Gastric and duodenal ulcers (DD - TT) are very common in young children, the cause originates from nervous tension due to study pressure.

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4 emergency visits in 1 year due to stomach bleeding

Nguyen Trung H. (16 years old in Doi Can, Hanoi) was pale and scared when he was taken to the gastroscopy table. This was the second time he had to undergo this technique. His mother said that for the past few days he had complained of stomach pain, thinking that his stomach disease had relapsed, so she went to have him endoscopy. The results showed that his stomach had 5 severe ulcers. His mother said that his illness started in 2011, during the exam preparation for Amsterdam University, he had a stomachache and his family thought it was due to worms or food poisoning, but taking medicine did not help, the pain got worse, and after going to the doctor, they found out that he had DD-TT ulcers, the cause of which was studying too much and staying up late.

Pham Van T. (15 years old in Gia Lam, Hanoi) had to be rushed to the emergency room 4 times in 1 year at Hospital 354 because of vomiting and bloody stools due to stomach bleeding. The reason was also because he was forced to study too much, often stayed up late watching TV, playing video games... If he was not careful, his stomach would perforate, and he would have to have surgery to remove it.

Dr. Vu Duc Chung, Head of the Department of Gastroenterology, said that previously, peptic ulcer disease only occurred in adults, but now it is found in children from 10 to 13 years old, even many children under 6 years old are affected. On average, each month, the department examines and treats a few cases, mild cases are inflammation, ulcers, severe cases are bleeding, pyloric stenosis... The disease is not caused by HP bacteria (HP is only a favorable factor for the disease to develop) but mainly by mental factors.

Nowadays, children are under too much stress from studying, watching TV all day, playing on the computer, staying up late, having an irregular diet, eating too much fast food, eating food that is too hot, too cold, indigestion, not chewing food thoroughly, eating in a hurry... are the reasons for the outbreak of the disease. When discussing, we suggest that parents reduce the pressure of studying for their children, should not let their children stay up late... many people do not believe and think that studying cannot be abandoned. But in fact, mental stress is an important factor of the disease. Because when the nerves are tense, it will increase the secretion of HCl acid, which is one of the factors that damage the mucosa, causing inflammation and ulcers of the DD - TT.

Dr. Vu Duc Chung, MD, said that most children come to the hospital late, with bleeding, narrowing and perforation of the stomach because their parents do not think of this disease. When their children complain of stomach pain, parents often think it is due to eating or worms, so they buy medicine to relieve the symptoms. In particular, clinical symptoms in children are often not the same as in adults. In adults, the pain is often dull, but in children, it is severe pain, rolling like worms in the bile duct, so many children are diagnosed and treated as worms in the bile duct or stomach pain due to worms. In addition, children do not experience belching or acidity like adults, but often vomit, even vomit blood, have bloating, indigestion, loss of appetite...

The danger is that DD - TT ulcers in children progress very quickly. Normally, in adults it takes 10 years to lead to fibrous ulcers, but in children it occurs after 1 year. If the disease is not treated early and combined with lifestyle changes, it will often recur, causing anemia, malnutrition, gastrointestinal bleeding, sometimes causing stomach perforation, especially complications causing pyloric stenosis (stomach stalk) for children to have surgery. Moreover, chronic gastric ulcers can easily cause cancer complications.

Therefore, according to Dr. Vu Duc Chung, if you see your child having frequent stomach aches or severe acute stomach aches, you need to see a doctor immediately to avoid having to have their stomach removed, which can lead to serious consequences and poor physical development later on. If detected early, treatment is very simple and usually leaves no consequences.

To prevent stomach pain in children: Do not force children to study too much, always let them be optimistic, cheerful, comfortable, avoid staying up late... Train children to have reasonable eating habits, do not let them get too hungry and also avoid eating too much. Divide meals into many small meals a day and at a certain time, eat slowly, chew thoroughly will be good for digestion. Avoid fried, grilled foods, salty foods... and especially avoid using stimulants such as alcohol, beer, coffee, strong tea; do not eat sour foods, drink too cold drinks, eat too hot foods, should eat soft, easy-to-digest foods.

According to Knowledge-nt