How to Recognize Stomach Ulcers

For people who suffer from them, ulcers in the stomach are a painful and constant issue. Also known as peptic ulcer disease, these are sores that develop inside your stomach. Ulcers may cause severe pain at best, but at worst they create much more serious issues in the stomach.

In a lot of cases, recognizing and identifying ulcers as the source of your pain can be a big first step. Many people try to push through their stomach pain, or convince themselves it’s caused by another, less serious factor.

Without treatment, though, stomach ulcers can become serious. With that in mind, let’s look at a few basic tips for identifying peptic ulcer disease.

Symptoms

There are a few other common symptoms for many cases of stomach ulcers including:

Bloating or gassiness, including frequent belching
Nausea
Heartburn
Trouble eating fatty foods

In some cases, especially when left untreated, ulcers can have even worse symptoms. These can include:

Large changes in appetite, including unexpected weight loss
Difficulty breathing
Vomiting, especially vomiting blood
Blood or dark material in stools
Sharp, severe pain

Roughly 75 percent of all cases of stomach ulcers show no symptoms at all. In many cases this means the condition isn’t serious enough to worry about, but in others it could mean the ulcers continue to get worse while nothing is done.

Risk Factors

Many people are at a higher risk than normal for stomach ulcers, and these people should pay close attention to ulcer symptoms. These groups can include:

People who smoke or drink alcohol regularly
People who regularly use painkillers like aspirin or ibuprofen
People who produce high amounts of acid in their bodies
People who have had radiation treatment
People who eat a lot of spicy food or have a lot of daily stress

If you fit into any of these categories, you should be on higher alert for any stomach ulcer symptoms mentioned above. If any symptoms come up, talk to your doctor right away.

Tests

Your doctor will be able to identify most stomach ulcers with pretty solid accuracy based on your symptoms, but there are times where certain tests are needed. These tests will depend on all the specifics of each individual case. Some types of tests available for stomach ulcers include:

Basic Lab Tests: A bacteria called H. pylori (Helicobacter pylori) cause most cases of stomach ulcers, and the simplest way to identify many of these cases is figuring out whether this bacteria is present in the body or not.

Breath test: Involves eating an item filled with radioactive carbon, which is broken down by the stomach. You’ll then blow into a bag – if carbon dioxide is present, it means you’re infected with H. pylori.
Stool test
Blood test: Not typically used, as results are not always accurate.

Endoscopy: If your doctor still isn’t sure, he or she might recommend an endoscopy, or a scope of the digestive system. Your doctor will feed a lens attached to a small tube down the throat and into the digestive system to manually check for stomach ulcers.

X-rays: Referred to in the medical community as an upper gastrointestinal series or a barium swallow, this test is a group of X-rays taken of the upper digestive system. You will swallow a liquid containing barium, a contrast agent meant to make its way into your digestive system and help make potential ulcers easier to see.

In some minor cases, your doctor may recommend taking a heartburn or other anti-acid medication to see if it helps with symptoms before further testing. In cases where these tests do identify active ulcers, though, treatment usually begins immediately.