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What doesn't kill you will wake you up in the middle of the night, 5–6 hours after your last meal.
The acid rises to your oesophagus, causing severe heartburn that wakes you up; this happens because the acid inflames and irritates the tissues inside your esophagus, which runs from your chest to your throat.
This is something I have been facing for days now. It has occurred before, but I used antacids and the symptoms vanished for months — not until I had eaten a somewhat oily meal, taken alcohol, and drunk coffee almost at the same interval, and I went through a phase I don't want to happen again.
As much as research has shown that low food intake is not a major cause of ulcers, I know mine was initially triggered by low food intake when I was a kid. I rarely took NSAIDs, which could also be a trigger.
As a semi-expert in the ulcer world, I knew a few things about lifestyle changes — like avoiding coffee, since the caffeine present stimulates gastric secretion components such as gastrin and hydrochloric acid, which may aggravate stomach ulcers.
Alcohol, and continuous consumption of it, can also irritate the gastric mucosa and increase acidity levels. Other triggers include consumption of spicy foods, lying down immediately after meals, and irregular meals.
I don't think I would want my worst enemy to go through such. So let me break down the two types of ulcer — because knowing which one you're dealing with changes everything and makes it easier to explain your symptoms.
Duodenal ulcer — the one I am currently experiencing — is located in the first part of the small intestine, just past the stomach. Pain usually improves on eating, but the pain comes back after a few hours, which causes the waking up at night, and patients are advised to eat small, frequent meals. It is greatly linked to the bacteria Helicobacter pylori and excessive acid secretion. It occurs more frequently compared to gastric ulcer.
Gastric ulcer, also called stomach ulcer, is located in the stomach lining. It is said to occur less frequently than duodenal ulcer, although it can also increase mortality risk. Here, pain mostly increases on eating, and it is mostly associated with mucosal breakdown.
A stomach ulcer feels like a sore spot in your stomach, which is located in your upper abdomen, between your breastbone and your belly button, a little to the left.
Many people experience indigestion with stomach ulcers, which means burning stomach pain together with a feeling of fullness. You might feel full shortly after you've started eating and/or long after you ate.
Typical ulcer pain feels like an acid burn in your stomach, or like something is eating it. This feeling isn't an illusion. Stomach acids, enzymes, and other chemicals are eating away at the wound.
Due to the uprise of my ulcer, the use of only Danacid wasn't responding to my condition, so I had to get a different prescription indicated for my condition.
I was advised to run a proper test to confirm the presence of H. pylori, irrespective of the symptoms.
In as much as taking medication scares me, the triple therapy was indicated for my condition. The triple therapy is a proton pump inhibitor combined with two antibiotics. It could be omeprazole with clarithromycin + amoxicillin.
Instead of the less effective Danacid, which I did take in the past, it was replaced with omeprazole, which has higher efficacy and is indicated for the treatment of heartburn, gastroesophageal reflux, gastric and duodenal ulcer, and dyspepsia.
The acid suppression reduces the burning, giving space for the effectiveness of the antibiotics.
The antibiotics are indicated to tackle the H. pylori bacterium.
Certain advice was given during the administration, and I hope to remember it by jotting it down here: omeprazole should be taken 30–60 minutes before a meal, preferably in the morning; the capsule should be swallowed whole and not chewed nor crushed. 20mg of omeprazole once daily, with amoxicillin 500mg t.d.s. (that is, 8-hourly) and clarithromycin 500mg (that is, 12-hourly, twice daily).
The antibiotics were advised to be taken before or after a meal, but taking the latter with food may reduce GI upset. Spacing of the doses should be taken seriously, and completing the full course is necessary to avoid the development of antibiotic resistance.
Some common measures to relieve these symptoms if your medication runs out include: chewing gum, which increases saliva flow in the mouth and suppresses the acid; slowly sipping water; and sitting upright, which could help provide temporary relief — same with the intake of milk.
Hopefully this could help someone out there; taking your ulcer symptoms seriously is necessary as gastric ulcer could advance to stomach ulcer in chronic cases.
