Can Duodenal Ulcers Cause Weight Loss
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The good news, weight changes associated with duodenal ulcers are temporary. Once the open sores are healed completely, your normal weight will usually come back afterwards.
What to understand, your diet plays a role to help boost your recovery. Again, just make sure what you eat is OK with your ulcers. Avoid also anything else that will make your ulcers take longer to heal.
The underlying cause of your ulcers determines what kind of treatment you take. ‘Triple’ therapy is usually required if the problem has to do with H. pylori infection. In such case, your treatment would involve medication to reduce /control your stomach acid (e.g. PPIs, histamine H-2 blockers, or antacids) and two antibiotics to kill Helicobacter Pylori bacteria.
If NSAIDs or anti-inflammatory drugs are responsible for your ulcers, you need to avoid them for a while. And medications that block /reduce stomach acid are usually prescribed to help boost the recovery more quickly.
If your symptoms don’t improve with conventional ulcer medications, probably it’s caused by something else other than ulcers. Therefore, it’s important to clearly diagnose the disease. In such case, additional tests may be required to look for other possible causes of the symptoms.
Here are a few possible medical conditions that can also cause abdominal pain or symptoms similar to those of duodenal ulcers [4]:
- Problems of the kidneys, such as; kidney stones and infection.
- Infection of the abdominal lining (peritonitis).
- UTI, urinary tract infection.
- Gastroenteritis, inflammation /irritation of stomach and intestines. Unlike ulcers, it’s likely caused by viral infection from Noroviruses and Rotavirus.
- Diverticulitis, diverticula (small-bulging pouches in the lining of digestive system) that become infected or inflamed.
- Intestinal obstruction.
- Irritable bowel syndrome, a chronic disorder affecting the large intestine.
For more guidance about your symptoms, see a doctor. Although treatment often works successfully for duodenal ulcers, sometimes the disease might fail to heal after treatment (this condition is called ‘refractory ulcer’). So it’s important to treat the disease appropriately!
