Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ulcer

Mouth ulcer treatments?

Jakey — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:52:32 -0800

Treatment for mouth ulcers. I've been using Bonjela since 1837, and it's only just now struck me that medical science must have come up with something better in recent years. So what do you find works well?

Is this a mouth ulcer or something else?

talitha_kumi — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 13:48:23 -0800

What's wrong with my face? On waking this morning, there was a swelling of some kind in my lower lip, roughly level with my bottom right incisor. At first I thought it was an ulcer, but over the next few hours, it's grown, and it's now bigger than any ulcer I've had before. It's got a white domed centre, about quarter of an inch across, surrounded by a large patch of dark purple that looks a bit like a bruise. Twelve hours later, and the bruising has grown significantly in size and depth of colour, and is now showing through to a purple patch on the outside of my face. It's achy and uncomfortable, and intensely painful when I poke it. (I know - stop poking it)

What on earth is it? Will it go away on its own, or do I need a doctor?

Knock, Knock Thelma... where'd ya get those sexy support hose?

aristan — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 21:58:51 -0800

I'm a reasonably active 28 year old male who has long suffered from a couple of disorders normally seen in the elderly: venous insufficiency and leg ulcers. Now the nurse practitioner I see has suggested I find a surgeon in Charlotte, NC as the only vein surgeon in Albemarle doesn't take my insurance. I'll have to find and evaluate a vein surgeon on my own... how do I go about doing that? Basically the valves in my leg don't pump the blood back to the heart and it sits and pools in my foot and ankle. This results in a severely swollen leg, a painful time walking, and a very irritable aristan. This has lead to a leg ulcer that at one point was the size of my fist. Now, thanks to the nurses and compression therapy (Unna Boots & Thelma Harper-like Stockings), It's currently smaller than the tip of my little finger and my leg is now three inches smaller around.

The problem is that this is treating the symptoms of the problem and not the actual problem itself. Constant compression therapy and the whole "keep your legs elevated at all times" are fine if you're 88... but when you're a 28 year old who works full time, is a full time student, and loves to jog & play DDR... it is impractical.

I've lived with these problems for over 10 years now and have had one surgery to apply skin grafts that caused me to spend 2 weeks in the hospital after I suffered DVT and a blood clot lodged in my lung. (No one can figure out why my previous doctor and the surgeon skipped over any type of compression therapy at the time.)

Needless to say, I'm very scared to have another surgery and more worried about selecting a surgeon on my own. Most vein surgeons I have found in the Charlotte, NC area seem to be plastic surgeons, willing to strip my varicose veins and shoot me full of botox... I need someone to fix the hole in my leg!

Metronidazole, how long will it make me ill?

nola — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:39:39 -0800

i'm taking Metronidazole, and carithromycin, for a peptic ulcer. the metronidazole seems to be making me sick. i've been taking both twice a day with a 20mg acid reducer (prilosec) once a day.

i have no insurance, so i'm trying to use the doctor sparingly.

as he warned , the antibiotics , after 7 days are making me nauseous, dizzy, and ache with a fever.

it's been a full 24 hours since i started feeling bad, and what i'm wondering is , since i have a week to go on the meds, how long will these symtoms persist? is there a point at which i should get intouch with a doctor? if so when?

How can I stop biting my lip so much?

JPigford — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 20:45:34 -0800

How can I stop biting my lip so much? I have no idea what my problem is, but in the past few months I've started biting my lip about once a week. And we're not talking like a quick little pinch...we're talking about my lip starts bleeding a lot and then turns into a huge ulcer that hangs around for another week...just in time for me to bite my lip again.

So what can I do to keep this from happening? I usually bite my lip when I'm eating.

HyperPTH and PUD

reverenddrjice — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 06:03:14 -0800

The incidence of peptic ulcer disease in hyperparathyroidism is increased, presumably due to hypercalcemia leading to increased gastrin secretion. Why does calcium stimulate G-Cells to secrete calcium? I am trying to find a precide physiologic reason. Is there another reason for this link between HyperPTH and duodenal ulcers. Thanks!

The Coffee and Tea Wreck

ZaphodB — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 20:30:25 -0800

So I've got what's probably an ulcer. What can I do to make life more bearable? A few weeks ago, I started developing a massive appetite, then stomach pains, dizziness, and nausea. After a couple of weeks of eating far too much food, I went to the doctor, who prescribed some antacids and some blood tests. The h. pylori test came up negative - but all the rest of the symptoms match up with an ulcer (sez the Doc), and so I'm up for a barium milkshake in a week.

In the meantime, and given that I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, what can I do to minimize the symptoms? My doctor has changed my prescripton to Losec, 20mg a day, but that doesn't quite seem to do the trick. It does help, but I'm still hungry, and my stomach still hurts. I'm trying to stick to mild foods, and eat lots of dairy and Tums; what else can I try? Google turns up all sorts of crackpot-ish, often contradictory sugestions, so MeFites, I turn to you. What'll help a stomach full of acid?