Introduction
There are various drugs for gastrointestinal diseases, which are prescribed by the doctor depending on the type of disease and intensity. Depending on which gastrointestinal disease (gastrointestinal disorder) the patient suffers from, different medications can be used. Drugs for gastrointestinal diseases such as diarrhea or nausea are particularly common. However, there are also very specific drugs for gastrointestinal diseases, such as drugs for inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach (gastritis). In order to get a good overview of the drugs used to treat gastrointestinal diseases, this article first lists the diseases and then the possible therapy in the form of drugs.
Medicines for infections of the gastrointestinal tract
There are various forms of infections that can affect the gastrointestinal tract. One of the most common infections is caused by the Campylobacter bacterium. This leads to an inflammation of the intestine (Campylobacter enteritis), with the symptoms being diarrhoea, abdominal cramps and indisposition.
Medication against this gastrointestinal disease is usually not necessary. Only rarely is the gastrointestinal pain so severe that the patient needs an analgesic. In very rare cases, a patient may also need medication for the gastrointestinal disease, especially if the patient is immunocompromised.
In this case a therapy with antibiotics can be helpful. A quite common chronic infection of the stomach is an infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylorii. This infection causes persistent nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting and, as a result, loss of appetite.
The medication against this gastrointestinal disease is given according to a certain scheme. The therapy is also called triple therapy because the antibiotics amoxicillin or metronidazole are used with clarithromycin and a proton pump inhibitor. These drugs against the gastrointestinal disease must be taken for a total of 7 days so that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is eliminated and thus the inflammation of the stomach (gastritis) disappears.
In particularly stubborn cases, other medications against the gastrointestinal disease can also be used. In this case, one speaks of the so-called quadruple therapy, in which a proton pump inhibitor, the antibiotics tetracycline and metronidazole and a bismuth salt are administered. Infection with the bacteria Salmonella is particularly frequent in summer.
These lead to acute gastrointestinal inflammation, with diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, fever and abdominal pain. Medication against this gastrointestinal disease is usually not necessary, only in worse cases the doctor may administer an antibiotic to the patient. But not only the gastrointestinal disease is caused by Salmonella, there are also special forms of Salmonella, which can cause typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever.
This happens especially in countries with low hygienic standards. The patients get fever and pea-like diarrhea, whereby the duration of the disease is usually longer. In both cases, the patient should take medication for the gastrointestinal disease as soon as possible, in this case an antibiotic.
Which antibiotic is appropriate depends mainly on whether the pathogen has already developed any resistance. Furthermore, there is a vaccination against typhoid fever, which is recommended for travelers to various countries. Another infection that can lead to gastrointestinal problems is an infection with the bacterium Clostridium difficile.
An infection occurs here mainly when the patient has a disturbed and attacked intestinal flora, for example after a therapy with antibiotics. There are two different drugs for treating gastrointestinal diseases. On the one hand, there is an antibiotic which the patient can get, whereby there is a risk that the bacterium Clostridium difficile is also resistant to this antibiotic and thus the infection becomes even worse.
Furthermore, there is the possibility of a stool transplantation. In this case the healthy stool of a healthy person is implanted into the patient. This form of therapy often sounds unusual at first, but has a very high success rate and is therefore recommended in severe cases.Especially in Germany, however, gastrointestinal infections with various viruses, such as the adenovirus or the noro virus, are common.
Patients then suffer from diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting as well as gastrointestinal cramps. Drugs against these gastrointestinal diseases are usually not necessary because the infection disappears after a short time (self-limiting infection). The most important thing is that the patient takes in enough liquid and the lost electrolytes are replaced by bananas and salt sticks.
Only in a few cases is medication against the gastrointestinal disease necessary. In this case antibiotics are used. Other infections such as bacterial dysentery (shigellosis) or amoebic dysentery are rather rare in Germany.
In the case of shigellosis, there are drugs for gastrointestinal diseases, whereby antibiotics are usually administered. Amoeba dysentery is treated with the special antibiotic metronidazole. Also a cholera infection, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, is no longer present in Germany.
Nevertheless, there are always cases in which patients come from vacation and have become infected with the pathogen, for example in India. In this case, very watery diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, vomiting and nausea occur. In many cases, medication against the gastrointestinal disease is not necessary, but it must be ensured that the patient takes in sufficient fluid and electrolytes.
In some cases, treatment with antibiotics may also be useful. In general, almost all infections of the gastrointestinal tract can be cured with antibiotics, although often medication for gastrointestinal diseases is not necessary. Mainly due to the ever increasing resistance of bacteria through uncontrolled antibiotic use, many doctors are now trying to avoid medication against gastrointestinal diseases and treat the patient mainly symptomatically. This means that the patient should drink enough liquid instead of medication against the gastrointestinal disease and additionally balance his electrolytes. Nevertheless, in case of infections like chronic gastritis due to Helicobacter pylori infection, it is advisable to use medication against gastrointestinal disease to avoid long-term consequences.
