Symptoms

There may appear no symptoms although you have ulcerus, but the most common ones are: pain in the abdomen and indigestion. Depending on the type of ulcerus you have the pain may be intense after or before you eat and may wake you up early in the morning. The pain may be in other spots for example in the back. The ulcer may bleed and you vomit blood or digested blood(coffee grounds) or have black stools known as melaena. In this cases you should announce your doctor as soon as possible.

Causes

There are many factors that determine ulcer:

Smoking, if one member of your family had ulcer you are very susceptible to develop too, drinking, drugs such as: aspirin and anti-inflammatory drugs, the ul;cer is more likely to occur in those who have infection with the germ Helicobacter pylori and is also very hard to treat. Popular beliefs consider that stress, coffee, colas, spicy foods, caffeine are important in ulcer formation.

Diagnosis

Your doctor will recommend you some specific tests such as: barium meal X-ray or upper gastrointestinal endoscopy when you have to swallow a fiber optic tube, in this case the lining of the stomach may be seen and the biopsies may be taken so one may observe the presence of Helicobacter pylori and blood tests may be helpfull, biopsies are often performed on gastric ulcers to exclude cancer. Biopsies can also be examined under a microscope to exclude cancer. Stop smoking, drinking and eat regularly in small amounts, avoid foods that give you pain.

Try using antiacids mixtures or tablets to neutralize the acids, high doses of NB shouldn't be used although these drugs ease the symptoms you have to take them as suggested by doctor. Active ulcer may be cured if you take a tablet that reduces the production of acid. Against Helicobacter pylori you may take antibiotics so the ulcer will cure and complications or reapparition are less likely to appear. Peptic ulcer disease is common.

The medical cost of treating peptic ulcer and its complications runs in the billions of dollars annually. Ulcers often come and go spontaneously without the individual ever knowing, unless a serious complication (like bleeding or perforation) occurs and then the treatment is harder to have effect and the lesions are quite severe, after a hemorragy there are many risks. Others experience no pain at all, even though ulcers return. There is no conclusive evidence to suggest that life stresses or personality types contribute to ulcer disease.