Signs you may have an ulcer

An ulcer is like a nasty canker sore (or crater) that typically develops either on the lining of the stomach (a gastric or peptic ulcer) or at the opening of the small intestine in the duodenum (a duodenal or peptic ulcer). Ulcers occur due to an imbalance of digestive juices or if the stomach lining suffers some form of damage (i.e., alcoholism).

An ulcer can be extremely painful, so it's difficult to ignore if you develop one. However, if left untreated, the ulcer can eat into the stomach wall causing a perforated ulcer or the blood vessels causing a bleeding ulcer, and resulting in damaging and excruciating health complications.

Here are evident signs that you may be suffering from an ulcer.

1. Abdominal Pain

Pain in your abdomen, typically between the breastbone and belly button region, may follow a meal as the stomach empties. The pain will often come and go in waves of burning or stabbing pain.

2. Increased Indigestion

An ulcer can cause terrible indigestion and gas pain, which usually means burping and hiccupping following meals.

3. Nausea

Due to an imbalance of digestive juices, you will likely feel mild to severe nausea with an ulcer, typically first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

4. A Heavy Abdomen

It's quite common as an ulcer develops to feel a sensation of heaviness or fullness in the belly, similar to a weight or the burdensome feeling you get after consuming a lot of water.

5. Flu-like Symptoms

Most ulcer patients will mistakenly shrug off flu-like symptoms—such as fatigue, general malaise, fever, and nausea—as the flu.

6. Appetite Loss

The sudden and sharp stomach pains that many ulcer patients feel a few hours after a meal (during the digestion phase) will often cause them to fear eating or totally lose their appetites.

7. Unexplained Hunger

It's also quite typically to feel hunger pangs with an ulcer a few hours after eating a full meal. These aren't hunger pains, but rather ulcer pains caused by increased digestive juices.