Have Symptoms Of Ulcer. On Nazatidine. Is There An Easy Way To Test For An Ulcer?

Posted on Fri, 2 Nov 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 2 Nov 2012 Answered on

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : I have symptoms of an ulcer. I have been to the doctor and they put me on nazatidine. Yesterday, I was in the er and the doctor there wanted me on prilosec 2x daily. However, no one is testing to see if I have an ulcer. Is there an easy way to test for an ulcer, and why wouldn't they just give me an antibiotic because they are so often caused by an infection?

Answered by Dr. Ram Choudhary (2 hours later)

Hi XXXXXXX,
Thanks for writing in to Healthcare Magic!
The symptoms of dyspepsia are so straight forward that is why your doctor has put you on these drugs. It may be ulcers or just gastritis but the same treatment is effective for both.
If your doctor is convinced that you may be having ulcers then he needs to do an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy on you. There is no simple external test that can tell whether you have ulcer or not.
The gastric ulcers can be caused by a particular bacteria H.Pylori. It needs combination antibiotics which should only be given if the infection is proven on biopsy test. Blind treatment with antibiotics should not be given because gastric ulcers are seen frequently without infection as well.
If you have any further query please let me know I would try to answer it for you.
Wish you a great health!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar