Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about Peptic Ulcers. If you want to follow along with written notes on this topic,

you can follow along at zero tofinals.com slash peptic ulcers or in the gastroenterology section

of the zero definals medicine book. Let's get straight into it. Peptic ulcers or in the gastroenterology section of the Zirid Finals Medicine book.

Let's get straight into it.

Peptic ulcers involve ulceration of the mucosa of the stomach, which we call a gastric ulcer,

or of the duodenum, which you call a duodenal ulcer.

And duodenal ulcers are more common.

Normally there's a protective layer in the stomach which is comprised of mucus and bicarbonate,

which neutralizes the acid, and this is secreted by the stomach mucosa.

And this protective layer can be broken down by medications such as steroids or non-steroidal

anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen or

naproxin and a bacteria called helicobacter pylori they can also be an increase in stomach acid

which makes the stomach mucosa more prone to ulceration an increased acid can be caused by

stress alcohol excessive caffeine consumption so too much tea and coffee,

smoking, and spicy foods. So how do patients with peptic ulcers present? Well, a typical symptom is

epigasteric discomfort or pain, and they might have some tenderness to palpation in that area

they can have nauseam vomiting dyspepsia so all of the symptoms associated with indigestion

if they start bleeding from that ulcer it can cause hematemesis which is vomiting up blood

or it can cause coffee ground vomit,

and coffee ground vomit is digested blood that's vomited out of the stomach,

and also Molina, which is tarry black stools caused by digested blood as it passes through the GI tract.

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