Stomach Ulcer Treatment

Some people are more likely to ignore the warning signs of their stomach ulcer. This is wrong idea, although sometimes the symptoms of stomach ulcer may go away on their own , but if not properly treated this disease can cause other health problems, such as bleeding, perforation, or gastric outlet obstruction. What you should know about stomach ulcer treatment?

You might also like to know more about appropriately diet for ulcers, before continuing!

However, this article is not aimed to replace the doctor’s advices. Always prioritize to follow all recommendations and instructions from your doctor!

Stomach ulcer diagnosis

There are several tests that may be required by your doctor to make a diagnosis. Although he /she may be able to get the conclusion (by only analyzing the symptoms that you have) to make a diagnosis of stomach ulcer, but however one or some of several tests should be selected & taken to confirm the diagnosis.

First, the doctor may ask to do an acid-blocking medication and then your doctor will analyze whether the symptoms improve or not!

In several cases, the doctors may take ‘upper endoscopy’ to confirm their diagnosis, but in many cases doctors can make a diagnosis without using and involving endoscopy. Upper endoscopy is usually selected if patient has severe ulcer with severe symptoms. It is a kind of procedure that involves inserting a small endoscope through the patient’s throat and into the patient’s stomach to find abnormalities.

There are usually two common causes of peptic ulcer disease, H. pylori (a type of bacteria) and the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Stomach ulcer treatment

There are some options in which this disease can be treated. Some of these options are changes in lifestyle, using medication and the last way is surgery. Talk with your doctor for more advices!

Changes in lifestyle

If you have been diagnosed with stomach ulcer, and you seriously want to treat your disease -- first you have to avoid or minimize substance that can be triggering this disease. Changes in lifestyle (that also may recommend by your doctor) may include:

1. Quit smoking as earlier as possible if you are smoker. If you are not smoker, you have finished one of your big challenges in your treatment!
2. Avoid consuming or drinking alcohol. If you are drunker, stop this bad habit as earlier as possible.
3. If your doctor believes that the cause of your stomach ulcer is NSAIDs, then you should avoid these drugs! If you need to take NSAIDs for some reason, talk first with your doctor to get the right advices!

Medications

Some medications that are usually recommended by doctors to treat stomach ulcer may include:

1. Doctors are more likely to choose antibiotic if the cause of stomach ulcer is a type of bacteria, particularly such as H. pylori. In several cases, the patient may need also to take Pepto-Bismol.
2. PPI (Proton pump medications). PPI can decrease and control the levels of acid, which eventually will be helpful to make ulcer to heal.
3. Upper endoscopy! It is not only helpful procedure to confirm the diagnosis, but also sometimes can be used to treat some bleeding ulcers.

Surgery

The surgery option is usually required if there is a hole created in the wall of patient’s stomach. Sometimes, surgery is also recommended by doctor if patient has serious bleeding.

Additionally, there is an opinion that drinking milk can be helpful to treat an ulcer. But there is still no clearly answer for this issue, even milk may make the problem worse because it can encourage the stomach to make more acid. Discuss more with your doctor for more detailed information of this issue.

-- Image credit to ‘Getty Images’