What is a Peptic Ulcer?

A health article about Peptic Ulcer fromYour Health Online the A to Z directory of dealing with Health Problems & nutritional Self Care Strategies

The term peptic ulcer is referred to both, gastric and duodenal ulcers. It is believed to have occurred due to an infection by a bacterium known as Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). This corkscrew-shaped bug lives in the inner lining of the stomach causing peptic ulcer. If peptic ulcer is located in the stomach it is called gastric ulcer.

Literally speaking, an ulcer is an open sore, often infected. Frequently this sore is in the stomach or the duodenum, (the first part of the intestine leading from the stomach) the part of the intestines which connects with the stomach.

Peptic ulcers, which are in the stomach and the duodenum can occur at any age and affect both men and women. Untreated, sufferers can look forward to a long siege with them.

But today's peptic ulcer sufferers have a brighter prospect for relief than did those of even a single generation ago. There is now less than 1 chance in 18 that surgery will ever be necessary and new medications act faster and better and offer more relief than ever before.

Signs & Symptoms

The warning sign of active ulcers you will most likely experience (if you get any warning at all) is a gnawing discomfort in the middle or upper abdomen that typically comes between meals or in the middle of the night.

Food or liquids, including antacids and milk, can provide some temporary relief, but milk might not be all that good a remedy since it stimulates production of hydrochloric acid and other digestive juices which further aggravates the pain.

The most common symptom of ulcers is an intense burning sensation below the breastbone, which is typically felt between 1-3 hours after meals. The pain can be intense enough to cause its' victim to awaken during the night with an excruciating internal burning sensation. It could cause headaches, nausea and/or vomiting.

Often severe heartburn in evident. It's possible that a Peptic Ulcer could develop symptoms such as dark tar-like stools or spitting up blood.

These advanced symptoms may be indicative of gastro-intestinal bleeding and should be immediately addressed by your doctor. Bleeding ulcers are potentially life-threatening and are to be considered a medical emergency.

• Constant pain in the abdomen - which mainly is a duodenal symptom. This pain occurs within one or two hours after meals and also when the stomach is empty. This pain lasts for several minutes or hours and you can get relief by eating or having any antacid medicines.

• Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and losing weight in the same process is another sign.

What Causes Peptic Ulcer?

Although it has been determined that there could be several contributing factors resulting in Peptic or Stomach Ulcers, emotional stress and anxiety are generally considered the primary causes.

Among other contributors are prolonged use of anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids (in particular those taken for arthritis), excessive smoking, food allergies and poor nutrition.

Recent evidence has also identified a type of bacteria almost always found in persons who have Stomach Ulcers.

This bacteria, Helicobacter pylori, is rarely found in those who have been spared from the experience. It is thought that H. pyloric may be a risk factor for stomach cancer. A blood test or a biopsy of the stomach lining can determine the presence of this bacteria.

Many experts believe that food allergies are also a major cause of ulcers. If you have a tendency to be prone to Stomach Ulcers, you may want to consider allergies as a possible source.

Risk Factors:

Ulcers have frequently been the target for humor in describing the stereotypical aggressive, pressured, goal-or-career-oriented person. But for those who have them, ulcers are certainly no laughing matter. Peptic ulcers strike 1 out of ever 50 Americans each year.

As research continues, there is now mounting evidence that something other than smoking, drinking, spicy meals, or a possible battle with the boss may be associated with ulcers. It is now believed that ulcers are the result of a combination of conditions, the dynamics of which researchers don't yet fully understand.

Complications in Peptic Ulcer

• These complications have certain symptoms which need immediate care namely hemorrhage of the ulcer causing bleeding. This kind of bleeding occurs without pain making it very hard to detect. It may slowly enter the digestive tract leading to anemia. If the bleeding is fast it may be more dangerous. The symptoms include weakness, blood vomiting and dark-colored stools.

• The other complication is pyloric stenosis (obstruction) where in the valve at the bottom of the stomach leading towards duodenum becomes narrow. This complication obstructs the transition of the content from the stomach into the intestine. This increases abdominal pain, vomiting and causes bloating.

• Perforation occurs when the ulcer completely erodes the stomach or duodenal wall. This leads to leakage of acidic contents into the abdominal cavity causing acute peritonitis (infection of the abdominal cavity). You may suffer one of the worst kinds of abdominal pains during such times and it may worsen with any type of movement. This can be fatal if medical treatment is not given immediately.

