Peptic ulcer disease means that sores are present in the stomach. Ranging from mild to severe, the symptoms may be extremely debilitating or life threatening. According to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, one in 10 Americans will develop peptic ulcer disease.
Abdominal Pain
Patients often report pain in the mid-abdomen as one of the symptoms of peptic ulcer disease. Described as "gnawing" pain, the abdominal pain is intermittent following a pattern associated with its location.Those with duodenal ulcers typically complain of pain a few hours after eating and experience relief with food. Gastric ulcers commonly worsen with food and result in pain immediately after a meal. Symptom patterns are unreliable, as they often overlap and do little to definitively distinguish between gastric and duodenal ulcers. In any case, without complications, the treatment remains the same.
Nausea or Vomiting
Nausea and vomiting may be due to late complications that occur with peptic ulcer disease, which includes gastric outlet obstruction. Nausea and vomiting several hours after a meal and the onset of abdominal pain may signal a blockage in food transport from the stomach to the intestine.
Bleeding
Peptic ulcer disease may result in bleeding. Bleeding usually resolves on its own. However, sometimes blood loss does not stop, and when symptoms present they require immediate attention. Symptoms of light-headedness and dizziness signify large amounts of blood loss.
The vomiting of blood is called hematemesis. Hematemesis equates to bleeding in a known peptic ulcer. Depending on the location of the bleeding or how slow the bleeding occurs, blood may appear red or black. Blood loss at a rapid rate tends to be red while a slow bleed manifests dark or black blood. This blood has had time to sit and react with acids in the stomach.
Dark blood in stools or stools that are black or tarry represent the rate of blood flow. Acid eats away at the lining of the stomach in varying degrees, producing ulcers of various sizes with the propensity to bleed at different rates. If blood in the stool is dark, this most likely represents a faster blood flow than dark tarry stools.
Weight Loss
Complaints of unexplained weight loss occur as a result of a patient's reluctance to eat. Patient's unknowingly deprive themselves of proper nutrition. In addition, severe cases of peptic ulcer disease leads to poor absorption of nutrients.
