Question:
How do you know if you have a ulcer?

I have a pain under my left breast. I'm wondering if it is a ulcer. I have been having a lot of heart burn the last two months. I have had some stress in my life. I'm 2 years post-op. Any advice would be helpful. I can eat anything, but I do eat the right things. Thanks-Tab    — Tab F. (posted on March 18, 2004)

March 18, 2004
Hi Tab,<br> I have been having pain under my left breast, also. It got bad enough that I e-mailed the surgeon's office. They told me that this is often a sign of ulceration and started me on a course of anti-ulcer meds. I hate to admit it, but the meds are making the pain go away. I see my surgeon Tues. and he will make a determination on the future course of treatment. I have had heartburn only once since surgery. When the pain was at it's worst, I had a difficult time eating. I felt full immediately and several foods came back up. Please get in touch with your doctor. <br> Hugs, <br> Linda
   — Linda S.

March 18, 2004
I too had "some" pain under left breast, but I had more of a burning sensation in the middle of my chest, and sometimes the burning moved "up", like acid reflux. Tried Pepcid AC, then finally called my dr. He gave me Protonix, which gave me immediate relief. Now I'm off to see a gastroentologist, may have to be scoped to see if I do have an ulcer. Good luck!
   — j D.

March 19, 2004
I didn't know I had an ulcer until I had my presurgery endoscopy done. I thought all of the burning and pain I was having was from my hyatle hernia. I would get sick to my stomach when I would get hungry, the acid from my acid reflux was upsetting my ulcer. Most of my pain was on my left side.
   — tazfan

March 19, 2004
i have had a reoccuring ulcer since i was 6 weeks out. I am now 22 months out. I can explain to you the symtoms that i have but really you need to have a upper gi or endoscopy done to see if you have one. I get alot of pain, just were my pouch is. It burns to eat or drink or not to eat or drink. It doesn't matter what it is. I take pepcid ac 2x a day and it relieves it. The reason why i have the reoccuring ulcer is because i have a bit of reflux left and it comes up to the same degree each time, just above the entrance of my pouch...yep thats where my ulcer is. You might try some pepcid ac and see if it helps. If it does see your doc kristi Ky @goal 302 to 125 http://www.hometown.aol.com/kbatten278/kristi-kyindex.html
   — tinalivesay

March 20, 2004
I have had two. I developed the first one at about 6 months post op. It felt as if I had eaten glass and it burned through to my back. After 6 months of treatment with prevacid I eventually had to have it removed surgically. I was fine for 8 months, then had another develop. These are both just outside of my pouch in my intestine. I suffered with this second one, again taking prevacid until a month ago. I went to a new doctor and he changed my scrip to nexium. Whoh, big difference. He also prescribed carafate. I was given carafate with the first ulcer and it did not do anything to relieve the pain and I explained this to the doctor. He said I was most likely given it in pill form (he was correct) and that it would not have helped me because it has to disolve in your stomach before it can coat the ulcer. Basically, it was leaving my stomach and doing a great job of coating my colon. LOL. Anyhow, the liquid carafate is great. <br>Remember the only way a doctor can diagnose an ulcer is by Upper GI or endoscopy. And the Upper GI isn't very reliable, it didn't catch either of mine. Best of luck to you.
   — RebeccaP

March 21, 2004
My surgeon put me on Nexium as well, and it's made a huge difference. I had been doing just fine, but then started having a hard time keeping more solid foods (like meats) down, and after getting sick 3 days in a row I called my surgeons office and they put me on Nexium and liquid carafate. That nexium (so far) has worked wonders and I haven't had a problem or gotten sick since I went on it (10 days ago)-- and I am back on regular foods (I had gone back to soft ones when I was getting sick)
   — Patricia T.