Gastrointestinal (gastrointestinal) bleeding is internal bleeding from the stomach wall or intestinal wall. Most often it is observed in pathologies such as peptic ulcer, chronic gastritis, chronic duodenitis, portal hypertension, cancer of the stomach and colon, benign tumors, diverticula, inflammatory bowel disease, acute myocardial infarction, etc. This is a serious condition requiring immediate medical attention and hospitalization in a hospital. Therefore, it is important to know about the symptoms of bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract.
Signs of gastric bleeding
Symptoms of gastrointestinal bleeding are not uniform and depend on the volume and duration of hemorrhage. The patient's condition is all the more severe, the more massive the loss of blood. The main and most characteristic sign of gastric bleeding is bloody vomiting with an admixture of fresh undigested blood. The nature of the vomit can be different: scarlet blood, dark-cherry blobs, gastric contents of the color of the "coffee grounds". Vomiting, which is repeated at short intervals, indicates ongoing bleeding. If bloody vomiting is observed repeatedly through a long interval of time, then this indicates the resumption of bleeding.
Other manifestations of gastrointestinal hemorrhage are:
- black staining of feces;
- tarry stools;
- sudden weakness, pallor;
- dizziness;
- tachycardia;
- hypotension;
- fainting ;
- cold sweat;
- darkening in the eyes;
- the appearance of metallic taste in the mouth .
Danger of gastrointestinal bleeding
Blood loss in gastrointestinal bleeding, as with other types of massive bleeding, is accompanied by a development of a discrepancy between the decreasing volume of circulating blood and the volume of the vascular bed. This leads to a drop in overall peripheral resistance, a decrease in the shock volume of the heart, a drop in blood pressure. Thus, central hemodynamics is disturbed (movement of blood through blood vessels).
The consequence of these processes is a change in the transcapillary exchange - the metabolism through the wall of the capillary between the blood and the tissue fluid. This affects the protein and antitoxic functions of the liver, increases the fibrinolytic activity of blood, disrupts the production of hemostatic factors. This, in turn, leads to violations of the lungs, kidneys, brain.
First aid for signs of gastric bleeding
Detection of the first symptoms of gastric bleeding requires emergency care, t. The patient's condition is rapidly deteriorating. Prior to the patient's delivery to a medical facility, those who are nearby should help him:
- First of all, the patient should provide complete peace - he needs to lie down and move as little as possible.
- To limit the amount of blood loss, you need to put a bubble with ice or any other cold object (products from the freezer, a bag of snow, etc.) to the patient's stomach.
- Also, if possible, the patient is advised to drink cold water or swallow ice slices. In this case, drink a little and a little sips, tk. the ingestion of a large volume of fluid in the stomach can aggravate the condition.
- If it is possible to take any hemostatic, this should also be done as soon as possible.
Transport of a patient with signs of gastric bleeding for first aid is only permitted in the prone position.