbents

Sorbents for inflammation are necessary to bind and remove substances that can irritate the intestinal walls: toxins, alcohol vapors, poisons, heavy metal salts, allergens. The traditional drug of this group is activated carbon, but the pharmaceutical market has a large selection of more modern and effective sorbents. These include:

• Enterosgel (for children it is produced in the form of a sweet paste);
• Lactofiltrum;
• Filtrum-sti;
• Dioctahedral smectite;
• Polysorb;
• Polyphepan.

These medications must be taken 2-3 times a day 1 hour before meals or medications. The duration of taking sorbents should not exceed 5-7 days.

Antiplatelet agents and thrombolytics

Drugs that prevent blood clots are necessary for intestinal ischemia and atherosclerosis of the superior and inferior mesenteric arteries. In most cases, pentoxifylline preparations (Trental, Flexital, Radomin, Agapurin). They are angioprotectors and correctors of circulation in the microvasculature and exhibit vasodilating and antiplatelet activity. The daily dosage of pentoxifylline is 600 mg, which must be divided into 3 doses. Starting from the second week of treatment, the daily dosage is reduced to 300 mg.

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Adjunctive treatment

Auxiliary therapy includes physiotherapeutic methods (electrophoresis, UHF, acupuncture, magnetotherapy), massage, physiotherapy exercises and a set of measures aimed at increasing the immune defense organism. The patient is recommended to walk a lot in the fresh air: oxygen-enriched blood circulates better in bowel vessels, and walking has a positive effect on the work of the heart and intestinal motility walls.

A set of special exercises recommended for patients with chronic intestinal inflammation should be performed daily. Exercises should be selected by the attending physician, especially if the patient's age is more than 40 years old, or he has individual contraindications. It is useful to visit the pool and massage room two or three times a week. The massage helps to warm up the muscles, stimulates intestinal peristalsis and increases the body's resistance.

Correction of the immune status also includes vitamin therapy. Daily in the patient's diet it is necessary to include fortified drinks: berry fruit drinks, compotes, herbal teas, decoctions of fruits and berries. In a state of stable remission, treatment can be supplemented with alternative medicine recipes, some of which can be very effective for chronic intestinal inflammation.

Traditional methods

Below are two recipes that will help improve bowel function in a short time and speed up the healing of inflamed mucous membranes.

Fennel seed infusion

One of the most effective remedies in the fight against colitis. The infusion eliminates flatulence, helps dissolve gas bubbles in the intestines and normalizes stool. To prepare it, you must:

• pour a tablespoon of seeds with 200 ml of boiling water;
• insist for 2 hours;
• drink on an empty stomach (it is better to do this in the morning).

Take fennel infusion once a day for 2-3 weeks.

Potato juice

Potato juice perfectly relieves inflammation, eliminates intestinal spasms and reduces the processes of putrefaction and fermentation in the intestines. Raw potato juice also has an antiparasitic effect and, if taken on an empty stomach, removes small worms from the body. You need to drink juice 3-4 times a day, 40-50 ml 1 hour before meals. The duration of treatment is 10 days.

Intestinal inflammation is a common pathology of the gastrointestinal tract. Diet and lifestyle adjustments are usually sufficient to achieve stable remission, but if the disease is progressing, surgical methods may be required, therefore, the treatment must be approached very responsibly.

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