I have a history of gastric ulcers in my stomache. an endoscopy that i had last Sept. showed 3 ulcers.. I was on no medication for it, started to take IBprofen for major muscle/joint inflmatation pain on a routine basis… well come time for the next endoscopy… I only had 1 ulcer .. so the other 2 cleared. During this time as well, i was consuming more diet-soda’s but thats because it actually does help with stomache pain– long story.
So my most recent endoscopy last week showed i had NO ULCERS anymore in my stomache?? What?? I’m drinking more diet soda’s.. taking IBprofen every 4-6 hours on a daily constant basis… and not taking any medcaitions like prevacid and such and they just went away???
Does anyone know why that would be? I would think I’d have like 10 ulcers~ I mean, i’m very happy, but isn’t that almost like going scientific data? How do ulcers appear? or what causes them? My GI wants me on prevacid INCASE they come back.. but I just don’t see how under those circumstances they would even clear in the first place?!
ok- thank you for your suggestions and help. i just don’t understand if ulcers have a mind of their own or what?
thank you !!
Respond: I am a gastroenterologist and treat many patients with ulcer disease. Briefly, there are two (2) main causes of ulcers: use of aspirin or anti-inflammatory medications (e.g., ibuprofen/Advil/Motrin, Aleve, etc), and infection with a bacteria called “Helicobacter pylori”. If I see someone with ulcers, I will first ask about use of aspirin or anti-inflammatory medicines. Because, if you have had an ulcer in the past, use of one of these medicines will increase your risk for getting an ulcer by substantially! It’s relatively easy to check for Helicobacter pylori–a simple and inexpensive blood test will often give you the answer. If you have been “scoped” in the past, it’s a safe bet that you were checked for H. pylori at the time. So, assuming that you don’t have H. pylori, your risks of getting a recurrent ulcer are small if you avoid further use of ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatories. If you continue to use this class of medications, it’s a crap shoot whether you will or won’t get a recurrent ulcer(s). If use of anti-inflammatories is absolutely essential (let’s say, you have severe arthritis), then concurrent use of certain other medications may provide some level of protection against recurrent ulcer formation. Your best bet is to speak with your previous treating physician and determine what your H. pylori status is. If negative, and if you avoid further use of aspirin or anti-inflammatory medicines, you’ll probably be OK!
Ulcers can go away by themselves, if you remove the inciting influence (in your case, the ibuprofen). But, if you keep on using the ibuprofen, you are taking a big chance…
Respond: Consider yourself lucky. Because your “relative risk factor” for developing a recurrent ulcer is 10-fold higher if you continue to use anti-inflammatories. That does not mean that it’s a sure thing–only that your risk is substantially higher if you continue use of anti-inflammatories. You can mitigate the risk somewhat by using these agents in the lowest dose possible, by taking them with food, or by concurrent use of a medication like omeprazole (Prilosec). Even omeprazole provides only ~90% protection against recurrent medication-induced ulcer. Hope this helps.
Regardless of the above, you need to find out your H. pylori status, since infection with this bacterium will further increase your risk for developing a medication-induced ulcer. Best wishes.
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