Gastritis

Gastritis is an inflammation of the lining of your stomach. It is not a single disease but rather a group of disorders. Gastritis can "eat away" the stomach lining and cause bleeding. In some cases, gastritis does not damage the stomach lining and does not have a specific cause. Symptoms are: indigestion and heartburn; nausea; loss of appetite; abdominal pain that is often worse after eating; gastrointestinal bleeding. It is aggravated by: aspirin use; alcohol and tobacco use; serious illness; reflux injury (i.e., bile backing up into the stomach and oesophagus); trauma (ie., surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, severe vomiting, having swallowed a foreign object); bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections; pernicious anaemia; systemic disease (eg. Crohn's disease).