The truth about ulcers

Treatment consists of a triple-drug regimen.
If you have an ulcer you'll be given two (maybe more) antibiotics to help eradicate the infection. And since damage caused by the infection is exacerbated by acidic digestive juices, you'll also take a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), a potent acid-suppressing medication, to help heal the ulcer and increase the effect of the antibiotics. Most people do well with this regimen. "Antibiotics can cause the occasional tummy upset or nausea, but, in general, treatment is pretty well tolerated," says Armstrong. If possible, you should stop taking ASA or NSAID therapy to make sure the ulcer heals and doesn't recur. If you can't stop these drugs, you may have to take the PPI indefinitely.

In some cases, ulcerlike symptoms such as abdominal pain turn out to be something other than an ulcer.
Between 30 and 50 per cent of people who develop symptoms of an ulcer actually have nonulcer dyspepsia, a disorder that is not unlike irritable bowel syndrome, says Armstrong.

"People with both disorders may have problems moving food through their digestive systems, although they do not have any obvious underlying disease," he says. Acid-suppressing drugs help treat symptoms in about half of those with dyspepsia. Drugs that speed the transit of food through the digestive tract (prokinetics, such as domperidone) may also improve dyspepsia symptoms. "Sometimes lifestyle changes play a role, too, so counselling and occasionally low-dose antidepressants may help reduce symptoms," adds Armstrong.

R-E-L-I-E-F!
Antacids and other mild acid-suppressing agents available in drugstores may provide adequate short-term relief if your symptoms occur fewer than twice a week. If they occur more often, you should see your doctor.

Alarming symptoms that require immediate medical attention include:
• sudden sharp persistent stomach pain;
• difficulty swallowing;
• bloody vomit or vomit that looks like coffee grounds; and/or
• bloody or black stools.