What is Duodenal Ulcer and How to Diagnose?
The condition referred to as Duodenal Ulcer is one that typically announces itself as a sharp, severe pain in the upper part of the abdomen (the Epigastrium), appearing when a person is hungry and the stomach is empty. Essentially, duodenal ulcers are caused by too much acid in the stomach; when the acid proves too strong for the protective inner lining of the duodenum (the part where the stomach joins the small intestine), it starts, in effect, burning a hole in the stomach wall. It is this crater, or ulcer, which results in pain, particularly when there is no food inside the stomach to use up the acid that is being produced. Patients who develop duodenal ulcers usually tend to get relief from their pain by taking some milk, bland food or antacid tablets (like milk of magnesia), which can neutralize the excess acid. The danger of duodenal ulcers is that they erode the stomach wall – either perforating (so that the contents of the stomach leak out into the abdominal cavity) or eroding
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