Stomach ulcer also known as gastric ulcer are chronic sores in the stomach or small intestine, it is one of peptic ulcer. It sometimes causes a severe, dull (Sometimes very sharp) pains in the pit of the stomach. Often times, the pains lessen when the person drinks water or eats food.
The pains usually get worse in an hour or less after the person has eaten. Should the person miss a meal, or takes in too much of alcohol or fatty foods, the pain equally gets worse. Without what is called ‘endoscopy’, it is often hard to know whether actually has stomach ulcer or not. Stomach ulcer is often predominant in people in whom the thick layer of mucus that protects the stomach from digestive juices is drastically reduced to the minimum, hence, facilitating the digestive acids to eat away at the tissues of the stomach. It is usually caused by an infection with a bacterium called ‘Helicobacter pylori’. When treated early, stomach ulcers are easily cured, but when ignored, stomach ulcers can become severe.
Causes of Stomach Ulcer
- Incessant and prolonged use of aspirin and ibuprofen
- Infection with the host bacterium ‘Helicobacter pylori’
- Eating late or skipping meals frequently
- Eating too much of spicy or scented foods
- Stress as a result of tedious work
- Drink too much of alcohol
How to know you have ulcer
The most common sign associated with ulcer is ‘burning pain’ which is often caused by the ulcer. Other signs includes but not limited to: Indigestion, light-headedness, blood vomiting, nausea etc.
Presence of blood in the stool of a person
- Abdominal pain just below the ribcage
- Loss of weight
- Swelling on the inside
- Shock; when this happens, the person should be given immediate medical attention
- Bright blood present in one’s vomit
- Severe sensation in the heart
- Loss of appetite for foods
- Vomiting of red or black blood
Some other abnormalities are often considered to be stomach ulcers and in order to be sure that a person really has stomach ulcer, the person can be diagnosed in two ways being Upper GI series (UGI) or Endoscopy (EGD). In order to diagnose a person with ulcer effectively, tests are often carried out using blood samples, tissue from the body of the affected person (this is done in cases where endoscopy has been done) and breath test. However, the treatment given to ulcers caused by medications vary from the one given to ulcers caused by Helicobacter pylori’
Treatment for ulcer
In order to treat ulcers,
- Eat nutritious meals and try as much as possible not to skip meals
- Alcohol opens up the ulcer wounds, so try as much as possible to avoid them
- Avoid pain killers as much as possible except recommended by a physician
- Take 300mg of Vitamin E everyday
- Eat a lot of unripe bananas because it contains water-soluble polysacchrides
Take two tablespoonful of original honey daily until the ulcer is treated then one tablespoonful daily afterwards.
If you are diagnosed with ulcer, use garlic a lot; eat them, chew them and even use it often for cooking your meals.
Make juice out of a fresh cabbage and take 50 milliliters daily to fight off ulcers.