Help....stomach ulcer and 5 weeks pregnant

[Mommaof2angels]

Hi,
I found out I was pregnant a few days ago and I have been suffering from an ulcer for months. The pregnancy wasn't at all planned but I am worried because my ulcer was starting to go away as long as I was taking prescription zantac. My fear is though that the dosage levels may hurt my baby but at the same time, the pain in my stomach gets so severe that I curl up and want to cry at times. I'm not set up to see my ob dr till Jan 4th but should I try and get in earlier since I am having problems? I also have a history of pregnancy complications. This time around though I am seeing a different dr so he doesn't know anything about my history yet. Has anyone else suffered with ulcers during pregnancy and could you give me some advice? Thanks.

[lillymonster]

I was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer at 18. I didn't have problems last pregnancy, but this one, I got that pain you are talking about - curl up and just lay in bed and cry.  My OB last pregnancy and this pregnancy I was taking zantac, only 75 though, so you might want to call and check the amounts, but my OB told me it was okay to take and I have a 3 1/2 year old who is *somewhat* normal, lol! No she is fine. I would call and ask the Ob if it is okay to take at a higher dosage, I just don't know, but I would think it would be okay. Again call the OB to ask.

But for me, what helped that pain was taking multi strain probiotic too. I started it at 9 weeks and it seemed to help with the pain. I took Nature's Way Optima, I did some research on the strands that help with stomach issues, and that had a lot of them. I also have terrible morning sickness and was told it was possibly from the ulcer, but I don't know if that is true. But that burning horrible pain on my left side did lessen with the probiotics, so you may want to try that and see if it helps if you are worried about taking the zantac. And the pain eventually went away, I don't know if it was because of the probiotics or because of hormonal reason, but I still take the probiotics daily.

Edited by lillymonster - 12/17/10 at 6:35pm

[othersomethings]

OK, open minds here, right? 

A few years ago I read a little bit of a book called "The body's many cries for water - You're not sick, you're thirsty!" It talked about curing all kinds of diseases and ailments with - yeah, water. Including stomach ulcers. I didn't think anything about it at the time...I drink lots of water, that's nice...whatever.

A year later, my husband developed a severe stomach ulcer. So I looked up the book again, took a few notes and asked my husband if he'd be willing to try the water thing since, well, it's free. He agreed. In about 2 days all his symptoms were gone and they haven't returned. Whaddaya know?!

Since water is free and is the safest thing for pregnant women - maybe give this a try before worrying about the prescriptions? 

I believe the trick is 1 gallon per day with 1 teaspoon of sea salt dissolved in it. Drinking so much water can deplete your sodium pretty fast and it increases the gastrointestinal pain. 

I just looked it up again...here's the guy's website. It has a few articles from scientific journals and stuff about his research, etc. 

http://www.watercure.com/about_dr_b.html

[imogenlily]

edited

Edited by imogenlily - 12/17/10 at 1:34am

[~Adorkable~]

I have had two close friends that over the years after suffering from ulsers for a very long time both were tested and they were viral? ( not sure exactly it was years ago) they both got treated for the issue rather than just the symptom and have never looked back, so if this does not go away please push to look further into it.

This must be such a bummer when dealing with a newly preggo body and all that entails, hang in there.

[lillymonster]

Originally Posted by ~Adorkable~ 

I have had two close friends that over the years after suffering from ulsers for a very long time both were tested and they were viral? ( not sure exactly it was years ago) they both got treated for the issue rather than just the symptom and have never looked back, so if this does not go away please push to look further into it.

This must be such a bummer when dealing with a newly preggo body and all that entails, hang in there.

It is possible that H plyori is responsible, even though everyone or a lot of people seem to have it in their digestive system, some people it causes issues. Sometimes that is not the case though and they can't find the reason. At least in my case after 20 years they have never found why I have it, H plyori testing a few times and it's always been negative. Unfortunately sometimes that kind of stuff happens. I am not saying the OP shouldn't pursue more testing, but sometimes they don't know why it happens.

[Mommaof2angels]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I seem to be okay as long as I take the zantac regularly like I'm supposed to but the second I stop it, the pain comes back again and so does the nausea that it was causing as well. But I will definitely take the suggestions and especially try the water thing. That's interesting...I drink a lot of water anyways so what could it hurt?

[Shalott]

I have an ulcer and I'm pregnant w my 2nd child. I was in agony the first time and I took xantac the entire time. My baby , now 2, is perfectly healthy.  I was planning to get treated for it as soon as I finished breastfeeding and found out I was already pregnant again. So now I have to wait again.  Well, this time, so far at 11 weeks, I have had alot of success with controlling the pain and spasms with my diet.  Since I can't eat much of anything I make sure the foods I do eat are highly nutritious and soothing to me. For breakfast I have a huge green smoothie and

[Shalott]

Potato if I'm still hungry.  You can find recipes on line and they taste like regular smoothies with tons of nutrition. Lunch i have like beans and spinach of something very reasonable that is unlikely to upset my stomach plus it has lots of protien, folate, fiber and calcium. Dinner is like a huge salad and some fruit.  I do ok with fruit.  I was thinking of adding probiotics.  My first pregnancy I lost 25 lbs and was sick all the time. I ate pretty much anything. This time I am still losing weight,  but my nutrition is much better and I am feeling much better when I follow this protocol.  But I'll have to wait and see if this will still work as the baby grows .  Good luck to you.