Has anyone had experience w/ bleeding ulcers?

[Guest canuckwebgrrl]

Yesterday my step-dad was taken by ambulance to the hosp. because he was vomitting blood & bloody diarrhea. A GI Dr. scoped him & determined that his stomach was full of huge ulcers. The GI Dr.'s best guess was that one of the drugs Steve was on caused the ulcers (anti-inflammatory), and that it was not really cancer related. It took many hours & bags of blood to finally get him feeling better again, but then an hour later everything started up again like yesterday morning w/ all the bleeding.

Does anyone know of something like this happening?

Thank you.

[mhutch1366]

Sounds like no picnic, that's for sure. It's going to take quite a while to stabilize his stomach lesions so there isn't bleeding, and it willlikely put off any chemo for quite a while, since he needs to heal the stomach lining.

I'm sorry this complication occurred, it must be scary for you and him.

Prayers are with you. Hang tough!!.

MaryAnn

[Bonnie]

As I'm writing this my husband Howard is having a scope of the stomach done. He also developed stomach trouble from taking the Celebrex. He got to the point of not wanting to eat, and really could not stand the smell of food. He has been on Prilosec for the past two weeks and is doing a lot better.

Take care and happy holidays!

Bonnie and Howard

[Carleen]

Hi Chris,

I'm not familiar with what your step-father is going through. However, I have heard that chemo can be hard on the stomach lining and intestinal track, so it isn't surprising to hear that this can happen.

I will be keeping him in my prayers, and I really hope he is feeling better soon.

Carleen

[DeanCarl]

Chris,

I have had ulcers in the past. First and formost they will work on stopping the bleeding. For me that was simply giving me an acid inhibiter (like prylosec, tagament, pepcid etc.), keeping me in the hospital, and waiting. I wasn't bleeding enough to require transfusions so it only took a day or so for the bleeding to stop. Then it's just a matter of keeping the stomach acid level low and allowing the stomach to heal itself.

It used to be in the past that stomach ulcers as bad as mine required surgery. Luckily, with the new medicatios they have now, surgery is hardly ever required.

The one thing I can suggest for your step-dad is, after he's feeling better and home again, to take a close look at his eating habits. The doctors should give you some ideas on how and when to eat that will help to keep this from happening again. If not, drop me a PM or post here and I'll let you know what has worked for me.

Good luck on all this. I know it can be scary but stomach ulcers, even ones that are bleeding heavily, can be treated fairly easily and quickly now days.

Dean