Are stomach ulcers treatable?

[Aleman200]

Went to my GP today after being on lansoprazole for 3 weeks with no improvement on my stomach discomfort and he's put me on peptac and omeprazole and says he thinks it's a stomach ulcer, and i'm terrified it's fatal or something. Has anyone had any experience with these? Trying not to google at the minute.

[Barry boy]

My doctor suspected that an ulcer has been causing my stomach problems over the last year. I had all the relevant tests, endoscopy etc and they never found anything. I was advised to not take ibuprofen and avoid certain foods. My stomach seems back to normal now, it occasionally makes some strange noises and I get a little bit of pain here and there. It's no way near as bad as what it was earlier in the year. I've been prescribed omeprazol, don't no how long I'm supposed to take it.

I believe my problems were caused by stress, I was very stressed last year, i had a lot going on.

You'll probably have to go through all tests, not pleasant but has to be done. Saying that, mine was really bad at one point with internal bleeding, so they might just treat you with medication.

[Aleman200]

You had internal bleeding and it healed up?

[Barry boy]

Yes, I passed blood 3 times. Wheather it's healed I don't know but I don't seem to be suffering from the bloating now. I've cut out soft drinks, cut down on caffeine, oranges and doubled my intake of water. I seem to be doing OK now.

[Aleman200]

That's good to hear. I'm just terrified mine will get worse. I can't really tell if i'm hungry or not most of the time because it feels almost permanently bloated.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, they can treat them.

I used to work with a guy who developed a stomach ulcer. He would vomit blood the next morning after a night of drinking.

Fast forward about 10 years and started work at the same company as me again. Small world but it proved he got through it and he was healthy.

[Aleman200]

Oh christ. That sounds pretty rough.

Thank you though Terry, it's made things much more bearable!

Just gotta stop reading people's worries about them "Bursting" and all that now. :(

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yeah, it was pretty rough. It was always when he hit the whiskey shorts.

But he was mostly at work throughout all that so he did keep going. He just wasn't following his doctor's advice. He got there in the end though.

I always get that image of stomach ulcers, we tend to see the people in agony in medical soaps. I always joke about Holby City because you could go into that place with an ingrowing toenail and all of a sudden they find a heart condition you were born with that for some reason never bothered you in 60 years! :wacko:

If your GP needed you treated quickly he can telephone the hospital to have you put on a ward that is for emergencies that avoids the need to use A&E. I can't remember what they call them. If he wants to try meds & monitor, it's something he feels he can manage so that's good news.

[Aleman200]

Yeah that's what I thought, he said he'd rather avoid sending me for a camera down my throat, so yeah it seems to be meds and monitor so far.

[traceace]

Ulcers are rarely serious, just really uncomfortable. Meds usually heal them right up without any need for any further intervention. If there's still an issue or it gets worse, they generally do a quick endoscopy scope and can close them/do more aggressive 'fixing' methods. They do a number of things when they go in there (I got the fun 'cauterize the damn thing' option, which sounds scary, but mostly my stomach was just achy after as the stomach lining healed up for a few days), all of which aren't super invasive. I probably would've never gotten to that point had I gone earlier when my symptoms popped up months prior, which it sounds like you did. Good!

You don't mention any of the concerning signs I had (puking being one of them, I had a hard time eating, it wasn't just 'man this hurts') so I imagine you caught it nice and early and the meds will kick in soon enough. Barry's suggestions are top notch, especially the mention to stay away from advil-like products (ibuprofen) as it is terrible on the lining of your stomach when you have an issue like this. I would add spicy foods as well as a potential agitator. Bland diets until things calm down are usually your best bet, I basically lived on soups and bland chicken/mashed potatoes there for a while, haha...

SO YEAH, you're good! Even if it becomes a 'bad case' you clearly are under the watchful eye of the doctor and he won't let it get to any danger level, which is rare to begin with I believe. Plus, endoscopies aren't scary at all if it comes to that as an FYI (and don't even require the same kind of, ahem, prep of colonoscopies thankfully, you just don't eat for a number of hours before), it's over before you know it.

[Aleman200]

Thank you traceace, it's nice to hear from someone who had them. At the minute it's just very uncomfortable and i find it tough to eat because i don't know if i'm hungry or what have you. Which in turn is making taking the peptac liquid a bit awkward to say the least. And yeah i had a colonoscopy a year or two ago, that was not pleasant in the slightest.

I think the main issue is just the general discomfort and permanent bloating. Hopefully it doesn't get to the point where more aggressive measures are needed but i'm glad that they can just go "Okay lets sort this out" without too much of an issue. I've seen far too many posts about people panicking about having them.

---------- Post added at 18:58 ---------- Previous post was at 16:01 ----------

Also do you think excercise would make it worse?