common Symptoms Of Stomach Ulcer

Stomach ulcer symptoms are characterized by a burning sensation in the stomach, sometimes mistaken for heartburn. These symptoms can last anywhere from one half hour to several hours and may happen at any time. Although once thought to be caused mainly by stress, recent research shows that some stomach ulcers may be caused by the Helicobacter pylori bacteria which can be passed from person to person through kissing and contaminated foods.

There are two types of ulcers that people think of as stomach or peptic ulcers, the gastric ulcer which is actually formed in the stomach and the duodenal ulcer which forms beyond the stomach and the first foot of the small intestine. Stomach ulcers affect millions of people each year.

To relieve stomach ulcer symptoms naturally, your best bet is to change your eating habits. Certain foods can irritate ulcers and should be avoided which include spicy and fried foods, fatty foods and acidic foods. Although many people think that milk is a good way to relieve ulcer symptoms it should be taken in small amounts as the milk proteins can cause more gastric acids to be made which can irritate your ulcer. You should also avoid aspirin, tea, coffee, ibuprofen, alcohol and cigarettes.

Another natural way to relieve symptoms of a stomach ulcer is to make sure your diet is rich in soluble fiber. Some say that cabbage can help heal an ulcer as it contains glutamine which has been shown to heal ulcers and is also very high in fiber.

Other lifestyle changes such as de-stressing, meditating and yoga can help with stress-induced ulcers and no matter what kind of ulcer you have they certainly can’t hurt!

While finding natural ways to relieve your stomach ulcer symptoms is a good idea you also want to be sure that you visit your doctor to be sure that an ulcer is actually what you have and to find out about any treatments that might be better for your particular ulcer. You can also be tested for the Helicobacter pylori bacterium and if this is present, your doctor may recommend a regimen of antibiotics to kill off the bacteria and possibly cure your ulcer for good.

No matter which treatments you’re using to relieve your symptoms or possibly cure your ulcer altogether you need to give them time to work. You might see relief in a few days but you want to give it at least six weeks before you give up on the treatment.

While stomach ulcers are common they are nothing to take lightly. More than 4 million Americans will develop an ulcer each year and 40,000 of them will have surgery due to stomach ulcer symptoms. While ulcers are not usually fatal about 6000 Americans die from complications related to ulcers every year.

Medication And Treatments Of Ulcer For Good Results

Treating an ulcer is usually made combining two different methods. One is a change in the lifestyle of the person suffering from ulcer. The other one is with the help of medication that can fight against ulcer.

The most common medicine for treating gastric ulcer or duodenal ulcer are proton pumps, mucosal protective agents and drugs that block H2. If you also have an H pylori inffection, which is very common in ulcer, doctors will also use antibiotics together with those medications. There are cases when medication do not work for an ulcer. Surgery is the alternative.

The medications that are used in treating ulcer are H2 blockers, proton pump inhibitors and agents that protect the mucus. The first medication in treating an ulcer reduces the amount of your stomach acid. If you take a dose of this medicine before you go to sleep, the gastric ulcer can be cured in about two months and the duodenal ulcer faster, in almost one month. The second drug used to treat an ulcer has the role to stop the production of acid. It is more powerful than H2 blockers. It can cure a duodenal ulcer in almost two weeks. This medicine is also an alternative to ulcer patients whose H2 treatment does not work. The last medicine used to treat ulcer is the for protecting the mucous coat of the stomach from acid. Antibiotics are also used as an ulcer treatment, but only if you have a bacteria infection. The percent of recurrence of an ulcer is very big if antibacterial treatment is not used.

Nowadays, there are two types of therapy against an ulcer: the triple and dual therapy. The first ulcer therapy includes: metronidazole, four times every day, tetracycline, also four time each day and pepto-bysmol. This ulcer treatment lasts for two weeks. It has a rate of almost 90 percent effectiveness in destroying the bacteria that caused the ulcer. This ulcer therapy is also very effective because it reduce the risk of ulcer reoccurrence. The second ulcer therapy means that only two medicines are taken: amoxcillin and prolosec. This ulcer therapy also lasts for two weeks, but it has only an 80 percent effectiveness.

If any of the ulcer treatments do not give good results, doctors can use surgery. For an ulcer, the most common of the surgeries are vagotomy, pyloroplasty and antrectomy. The last two of the ulcer surgeries may be performed together.