The Three Main Causes Of Stomach Ulcer

Pectic, duodenal or stomach ulcer is a very common health condition plaguing Nigerians. The number of people diagnose with this condition keeps growing every year. It affects people of all ages, gender, social status, etc. This is unlike what is happening in the western world. The number of diagnosis is dropping yearly over there. The reason I guess is because they have come to realise the cause of the condition. They do everything possible to prevent it from occuring. In Nigeria, what is believe to be the cause is not actually it. So it is difficult to prevent it as Nigerians tend to do things that cause it unknowingly. If you don't know the cause or mistake it, how well can you prevent it?
Read Also: Effect Of Indomethacin on Animals And Human
To know the cause of ulcer, it is good we know first what it is and the anatomy of the stomach. Ulcer is a break in the tissue lining the stomach. It happen anywhere between the stomach  and the small intestine. The break is a form of sore that does not heal on constant contact with stomach acid.
The stomach is an organ of the digestive system located in the abdomen below the rib to the left. It allow swallowed food from the oesophagus through the sphincter. It allow the mixing of digestive enzyme with the food helping to bring the food into a smooth paste before pushing it down the second sphincter into the duodenum which is the first part of the small intestine.

Causes Of Ulcer

Cause of stomach ulcer

It is not uncommon to hear in Nigeria when people say they can never get ulcer because they eat regularly and as at when due. To them, the food prevent the stomach acid from touching the stomach lining. They believe hunger is the sole cause if ulcer. An empty stomach will expose the stomach lining to the full effect of the acid. Some others believe spicy hot food and food containing high acidic content are potential cause. This is the main reason some people make sure they eat three square meal a day. Yet many still come down with the condition. So what could really be the cause.
There are three culprit. They are;

Bacteria

Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori) is a bacteria implicated by scientist as one of the leading cause of ulcer worldwide. It is responsible for about 60 per cent of all ulcer worldwide. This bacteria was discovered in the 80's. Ever since then a lot have been known about it. The bacteria can live in the body for a long time without symptoms. They are spiral shape and live in the stomach. The chemical they produce cause irritation and inflammation of the stomach lining. This leads to ulcer. However, when it does not lead to ulcer, it makes the stomach lining weak so that any other ulcer trigger can cause it. Unfortunately, the mode of transmission is not yet known. It is believe that personal hygiene reduce transmission.

Medication

The main culprit among all the medication that can cause ulcer is Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (N.S.A.I.Ds). Others are clopidogrel and aspirin. They can cause ulcer if they are taken at the right dose for a long time or in a short time at a high than normal dose.
Nsaids block the action of protaglandin, a chemical found in the body. A part of prostaglandin is responsible for pain and inflammatory response while another is responsible for stomach lining protective role. Unfortunately, Nsaids block both part of the prostaglandin not just the pain and inflammatory part. This expose the stomach to stomach acid. It becomes easy when there is H. Pylori already in the stomach.

Cancer

Stomach cancer can present as stomach ulcer especially in older people. The condition is known as Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (Z.E.S). ZES is a tumour that release a lot of gastrin, a hormone that cause stomach to produce large amounts of acid. The extra acid causes peptic ulcers to form in the duodenum and in the upper intestine.

Signs And Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of ulcer are more pronounce when the stomach is empty or after eating certain food. Smoking also worsen signs and symptoms.
Sufferers face a dull or burning pain from the breast bone to the belly button. Other signs and symptoms are bloating, nausea and vomiting, weight loss, etc. During severe attack bleeding can occur. In worse cases like perforated ulcer where acid burn through the wall of the stomach, food and digestive juice leak into the abdominal cavity of which the solution is a surgery.

Treatment

Before the discovery of H. Pylori, the suspect use to be stomach acid. So the only solution was the use of antacid. This only give a quick instant relieve but not cure. Scientist have found out that that acid in the stomach do not actually have much to do with digestion but on killing harmful bacterias. So ulcer drugs reducing gastric acid did not actually affect digestion.
Read Also: Treating Body Pain of Person With Peptic Ulcer
Since ulcer is a sore in the stomach lining, any treatment plan is to first of all exclude the cause. If a test shows that the ulcer was cause by H. Pylori, a suitable antibacterial to kill the bacteria is necessary before healing the sore. If in the other hand, it is cause by the use of drugs, the drug either need to be stop or can be continued with appropriate ulcer drugs to treat it. But treating ulcer why still on ulcer causing drugs increase healing time.
There are many ulcer drugs with different mechanisms of action. In all, they all inhibit gastric acid. This encourage healing of the sore. However, treatment takes months with dietary restrictions.
So when next you hear of stomach ulcer, don't consider hunger as the cause but it can only make worst for those with the condition.
Share On Social Media With Family And Friends To Show You Care!