Medical Questions » Stomach Questions » Question No. 952
| Question: | What are the early symptoms of a gastric ulcer? 1 am concerned that my constant burping may be due to one. How will doctors find out if I have an ulcer? |
| Answer: | Unlike the skin, the stomach has few nerve cells, and the acid may eat through to a blood vessel and cause bleeding, anaemia and weakness before any pain is felt. Most ulcers cause pain, which may be severe because the acid is attacking a nerve. The pain is often at its worst just before a meal when the acid levels are highest, and food (particularly milk) may relieve the pain. Once a person has the severe pain high up in the abdomen that is characteristic of an ulcer, it is important to have the diagnosis proved and treatment started quickly in order to avoid complications. Other symptoms can include a feeling of fullness, burping excessively, and indigestion, so your constant burping may well be caused by an ulcer, but it is also a hiatus hernia may be responsible.
Doctors will prove the presence of an ulcer or hiatus hernia by an X-ray or gastroscopy. The X-ray is known as a barium meal, and to perform this you swallow a liquid that can be seen on X-rays, and its course through the stomach can be followed.
Gastroscopy involves swallowing a fine tube, through which a doctor can see the inside of your stomach and small intestine. This procedure is performed under a light anaesthetic and patients experience no discomfort.
A very small percentage of ulcers can be cancerous, so it is vital that the disease is correctly diagnosed and treated.
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