Nutrition
When eating after and during a Mallory-Weiss syndrome, care must be taken to ensure that the food is not harmful to the gastrointestinal tract. It is particularly important to abstain from alcohol in order to avoid repeated poisoning with subsequent vomiting. Alcohol also promotes the production of stomach acid, which irritates the sore mucous membrane.
Furthermore, no juices or acidic drinks such as cola should be drunk. On the one hand, this can cause pain when the fluids come into contact with the torn mucous membrane, on the other hand, it can delay healing. The patient should also avoid foods that are difficult to digest, as these stimulate the production of gastric acid.
Such foods include meat, fried or particularly fatty foods and snacks with high sugar content. Over the healing period, such food should be consumed only in small amounts, a complete renunciation is even better. On the other hand, a healthy diet with vegetables and fruit is easily digestible.
The patient should also make sure that the food morsels are chewed thoroughly to avoid swallowing too large pieces. If a bulimic illness exists, special attention must be paid to the phases after food intake. If the patient is under professional care, supervision may be necessary to prevent intentional vomiting.
Duration of Mallory-Weiss syndrome
In most cases, minor bleeding stops spontaneously due to the coagulation system. If this is not the case, the mucosa and vessels must be treated surgically. If pressure is repeatedly applied to the damaged mucosa, e.g. through further vomiting, it will continue to bleed until the cause is eliminated.
Prognosis of Mallory-Weiss syndrome
The prognosis depends on the severity and extent of the damaged mucosa and the elimination of the triggering causes. Further vomiting, coughing or other causes that increase the pressure in the thorax can always lead to new bleeding and mucous membrane injuries. It is important to eliminate the causes of chronic alcohol abuse, reflux diseases and eating and vomiting so that the mucous membrane can regenerate and is not further damaged.
Frequent contact between the mucosa of the oesophagus and ascending gastric acid can lead to such severe tissue changes in the oesophagus that precancerous stages of cancer develop. Especially caused by reflux diseases and permanent vomiting. The syndrome can only be cured if the triggering causes are completely eliminated and, in case of further bleeding, these are treated endoscopically.
In Boerhaave syndrome, all wall layers of the esophagus are torn (esophageal rupture). This allows food, blood, air, saliva and stomach acid to enter the surrounding tissue of the lungs. Those affected feel severe pain behind the breastbone and the body temperature can rise (fever). The air escaping from the oesophagus can accumulate in the subcutaneous tissue (subcutis) and form a so-called skin emphysema, which expresses itself as a crackling sound when stroking the skin.Since microorganisms can also penetrate the mediastinum through the tear, an inflammatory reaction can occur and later, when expanding into the blood, lead to blood poisoning (sepsis), which spreads to the lung membrane and/or the pericardium.
