Do stomach ulcers sometimes never heal?

[Bestofbothworlds]

My sister was diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer two years ago. She was given an 8 weeks course of antacids I believe and had a repeat endoscopy which showed the ulcer healed.

Fast forward a year and she had black stools where they think the ulcer had been bleeding but that stopped and it was assumed it would continue healing.

Another year on and she still complains of pain and nausea and eats carefully because of the ulcer.

Is this how she’ll be for the rest of her life now? I was under the impression that once healed that was it and it’s was gone.

Is there any further treatment she can ask for? Any ideas on how to suggest she gets further help?

Sounds like it needs further investigation.

Not to worry you but I know two people who suffered duodenal ulcers and ended up with stomach cancer so I absolutely wouldn't ignore any symptoms.

It’s all a bit odd, she’s says that she still has the ulcer but surely they wouldn’t leave her with an unhealed ulcer indefinitely?

It does depend on what caused it. If it was caused by using NSAIDs then the 8 week course of antacids will have helped reduce the acid in the stomach to let the ulcer heal naturally.

Sometimes they can be caused by h pylori which needs antibiotics to treat and then it heals naturally.

She may need further investigation if still having problems

She doesn’t have H Pylori. It will have been through taking painkillers as she’s suffered with joint pain for years.
She doesn’t take NSAIDs any longer but still she refers to the ulcer. I’ll tell her to push for further referral.

Stomach ulcers can definitely recur. She needs another endoscopy with biopsies. Plus repeat H pylori testing

@Bestofbothworlds
How’s your sister doing?