Prevention:

It has been determined that smoking doubles a person's risk for ulcer disease. Physicians and researches have found that ulcers heal a lot slower for smokers, and smokers also have a higher relapse rate.

And you're definitely at risk for ulcers if you take aspirin and any of the other products containing aspirin. High-dose Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Maproxen and Piroxicam are in wide use today for many conditions, especially to relive pain and swelling among the millions of people who have arthritis. These medications can irritate the stomach's lining and cause gastrointestinal bleeding.

Even though this can be a serious condition, it is one that is easily taken care of. From a nutritional perspective, avoiding dairy products is recommended as they can aggravate the situation. Also avoid caffeine, alcohol, fatty foods, and soda pop.

Recommended foods are high fiber foods (if you're dealing with a bleeding ulcer, consume nonirritating fiber like guar gum and/or psyllium seed), low fat yogurt, avocados, bananas, squash, yams, steamed broccoli, carrots and carrot juice. Blue grapes, almonds and almond milk, potatoes, and cabbage juice can be beneficial in the healing process. Okra, papaya, persimmons, sprouts and sweet potatoes are also among the foods that are helpful.

When to seek Medical Advice:

The most common symptom of ulcers is an intense burning sensation below the breastbone, which is typically felt between 1-3 hours after meals. The pain can be intense enough to cause its' victim to awaken during the night with an excruciating internal burning sensation. It could cause headaches, nausea and/or vomiting.

Often severe heartburn in evident. It's possible that a Peptic Ulcer could develop symptoms such as dark tar-like stools or spitting up blood.

These advanced symptoms may be indicative of gastro-intestinal bleeding and should be immediately addressed by your doctor. Bleeding ulcers are potentially life-threatening and are to be considered a medical emergency.

You should never ignore any warning signs of ulcers. Ulcer complications are serious and in some cases can be life-threatening. If paid from ulcers persists after more than 10 to 14 days of self-treatment or comes back when treatment ends, you should see your doctor.

The passing of blood through the bowels may be caused by some other problem, but it can also be an urgent warning of a bleeding ulcer.

Bleeding ulcers can cause anemia or, if the ulcer gets larger it may expand into a major blood vessel, a leak can turn into a hemorrhage, with only minutes available for life saving emergency treatment.

Ulcers can also perforate and may erode completely through the wall of the stomach or duodenum. If this happens and the stomach's contents flow into the abdominal cavity, severe infection can result. A perforated ulcer is an emergency that requires immediate surgery.

Treatment/Therapy:

Antacids blended from aluminum, calcium or magnesium salts, have long been the non prescription drugs most people quickly reach for to get relief from their stomach pains.

But, because antacids interfere with absorption of some medications, be sure to go over this with your doctor and get his approval.

One more point to consider is that while both prescription and over-the-counter drugs may well relieve the symptoms of ulcers, they do not repair the damaged tissue, which is the real problem.

These are short term quick-fixes that may actually do more harm than good as they create an illusion that the ulcer is cured or under control.

Home remedies for Peptic Ulcer

• Avoid smoking, alcohol, drinking caffeinated food products like coffee and coke.

• Salt and sugar intake should be lessened, as it aggravates this problem furthermore.

• Avoid NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like aspirin, ibuprofen and many more which does not help in the healing process of peptic ulcers.

• You can use dried banana powder (Musa paradisiaca) to treat ulcers. Take two capsules of dried raw banana powder four times a day for eight weeks and see the improvement.

• Calendula plant is also known to have anti-inflammatory and healing properties which have been used as an age-old medicine for peptic ulcers. If capsules are available, have two, three times a day. Or you can use 2 to 3 tsp of calendula juice.

• Marshmallow (Althea officinalis) root extract is rich in protein and mucilage-carbohydrate which helps in production of a new tissue. It also helps in removing acid from your body.

• Papaya Leaf is a great ingredient for digestion. It digests the dead tissue which helps in treating many skin diseases, wounds and ulcers. It has the property to protect the stomach mucosa from any kind of damage and ulcer formation.

• People suffering from this disease should do yoga asanas too which would minimize the peptic ulcer problem. Asanas like Vajrasana, Padmasana, Pawanmuktasana, Bhujangasana and Paschimothasana can surely prove to be very useful to deal with this problem.

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.

