The stomach is a muscular bag, (a ballooned-out tube) which can vary greatly in size from one to several pints & acts as a reservoir receiving the food you swallow down your gullet. It is inside your tummy or abdomen (some people refer to their tummy as the stomach – which is, of course, wrong). In your condition the stomach gets inflamed, i.e. its lining gets red, swollen & painful – rather like the lining of your throat when you have a sore throat. Its cause is not, as yet, fully known, although excessive acid in the stomach) can cause this condition. In addition, there is an infection in the lining of the stomach, caused by a bacteria called Helicobacter Pylori, which thrives in the excess acidic environment, worsening & prolonging this condition. Incidentally there is no risk of cross infection. The severity of this inflammation may change from time to time, i.e. it may not be present all the time & you may be well, with no symptoms for weeks or months. A number of things can cause excessive acid production in the stomach including stress & smoking. This condition is not associated with, nor does it cause cancer. In this sense it is not a dangerous life-threatening condition but merely a nuisance.

To minimise its unpleasant effects, follow the instructions below:

• Avoid any food or drink which upsets you & brings on your symptoms. It is difficult to generalise and give you a list of foods to avoid as each person may be affected differently. However spicy food & alcohol often irritate the lining of the stomach & can bring on these symptoms. Milk (skimmed or full cream) can have the opposite effect & relieve your symptoms.
  
  

• If you smoke cut it down & try to stop it altogether.
  
  

• Avoid taking medication, which has aspirin in it; examples are – Disprin, Solprin, Aspro, Anadin & Palaprin. Painkillers generally known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents can also be harmful in this condition.  Examples are Brufen, Nurofen, Fenbid, Rhuemox, Voltarol, Dolobid, Lederfen, Progesic, Froben, Indocid, Orudis, Pontoon, Naprosyn & Feldene.  The group of medications known as steroids can be particularly dangerous.  If you need to take a pain killer, paracetomol (known as Panadol) is permissible.  If a doctor wants to prescribe a pain killer for you, make sure he knows about your condition.

You often need to have an endoscopy under sedation (i.e. telescopic examination of your gullet, stomach & duodenum) to diagnose this condition & to find out whether or not you have the bacterial infection in the lining of your stomach. The purpose of any medication prescribed for you is to reduce the acidity of your stomach, which reaches its highest level during the early hours of the morning when you are asleep. This is why you are often instructed to take these medications at night before going to bed. These medications are usually taken regularly for 1-2 months and thereafter only when you feel the symptoms are coming back & troubling you. If you also have the bacterial infection in the lining of your stomach, a course of 2 or 3 medications (which includes antibiotics) will be prescribed for you, to take regularly for a period of 1-2 weeks only, as instructed. Please carry out the instructions for taking your medications meticulously.