How To Get Rid Of Stomach Ulcers
Have you been frequently experiencing sharp pain in your abdominal region? Do you often feel bloated or full despite eating little? Then chances are that you may have a stomach ulcer.Stomach or gastric ulcers are open sores or lesions that develop in the lining of the stomach or small intestine, when the protective mucus lining of the stomach becomes ineffective or is worn away due to the corrosive action of stomach acids.
These ulcers can also occur in the upper part of the intestines and represent a commonly occurring health problem, courtesy of 21st century fast-food and hectic life schedules.It is easy to get rid of stomach ulcers at home, but if they stay undiagnosed and untreated, they can lead to severe problems like stomach or gastro-intestinal cancer.
Foods You Should Avoid If You Have Stomach Ulcers
Certain diets weaken the esophageal sphincter, allowing acidic gut content to reflux back into the esophagus, causing heartburn, indigestion, and discomfort. By avoiding these cuisines you will start your ulcer healing process. These include:
-Salted nutriments
Deep-fried meals
-Alcoholic beverages
Overeating and eating before going to bed should be avoided because they aggravate reflux symptoms and gastric ulcers.
Supplements May Be Beneficial
If your stomach ulcer is being treated with an antibiotic, consider taking a probiotic supplement as part of your diet plan. This can help reduce antibiotic-associated symptoms. It may also improve the effectiveness of the antibiotic.
Ask your doctor what probiotic would be best to take with your antibiotic medication. Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Saccharomyces supplements have shown benefits in people with H. pylori ulcers.
Deglycyrrhizinated licorice and curcumin extracts have shown promise in some ulcer research due to their action against H. pylori.
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Causes Of Stomach Ulcers
A stomach ulcer can be caused by a variety of factors, including:
- Helicobacter pylori bacteria is thought to be responsible for around 60 per cent of stomach ulcers and at least 90 per cent of duodenal ulcers.
- Certain medications which include aspirin or clopidogrel, taken regularly to help prevent heart attack or stroke, and drugs for arthritis. Anti-inflammatory medications are thought to cause around two fifths of stomach ulcers.
- Cancer stomach cancer can present as an ulcer, particularly in older people.
Foods That Will Not Irritate Gastric Ulcers
The hot sauce you add to your eggs and chili did not cause your ulcer, but continuing to add it may not make you feel any better. Gastric ulcers are caused by bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori. Diet may not be responsible for the painful stomach sores. However, eating a balanced and healthy diet and avoiding foods that irritate your ulcer may help prevent flareups and pain. If any food irritates your ulcer, avoid it in your ulcer diet, even if it’s considered a nonirritating food.
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Although diet might not be the cause of a gastric ulcer, choosing ulcer-friendly foods will help you heal and prevent additional flareups.
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Diet For Stomach Ulcer: Foods To Eat And Avoid
Stomach ulcers, also called peptic ulcers, occur when the lining that shields the stomach walls breaks down due to bacterial infection or prolonged use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs . Stomach ulcers are usually treated with antibiotics if the ulcer is bacterial or with a proton pump inhibitor if the ulcer is caused by NSAIDs. In most cases, changes in lifestyle, including following a stomach ulcer diet will be necessary to reduce gastric acids that irritate the ulcers.
Foods To Help Prevent Symptoms
Gastritis involves inflammation of the stomach lining. For this reason, an anti-inflammatory diet may help some people.
There is no single best anti-inflammatory diet. To combat inflammation, eat plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other plant foods, which are rich in antioxidants. It is also important to avoid processed foods and any containing unhealthful fats and added salt or sugar.
Learn more about an anti-inflammatory diet here.
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Home Remedies To Get Rid Of Stomach Ulcers
If and when you experience any of the symptoms described above, consult a physician immediately for proper diagnosis.Depending on the severity of your condition, you can choose the treatment you wish to follow in order to rectify the situation.If left undiagnosed and untreated, gastric ulcers can lead to the following complications:
- Internal bleeding
- Perforation or splitting open of the stomach lining, i.e., a hole or tear in the stomach wall
- Stomach cancer
- Swelling or scarring that leads to intestinal blockage
You can get any of the following tests done for proper diagnosis of stomach ulcers: urea breath test, stool test, blood test, and gastroscopy or endoscopy.In case the damage to your stomach is not severe and does not require immediate surgical intervention or antibiotic treatment, given below are 10 home remedies that can help you get rid of stomach ulcers and repair your stomach lining.
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Foods That Help Fight Stomach Ulcer
Stomach ulcers are a type of peptic ulcer. These are also called as gastric ulcers, which are basically open sores within the stomach lining. These are oftentimes extremely painful because of the acid present in the stomach and the damage that it can apparently cause. Helicobacter pylori is the major and most common cause of stomach ulcers. However, these can also be caused by overuse of painkillers, for instance, aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen. Antibiotics and medications can prove to be of major help to reduce and block stomach acid. There are a number of other natural home remedies as well to treat the same. Some of the foods that are recommended to treat stomach ulcer are as given below:
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What To Eat When You Have A Stomach Ulcer
Imagine you had an open wound on your hand and you spilled lemon juice on it. It would hurt, right? Stomach ulcers work in a similar way, Ehsani explains.
