How to effectively prevent and control stomach ulcers?

  Peptic ulcer is a common digestive tract disease with a long course, many complications and easy recurrence. Therefore, the medical profession often uses the term “incurable ulcer, difficult to prevent recurrence” to describe this disease. In fact, as long as patients take their medication according to medical advice and master the principles of medication, gastric ulcer is completely curable and preventable.  The best time to take antacids (aluminum hydroxide, magnesium oxide, etc.), mainly to neutralize gastric acid, reduce the acidity of the stomach, the best time to take the drug is 60 to 90 minutes after the meal; anticholinergic drugs (belladonna, etc.), can reduce gastric acid secretion, release the smooth muscle spasm of the gastrointestinal tract, prolong the gastric emptying time, because its peak effect in 60 to 90 minutes after oral intake, so the time to take the drug in 15 to 30 minutes before the meal is better; H2 receptor blockers (metformin, ranitidine, etc.) reduce gastric acid secretion by blocking H2 receptors. In order not to affect the digestion of food, the drug should be taken once before bedtime, which not only ensures the efficacy, but also reduces side effects.  The main reason for the recurrence of the disease is the lack of medication for ulcer patients. According to research, it takes 4 to 6 weeks for a gastric ulcer to heal completely. Gastric ulcers are prone to recurrence, and the recurrence rate is as high as 80% if the medication is stopped immediately after healing. Therefore, in order to prevent recurrence, after the gastric ulcer is cured, it should also be maintained with small doses of drugs for as short as one and a half years or as long as three years and five years. Because of the long duration of gastric ulcer maintenance treatment, it is important to consider not only the efficacy but also the safety of the drug. Clinical experience shows that maintenance treatment with ranitidine 150 mg or famotidine 40 mg has little side effects and can effectively prevent recurrence of this disease.  The combination of drugs can be considered when the application of a drug treatment is not effective. For example, the combination of antacids and drugs that inhibit gastrointestinal motility, or the combination of H2 receptor blockers and antacids, can increase the efficacy and reduce adverse reactions. Recent studies have found that gastric ulcers can be caused by H. pylori infection, so antibiotics can be used in combination when necessary. The current preference is for “triple therapy”, which is a combination of gastric dextran, metronidazole, and hydroxyaminopenic penicillin. It should be noted that during the treatment period, drugs that strongly stimulate the gastrointestinal tract, such as hormonal drugs and antipyretic drugs, are strictly prohibited.  Eradication of H. pylori When H. pylori is detected by gastroscopy or positive for anti-H. pylori antibodies by blood sampling, there are clinical symptoms such as stomach pain, bloating, acidity, belching and bad breath; superficial, erosive gastritis, gastric ulcer and gastric polyp by gastroscopy; chronic superficial gastritis, mucosal inflammatory infiltration phenomenon, mucosal epithelial hyperplasia, glandular atrophy, cystic change and intestinal metaplasia after 6 months, and after two years , the mucosal glands can be abnormally hyperplastic, and if not reversed by timely treatment, cancer can occur in very few people. Therefore, with the above three phenomena, sterilization and eradication should be carried out.