Ulcers

No one knows exactly what causes ulcers, but doctors think they’re due to a combination of excess stomach acid and failure of the stomach’s inner lining to protect it from the acid.  

Symptoms:

• Pain that recurs, each cluster of attacks lasting from several days to several months
• Pain that feels like indigestion, heartburn, or hunger
• Nausea
• Unintentional weight loss or loss of appetite

If you have ulcer, pain can be soothed in various ways:

• Eat smaller, lighter, more frequent meals for a couple of weeks. Big, heavy lunches and dinners can spell trouble for people with ulcers. Frequent meals tend to take the edge off pain.
• Avoid anything that will stimulate excess stomach acid. That includes coffee (regular and decaffeinated), tea, alcohol, and soft drinks containing caffeine.
• Discontinue use of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine, which irritate the stomach lining.
• Try anatacids (with your physician’s okay) on a short-term basis. (Don’t try to self-medicate an ulcer. You may soothe the symptoms without treating the problem itself.)
• Don’t smoke. Smokers get ulcers more frequently than nonsmomkers do.
• Try to inimize stress in your life. Stress doesn’t cause ulcers but for some people, stress triggers the release of stomach acid – and subsequent ulcer flare-ups.

Used with permission from A Year of Health Hints by Don R Powell, PHD and the American Institute for Preventive Medicine, copyright 2010. www.healthylife.com