When you eat or drink certain foods, it can either help or hurt that open wound, she says. Its important to treat it carefully and feed yourself food and beverages that will help heal the ulcer.
Antioxidant-rich foods such as fruits and veggies should be a main staple in your diet when trying to heal a stomach ulcer. These foods can even help prevent another ulcer from developing. Focus on getting a different color of the rainbow on your plate with every meal.
And when you do eat, try to keep your meals small.
Smaller meals will produce less acid, therefore less burning sensation, says Jonathan Valdez, RDN. Hes a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Genki Nutrition. Skipping meals and overeating can be problematic for ulcers, says Valdez.
Here are some of the best foods to eat if you have a stomach ulcer:
Beneficial Diets For Stomach Ulcers
While there is no specific diet recommended for stomach ulcers, there are some research-based dietary patterns that provide the beneficial emphasis on fruits, vegetables and other high-fiber foods. Commonly recommended diet patterns include:
To learn more about an individualized food plan that will help manage your health conditions, ask your doctor for a referral to a dietitian.
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Exercise May Help Ulcers
A study of more than 11,000 men and women showed that active men had one-half to one-third the risk of developing a duodenal ulcer over a 20- year period when compared to their sedentary counterparts. Men who walked or ran at least 10 miles a week were 62 percent less likely to develop an ulcer than physically inactive study participants.15 Of course, moderate exercise is the best type. Intense activity tends to draw too much blood away from the lining of the stomach and the intestines, thereby rendering the mucosa more susceptible to ulcer formation.
Avoid Stress And Panic:
Stress and anxiety will put the pressure in your stomach, leading to ulcers. Although meditation will not make the stomach ulcer disappear, it is said that stress and anxiety are contributing factors of ulcers. Therefore, as the way on how to treat a stomach ulcer, you should take care of your mental health. It is recommended that regular exercise will help you reduce stress and restore your energy. Therefore, 30-minutes of right exercise will keep the ulcers on bay. Smoking is also the cause of stress. If you want to get rid of stress as well as stomach ulcer, it is needed to avoid bad habit including smoking.
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Treatment Options For Ulcers
Ulcers caused by H. pylori will most likely need to be treated with antibiotics. Strict adherence to your treatment plan and close follow-up with your doctor are the best ways to make sure your treatments are effective and your ulcers are healing.
You will also be prescribed a medication that temporarily keeps your stomach from making or secreting as much acid as it normally would. This medication may be a proton pump inhibitor or H2 blocker.
Characteristics Of Nutritional Therapy
The objective of peptic ulcer dietotherapy is to prevent hyper secretion of pepticchloride in order to reduce the sore and pain in the gastric and duodenal mucosa. Inaddition, nutritional therapy aims to promote healing, based on a complex sequence ofevents going from the initial trauma to the repair of the damaged tissue.Investigation of nutritional deficiencies is essential in the preparation of anappropriate recovery diet. In the early 20th century, Sippy proposed adiet based on milk and milk cream, combined with antacids, for treatment ofgastrointestinal ulcer, based on the principle that milk would provide gastricalkalinization and relieve pain. Today milk is not recommended due to the bufferingeffect and the significant gastric acid secretion effect of milk29.
According to Marrota and Floch18,calories distribution for patients with peptic ulcer should be normal, with valuesranging from 50-60% of carbohydrates, 10-15% of proteins, and 25-30% of lipids, withtotal energy value sufficient to maintain or recover the nutritional status.
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Alternative Treatments Without Proven Efficacy In Peptic Ulcer
The potential of plants as source of new drugs still offers a large field forscientific research. Even if is observed a large number of known plants, a smallpercentage has already been phytochemically investigated and only a fraction of themhas already been assessed to determine its pharmacological potential. Even amongtraditional medicinal plants there is still a large percentage that has not beenstudied to confirm their efficacy and safety in humans.
In peptic ulcer this is also observed. In a study conducted by Mentz andSchenkel, in which theyassessed plants with popularly known effects to scientifically prove them, theyobserved that plants like Symphytum Officinale L. , besideshaving no proven efficacy it may be harmful because of their pyrrolizidine alkaloids,of proven hepatotoxic action. Another studied plant was Zantoxylon rhoifoliunLan , popularly indicated for ulcers and healing, butits benefits have not been proved either. In addition, Maytenus ilicifoliaMart, commonly known in Brazil as espinheira-santa, used for healingpeptic ulcer, has not proven this effect in trials either.
The use of natural products in treatment of ulcer has been widely studied. However,most of the studiesthat haveproven an anti-ulcer effect were conducted with animals, and therefore do not providereliability for alternative treatments in the prevention of relapses or for treatmentof peptic ulcer in humans.
Stomach Ulcers Are The Open Pores That Develop Within The Lining Of The Stomach If You Are Suffering From The Disease These Foods Will Help You Heal
Written by Sudhakar Jha | Published : September 10, 2018 10:26 PM IST
Stomach ulcers are a type of peptic ulcer which are caused by acid in the stomach and are very painful. And one of the most common cause of these is the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, or H. pylori. They can also occur due to the overuse of painkillers, such as aspirin, and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories , such as ibuprofen or naproxen . Generally treated by antibiotics, you can have these foods to treat the disease.
