subject: Causes And Cures For Stomach Ulcers [print this page] If you already have an ulcer, then you will no doubt be under close medical supervision, with a range of medication that you must take. If you even so much as suspect you have an ulcer, it is imperative that you seek medical help right away. Either way, if it is left untreated, or not properly managed, you run the risk of developing serious and even life threatening consequences.
The most common types of stomach ulcers are duodenal and peptic, so called according to which part of the digestive system they are located. Symptoms include: pain between the navel and chest, pain in the mid back area, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, bloated feeling after food, blood in vomit or bowel movements.
A range of other symptoms include a general loss of appetite, weight loss, headaches with awareness of a racing pulse, problems swallowing food, general irritability. Many of the painful symptoms are calmed by eating, but return within a couple of hours later. This can make life difficult during sleep time as you may be obliged to eat in the middle of the night just to relieve the pain.
In order to establish the presence of an ulcer, your doctor will set up a range of tests for you. The obvious ones will be for vital signs, blood/urine samples, and a Breath Test, which is exactly what it sounds like. You will breathe into a tube, where the gas is collected and then analysed for the presence of bacteria, specifically H Pylori. This is because the presence of this bacteria is believed to be responsible for stomach ulcers. You may even be required to have an endoscopy, which involves inserting a small camera tube into your upper digestive tract to find any visible signs of damage. As someone who has had this test, I can assure you it is not as frightening as it sounds because you will be given a mild anaesthetic. After that you can return to your normal activities after just a couple of hours. It is well worth doing just to get on the road to recovery.
The standard treatments will include dietary adjustments of course. You will also be prescribed a multiple antibiotic program if you have the H Pylori infection. In most cases, this will eliminate the problem quite quickly.
Other treatments involve stomach medicines such as proton pump inhibitors which switch off the digestive acid production, and antacids which also reduce acid. The aim of these is to give your stomach a rest and let it recover.
Having said that, the drugs and dietary regime is not exactly ideal for your overall health in the long term, especially if you are unfortunate enough to have had an ulcer for a long time. There are many things you can do to help recovery and long term wellbeing with natural foods and remedies. Many of these are old, but forgotten techniques, and many more are new and proven resources which can promote healing once and for all.
For example, apples have been reported by so many people to not only reduce ulcer discomfort but also to cure them over a short time. That's it, a raw apple a day. Isn't something like that worth knowing compared to the expense and inconvenience of a lifetime on medication?
There are many other ways to resolve a stomach ulcer which are simple to obtain, cheap and above all, effective. You can find out lots more at http://www.ulcer-remedies.com. Not only that, but you can also sign up to a free health newsletter, just for visiting the site.