Self Care strategies for Living with Peptic Ulcer

Persons who treat themselves with antacids may do themselves more harm than good. Though they may get initial relief because the tablet neutralises the acid, the stomach responds by producing even more acid because the basic cause of the hyperacidity has not been dealt with. Ulcers can be best treated by natural methods.

Diet is of utmost importance in the treatment of ulcer. The diet should be so arranged as to provide adequate nutrition to afford rest to the disturbed organs to maintain continuous neutralisation of the gastric acid, to inhibit the production of acid and to reduce mechanical and chemical irritation.

Milk, cream, butter, fruits and fresh, raw and boiled vegetables and natural foods are the best diet for an ulcer patient. The fruits recommended are banana, mango, musk melon and dates. Such a diet will progressively reduce the acidity in the stomach. A low-salt diet can greatly help in curing hyperacidity and ulcers.

The use of banana and plantain is considered highly beneficial in the treatment of peptic ulcer. These fruits are antiulcerogenic and have long been used in folk medicine to treat ulcers. They are said to contain an unidentified compound called, perhaps jokingly, Vitamin U (against ulcers). According to British pharmacist Dr. Ralph Best of the University of Aston in Birmingham, bananas stimulate proliferation of cells and mucus that form a stronger barrier between the stomach lining and corrosive acid. Plantains should, however, be cooked before. eating because they are too hard and tough to eat raw. Green plantains are considered a more potent medicine for healing ulcers than ripe ones.

Cabbage is another useful remedy for peptic ulcers. It contains antiulcer drugs. In a research study, Dr. Garnett Chenery, a professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine in the 1950s, demonstrated that just 850 ml of fresh cabbage juice every day relieved pain and healed both gastric and duodenal ulcers better and faster than standard treatments did.

In a test of 55 patients who drank cabbage juice, 95 per cent felt better within two to five days. X-rays and gastroscopy revealed a rapid healing of gastric ulcers in only one-quarter of the average time. The duodenal ulcers of patients fed cabbage also healed in one-third the usual time. Cabbage can also be boiled in water and this water taken twice daily after cooling.

Almond milk made from blanched almonds in a blender is also beneficial in the treatment of ulcer. It binds the excess of acid in the stomach and supplies high-quality protein. Raw goat's milk is also highly beneficial. It actually helps to heal peptic ulcer.

Raw fruits and vegetables should be avoided for a few weeks, as many of these are especially irritating. Potatoes and squashes are, however, well-tolerated. All sour fruits should be avoided, especially citrus fruits.

Certain foods do not agree in cases of gastric complaints and should be eliminated. These include fried and greasy foods which are always difficult to digest; flesh foods which require a high amount of acid in the stomach for their digestion and acid causes more pain and flatulence in the sensitive stomach; condiments, preserves and sugar which are stomach irritants; and tea, coffee, tobacco and alcohol which create an acidic reaction in the stomach. The healing capacity and vitality of the body will increase if these harmful and unsuitable foods are avoided.

Diet change strategies:

Recommended Diets For Peptic Ulcer Patients

Peptic ulcer affects the stomach and the duodenum, giving symptoms like burning and pain in the upper abdomen frequently after one or two hours after eating was done. This discomfort is relieved after taking antacid drugs and food.

Keeping a diet is very important in treating ulcer. A few years ago it was thought that food can cause ulcer but now it has been proven that certain aliments can only aggravate the symptoms of ulcer and delay healing.

Some tips you must follow in order to prevent or heal faster the ulcer are:

1.Try to avoid the following aliments because they only injure your stomach line: pepper, chilly, peppermint, citrus fruits, cocoa, chocolate, cola, and fried fatty foods. This list can be adjusted according to your tolerances but the doctors should be consulted about it too.

2.When eating try to eat slowly, chewing well the aliments in a non-stressful atmosphere.

3.Try to take your meals two hours before bedtime.

4.If you smoke, you should quit because smoking only delays ulcer healing.

5.Pay attention to the foods that cause you pain and burnings and try not to eat them any more.

6.If you caught a cold do not use aspirin because the substances it contains are harmful to your stomach and will delay ulcer healing.

7.Do not skip taking the drugs the doctor recommended: antacids, antibiotics.

Here is a scheme of a diet you can follow, approved by the National Research Council's Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA):

At breakfast, eat one toast with margarine and jelly; drink half a cup of apple juice, skim milk-one cup; you are allowed one teaspoon of sugar and a quarter of a teaspoon of salt.

