Q: I am 41 years old. I am suffering from gastric ulcer for the last 7-8 years. Every year I suffer from gastric pain nearly for 2-3 months. At that time I take antacid medicines. Please advise me a better solution to get rid of this gastric pain.

A:You have mentioned that you are suffering from gastric ulcer for the last eight years. Also, I note that you have history of passing black stools. I would like to know how your diagnosis was made. Have you undergone an endoscopy or a barium examination? In fact, ulcer disease of stomach is now a completely treatable condition. Its diagnosis should be confirmed by an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. If an ulcer is detected on endoscopy, then the doctor usually takes a biopsy from stomach to test for a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori. If the spot test is positive, then the patient is given an antibiotic course for 1-2 weeks along with acid suppressant drugs, which leads to complete eradication of the ulcer. For someone like you, I would suggest that a confirmation of the diagnosis be done by an endoscopy, and appropriate treatment given. Certain factors that lead to aggravation of ulcer symptoms need to be avoided. These include use of pain killers, smoking, spicy diet, etc.