When you feel a burning sensation in your gut you assume it’s a mild case of GERD or heartburn. But not always.
Your stomach is designed with a protective layer of mucus that lines the gut and helps it to not be injured by acid and digestive fluids. . If the mucus erodes from inflammation, infection, spicy foods, or alcohol and the protective layer is injured you could develop an ulcerative condition, which would mean you would have raw open sores in your stomach lining.
This can evolve to where the ulcers erode multiple layers of your stomach tissue and go deep enough to hit blood vessels and causing bleeding in the digestive track. Ulcers can become harbingers of gastric cancer.
Often times a bacteria known as H. pylori ( Heliobacter pylori) is the most common cause of stomach ulcers.
The easiest way to tell the difference between GERD and a stomach ulcer is to locate the pain.
Pain related to ulcers tends to be in the abdominal area especially just above the belly button but with GERD you will often feel that pain in your chest or throat.
Eating often makes a stomach ulcer feel better because the food neutralizes some of that stomach acid. In GERD eating often will make the symptoms worse. If the ulcer is caused by bacterial infection this can often be passed to others that you live with. Kissing can ping-pong the bacteria around and you can’t get rid of it until everyone is treated.
H. pylori can be treated with antibiotics and if you suspect this issue then please see your doctor don’t assume you can fix it with a cleanse.
However, cleansing can assist with simpler conditions of the stomach such as bad breathe. The mouth is the porthole for bad stomach odours. It’s like the sewer main broke in front of your house. You can smell it above ground but the problem lies way below ground.
As bacteria in your stomach is broken down the odors back up into your mouth. .