Weakness of the stomach is the name for a condition of the stomach when it does not cook properly and food causes severe nausea in it, regardless of the reasons associated with food and mentioned in the paragraph on indigestion. Stomach weakness is often accompanied by upset and little appetite, but this is not always the case. On the contrary, the appetite is sometimes large and digestion is easy, but this does not indicate the strength of the stomach. When the cause of weakness intensifies, rumbling, variable belching and nausea appear, especially after eating, so that the patient, every time he takes food, tries not to move or to vomit it; At the same time, a burning sensation and pain is felt between the shoulder blades. And if the cause becomes very strong, then there is no belching, and the feces do not come out easily, or, on the contrary, they do not stay in the intestines and are quickly ejected. Such a patient's pulse drops and he quickly faints. He demands food, but when food is brought near him, he is disgusted by it or eats little. He is struck down by fever from the slightest cause and shows signs of "abdominal melancholy."
Know that a weak stomach is almost the cause of all bodily ailments. This weakness sometimes occurs in the upper parts of the stomach, sometimes in the lower parts, and sometimes in both at the same time. When it occurs in the upper parts of the stomach, “then suffering from the food eaten appears as soon as one begins to eat it, while it is in the upper parts of the stomach; when weakness occurs in the lower parts of the stomach, then suffering begins after the food has settled in the stomach , and weakness is visible from the stool. The cause of weakness of the stomach is the mentioned diseases that arise in it, as well as constant indigestion; sometimes it is caused by the frequent use of emetics. Empiricists limit themselves in the treatment of this disease to drainage and desiccation, as well as those measures to which we have indicated in the paragraph on correcting the coldness and dampness of nature that arises in the stomach. However, the truth is that weakness of the stomach follows any disorder of nature, therefore it is necessary to recognize the state of nature and then counteract this disorder with treatment. Sometimes weakness occurs from a dry stomach, but if it is treated the mentioned measures, which are limited by adherents of the experimental path, this turns out to be the cause of death. Often, the patient is healed by drinking cold medicines or a drink made from cow's milk, cooled on ice, as well as eating cold fruits.
Sometimes a person with a weak stomach is treated with warming agents, and he is overcome by thirst; he disobeys the doctors and fills his stomach with cold water and immediately recovers. And sometimes the harmful juice, if it is juice, rushes down due to the stomach being full of water and comes out when the patient relaxes, and the patient gets rid of what happened to him. Easing is one of the activities that weaken the stomach. Sometimes when you relax you have headaches. Know that the stable strength of the stomach is the strength of all four of its forces and the weakening of any of them is a weakness of the stomach, but people are accustomed to transfer this concept to the digestive force. Any of these forces weakens from any disorder of nature, but the attractive force most often weakens from cold and humidity; therefore it should be protected by the use of hot and dry medicines, unless its weakness is due to another cause. In most cases, the retaining force should be protected with dry and somewhat cold medicines, the expelling with wet and cold medicines, and the digestive with hot and moist medicines.
Know that the worst weakness of the stomach is the weakness resulting from the rarity of the plexus of the fibers of its tissue; This is indicated by the fact that you do not find any signs of a disorder of nature or signs of a tumor, and an improvement in nutrition does not bring any benefit. Know that the stomach of such a patient is worn out. Damage to the holding force consists in the fact that the stomach, due to a violation of its action, does not grasp the food at all, or only grasps it slightly, or embraces it poorly, shuddering and twitching, or embraces it convulsively. The patient feels some of these disorders clearly, such as spasms or twitching; As for trembling, he often does not feel it clearly, but a sign of this is sometimes a feeling of fatigue in the stomach and a desire for food to go down, although this is not indicated by either rumbling, distension or bloating. When the shudder exceeds the measure, it becomes clearly perceptible, to the same extent as the shudder of other organs.
The damage to the attractive force is that it does not attract food substances at all, some call this “relaxation of the stomach,” or attract them with difficulty, as happens at the beginning of the disease called “relaxation of the stomach,” or its attracting effect becomes restless, convulsive , trembling. And the weakness of the changing force leads to “meat dropsy”. Know that if the stomach has weakened to the point that it is completely unable to change nutrients, and there is no other reason for this than weakness of the stomach, then it comes down to slippery intestines. But the predominant significance for a weak stomach is the cause that empiricists strive to eliminate, not understanding what is the matter. Therefore, in most cases, events transmitted on the basis of their words do not help. The mentioned medicinal dressings and rubbings, when they want to treat the mouth of the stomach, should be heated strongly, because warm rubbing and dressings relax the mouth of the stomach.
In this case, Galen used a wax ointment of this kind: take eight mithqals of wax, one uqiya of excellent folk oil and mix. If the stomach is very weak and does not hold food, then add in addition sabur and mastic - one and a half miskal each or one miskal, and one miskal of squeezed unripe grapes and place it on the stomach area. Galen also vouches that all diseases of the stomach, in which there is no strong heat or strong dryness in the stomach, can be cured with a medicine from quince, the prescription of which is as follows: take two rittles of squeezed quince juice, strong vinegar rittle, a sufficient amount of honey and boil until the composition becomes thick as honey, sprinkle it with ginger in an amount from one ukiyya with a third to two ukiyya and eat it. Another medicine: take three rittles of baked quince, three rittles of honey and throw in three ukiyya peppers and one ukiyya mountain parsley seeds. By the way, it is useful if you have a weak stomach to scream a lot and do everything that moves the abdominal walls. Good medicines for a weak, relaxed stomach include atrifulas and Persian medicine of this kind: take black myrobalans fried in cow butter, ten dirhams, toasted watercress five dirhams, azhgon and Persian sota tara and each three dirhams, iron oxide ten dirhams.
At one time they drink two dirhams with strong wine.
Prescription of a good medicinal dressing for a weak and at the same time hardened stomach. “Take cinnamon of Ceylon half-kiya, licorice eight karams, fragrant rush inflorescences six karams, juniper eighteen karams, bdellia thirty-two karams, wax sixteen ukiya, turpentine gum four ukiya, washed pine resin one and a half rittle, amoma eighteen darakhmi, ushshaka thirty-two karams, spikenard six ukiya, anise, eight ukiya, sabura, one ukiya, balsam oil, two ukiya, kirfa, one ukiya. Wine from myrtle berries is very helpful for such patients, and mint contains obvious benefits for them. Garden apples are one of the medicines found in medicinal dressings for hot and cold stomach; Zift is one of the medicinal dressings for a cold, weak stomach.
Know that a weak stomach is sometimes the reason for the slow descent of food if the expelling force is weak; there must be a lot of leaven in the bread that is baked for such people. And sometimes weakness of the stomach is the cause of rapid descent into the intestines due to the moisture and slipperiness of the stomach and the weakness of the holding power; the bread that is baked for such people should be somewhat bland.