At lunch, you can have a cream of potato soup with broiled chicken patty and tossed salad, one teaspoon of mustard, and a quarter of salt. If you want you can have peaches after.

At dinner: baked fish with mashed potatoes and one slice of bread; half a cup of apricot nectar and vanilla pudding. Margarine is admitted in one teaspoon.

This type of diet can also be followed by those who suffer of non-ulcer dyspepsia. This affection is similar to the peptic ulcer but the differences are that non-ulcer dyspepsia does not give an ulcer, a lesion on the stomach or duodenum; it only gives the same symptoms as peptic ulcer.

Vitamin & Nutrient Associations

From a nutritional perspective, avoiding dairy products is recommended as they can aggravate the situation. Also avoid caffeine, alcohol, fatty foods, and soda pop.

Recommended foods are high fiber foods (if you're dealing with a bleeding ulcer, consume nonirritating fiber like guar gum and/or psyllium seed), low fat yogurt, avocados, bananas, squash, yams, steamed broccoli, carrots and carrot juice.

Blue grapes, almonds and almond milk, potatoes, and cabbage juice can be beneficial in the healing process. Okra, papaya, persimmons, sprouts and sweet potatoes are also among the foods that are helpful.

There are also many vitamins that can be beneficial when dealing with this condition. Vitamin E helps to relieve pain and reduces stomach acid.

Vitamin A helps to heal ulcerated tissue and protects the stomach lining from irritation. Vitamin C with bioflavonoids can help to heal ulcers.

Vitamin K prevents bleeding. Vitamin B complex, Zinc, Calcium/magnesium, and Potassium are all helpful in the healing process.

There are a great many herbs and herbal combinations that can be of substantial benefit in healing Peptic Ulcers.

This is not intended to be a complete list, but rather some suggestions of easily accessible herbs that could be helpful when dealing with this condition.

• Aloe Vera Juice after meals encourages the healing of damaged tissue.

• Alfalfa is an excellent source of vitamin K and will help to control bleeding.

• DGL form of Licorice (deglycyrrhizinated licorice) is a natural anti-inflammatory that produces a mucus, which protects the stomach wall. Use 750-1,500 milligrams 2-3 times daily between meals for 8-16 weeks. NOTE: DO NOT SUBSTITUTE ordinary Licorice Root.

It can elevate blood pressure if used daily for more than 7 days and should be avoided completely by those with high blood pressure.

• Slippery Elm soothes irritated mucous membranes.

• Golden Seal is a natural antibiotic that fights infection and promotes healing for the digestive system. DO NOT take for more than 1 week or during pregnancy. It could disturb normal intestinal flora.

• Pau d'arco is a powerful antibiotic which can fight the presence of bacterial infection in ulcers.

• A chelate form of Calcium/Magnesium helps to soothe the nerves and to relieve stress.

Again this is just a sampling of herbs that can benefit a Peptic Ulcer condition. Although helpful, I recommend you use caution with herbs such as Chamomile and Golden Seal, and do not suggest they be used on a continuous basis.

Aloe Vera Juice is a refreshing and anti-bacterial drink which is likely to have a direct benefit with ulcers. You might find that taking this daily, diluted in some filtered water will not only cleanse your mouth and improve your oral hygiene, but also assists in dealing with any other digestive issues you may also be experiencing.

This problem, like so many others, indicates that your body system is working to deal with underlying problems.

This may be a build up of toxins and poisons in your system and the symptoms you are experiencing is part of your bodies attempts to deal with them.

You may find benefit from our information on Detoxifying through change of diet.

It may be due to difficulties with your digestive system that is causing your body to be starved of key nutrients, vitamins or minerals.

In this case you may find useful answers by reviewing our article on Nutrition For Your Cells.

It may be that your metabolism has slowed due to pressures that have been placed on your system through life in general or through specific “challenges” you have faced in the last few months or last few years.

Review this by looking at our article about balancing your Metabolic Rate.

Further reading through our articles on health issues will give you a body of information that will help you decide what options you have to deal with the underlying causes of your problem through giving your body the nutrition products that will assist you body to heal from the inside out.

We wish you well in your search for solutions to this problem and your movement towards better health in all areas.

More Resources available about Peptic Ulcer :

http://www.ulcer-center.com/Duodenal-Ulcer.htm

http://www.easyhomeremedy.com/

http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Peptic-Ulcer.html

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