Stomach ulcers are also known as gastric ulcers. The sores in the stomach lining cause the pain. This ulcer comes under the peptic ulcer disease. Stomach and small intestine, both get affected in peptic ulcer conditions.
Our stomach has a thick layer of mucus that prevents the stomach from getting affected by the acidic digestive juices. When this layer of mucus reduces or becomes thin, the acidic digestive juices start burning the tissues that from the lining of the stomach causing an ulcer. Although stomach ulcer is curable, if left untreated for long, it can lead to severe complication.
Stomach ulcer is not a pleasant feeling hence it is important to know the causes:
If there is an infection with the bacterium called Heliconacter pylori (H. pylori), it can lead to stomach ulcer.
When someone prolongs the usage or intake of NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), it can lead to a stomach ulcer.
Smoking cigarettes leads to stomach ulcers in most smokers. Ulcer caused by smoking can lead to much worse symptoms than any other cause. The complication could be ulcer bleeding, perforation and stomach obstruction.
To identify if you have an ulcer or not, there are some stomach ulcer signs you should know about:
Abdominal pain while an abdominal pain can be linked to many other diseases or health problems, some abdominal pain can also be due to ulcer. If the pain is felt between the breast bone and belly button, it could be a stomach ulcer sign. There will not be a constant pain that you will feel, it will come and go. Ulcer pain felt in the abdomen could feel like burning or stabbing.
Increased indigestion Ulcer usually causes indigestion and gas pain. So, if you find yourself burping and hiccupping a lot, that is a sure stomach ulcer sign.
Nausea You get the throwing up sensations when you wake up in the morning. It is due to the imbalance of digestive juices. Nausea can be mild to severe. If have this stomach ulcer sign, make you start with the treatment right away.
Heavy stomach This is one of the most common stomach ulcer signs that you can come across. Due to troubles in the stomach, your abdomen or your tummy will feel heavy and full. Here, you usually don’t feel like eating or drinking anything heavy.
You feel sick If you feel like you have a flu but there are no symptoms of flu, it could be a sign of stomach ulcer instead.