Probiotics: These are the living bacteria and yeast that provide healthy and important microorganisms to your gut. They are present in many common foods, particularly fermented foods. These include buttermilk, yogurt, miso, kimchi and kefir. Various studies have shown that probiotics may be helpful in wiping out H. pylori.
Honey: Its not simply sweet. Honey contains up to 200 elements, including polyphenols and other antioxidants that help in ulcer. A powerful antibacterial, studies have shown that honey inhibits the growth of H. pylori.
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Foods To Help Treat Gastritis
Two foods that may help treat gastritis are broccoli and yogurt.
Broccoli contains a chemical called sulforaphane, which has antibacterial properties. It also contains antioxidants, which can help protect against cancer. For this reason, eating broccoli sprouts may help relieve or prevent gastritis and decrease the risk of stomach cancer.
Authors of an older study, published in 2009, found that participants with H. pylori infection who ate 70 grams more than half a cup of broccoli sprouts per day for 8 weeks had lower levels of infection and inflammation than those who did not eat broccoli.
In 2006, another team investigated whether eating about 2 cups of probiotic yogurt daily before using a combination of antibiotics could boost the ability of the medication to combat drug resistant H. pylori infection.
After 4 weeks, the researchers found that the participants who consumed the yogurt and antibiotics tended to eliminate the infection more effectively than those who only took antibiotics.
The results may have stemmed from the yogurts active cultures of beneficial bacteria that help improve the bodys ability to combat infection.
What Factors Contribute To The Development Of A Stomach Ulcer
Ulcers can potentially upset a normal lifestyle significantly. Many people believe that spicy food and stress induce stomach ulcers.
However, even though the two might aggravate the illness, most stomach ulcers result from H.pylori .
Other known causes of stomach ulcers include long-term OTC nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines . Smoking, and alcohol.
When you have stomach, ulcers you develop certain symptoms that vary depending on the severity of the illness.
The most common symptom is pain or a burning sensation in your midsection that can last a few minutes or several hours.
The discomfort gets worse when you have an empty stomach. Other notable symptoms are:
- Bloating
- Difficult eating because of pain
- Vomiting
- Acid reflux followed by burping
- Heartburn
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What Do You Think
Have you ever had a stomach ulcer? Did you see your doctor about it? Did she prescribe you any medication? Did you alter your diet in any way? Did you find that certain foods helped with your symptoms or made them worse in any way? Share your stories, suggestions and questions in the comments below!
Antacids Versus Nutrients Bioavailability
Deficiency of vitamin B12 is common in patients with peptic ulcer due tothe prolonged use of antacids, making difficult the bioavailability of this vitamin.Vitamin B12 can be synthetized by the intestinal microbiota in the colon,but is not absorbed. Deficiency of this vitamin causes impaired cell division andmegaloblastic anemia. It is estimated that 80-90% of patients lacking vitaminB12 develop neurological alterations, if not treated24. As a result, recommendation is for2.4 µg/day of this vitamin, which can be obtained from animal foods, such asmilk, meat and eggs.
Absorption of folic acid can be impaired in subjects that make chronic use ofaluminum-based antacids ,because antacids make the pH of the jejunum more alkaline23. In these cases, intake of 400 µg/day of thisvitamin is necessary, which can be supplied with ingestion of leguminous foods, suchas lentils, and meats. It is important to emphasize that the reduction of the gastricacidity by antacids or antiulcers alters proteins digestion and affects good digestion offoods21.
Antacids can also diminish absorption of iron, causing iron-deficiency anemia.Gastrointestinal bleeding can be observed in gastroduodenal ulcer and infection byH. pylori1 andmay be associated with the development of anemia. Gastric bleeding is a majorcomplication of peptic ulcer22.
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Dietary Fibre & Vitamin A
Research shows that a high fibre diet decreases the risk of developing ulcer disease. Although both insoluble and soluble fibres demonstrate this association, there is a stronger association between diets high in soluble fibre and a decreased risk for developing ulcers.
Foods that are high in soluble fibre include oats, psyllium husk, legumes, flax seeds, barley, nuts, and certain vegetables and fruits, such as oranges, apples, and carrots.
Findings from a prospective cohort study that included 47,806 men, showed that a diet rich in vitamin A from all sources might reduce the development of duodenal ulcer, as might diets high in fruits and vegetables, possibly due to their fibre content.2 A prospective cohort study follows, over time, a group of similar individuals who differ with respect to certain factors under study, to determine how these factors affect rates of a certain outcome however, more research is necessary to verify results because there are so many other factors involved with this type of study that could confound the data.
Animal studies demonstrate that vitamin A increases the production of mucus in the gastrointestinal tract. Impaired mucosal defense can allow ulcers to develop. Therefore, vitamin A may have a protective effect against the development of ulcer disease.3
Good sources of vitamin A include liver, carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, kale, spinach, and collard greens.
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