Ulcers
Ulcers
Ulcers used to be painful little badges of honor. If you worked really hard, you got these little holes in your stomach or intestinal lining. That proved you were unrelenting and driven to succeed.
Not anymore. Researchers have discovered that stress and success aren’t necessarily what causes ulcers. In many cases, the culprit is a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori, which anyone can get, regardless of occupation. Drinking coffee, taking too much aspirin, smoking and a bad diet can make things worse.
Ulcers form when the mucus lining of the stomach loses its ability to repel stomach acids. The acids, which digest food, begin to digest your stomach instead. This is a gastric ulcer. If the ulcer forms at the top of the small intestine, it’s a duodenal ulcer. The natural remedies in this chapter—in conjunction with medical care and used with your doctor’s approval—may help prevent or ease an ulcer, according to some health professionals.
See Your Medical Doctor When...
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Ayurveda
Aloe vera gel is an excellent treatment for ulcers, says David Frawley, O.M.D., director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He says to take one to two teaspoons three times daily, mixing it with enough honey or a nonacidic fruit juice to disguise the taste if you wish. “Aloe vera gel has a milder taste than the other bitter herbs, although it still doesn’t taste very good,” Dr. Frawley says. Aloe vera gel is safe to drink, he adds, but make sure you buy a product meant for internal use, not a gel that’s for external use only. Ask your Ayurvedic practitioner or herbalist to recommend a brand that won’t have a laxative side effect. It’s available in most health food stores.
Ulcers are a symptom of excess pitta dosha, says Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc., director of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (For more information on the Ayurvedic doshas, see “All about Vata, Pitta and Kapha” on page 28.) For angry, hateful feelings accompanied by a burning sensation in the stomach, Dr. Lad recommends drinking a mixture of one cup of hot milk and one teaspoon of arrowroot powder (available in the baby food section of many supermarkets). Or you can make a tea by combining equal portions of cumin, coriander and fennel seeds and steeping roughly a teaspoon of this mixture in a cup of hot water for roughly ten minutes. Dr. Lad says to use this drink when your ulcer flares up or as a preventive measure whenever you’re feeling angry.
Flower Remedy/Essence Therapy
“I’ve seen many ulcer patients who don’t let go of painful emotions, who hold their fears in their stomachs,” says Susan Lange, O.M.D., of the Meridian Center for Personal and Environmental Health in Santa Monica, California. “The flower essence Dandelion helps them let go of that tension.
“Other people with ulcers can handle their own anxieties, but they absorb other people’s problems like a sponge,” she continues. “The California essence Pink Yarrow helps them distinguish between their own problems and someone else’s.”
Flower essences are available in some health food stores and through mail order (refer to the resource list on page 635). For information on preparing and administering flower essences, see page 37.
Food Therapy
Eat more cabbage, says Allan Magaziner, D.O., a nutritional medicine specialist and head of the Magaziner Medical Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. “Cabbage contains a lot of glutamine, an amino acid that has been shown to heal ulcers.” His recommendation: Have at least one healthy serving of steamed cabbage each day for two weeks.
Hydrotherapy
For temporary relief of gastric ulcer pain, nothing beats activated charcoal, says Agatha Thrash, M.D., a medical pathologist and co-founder and co-director of Uchee Pines Institute, a natural healing center in Seale, Alabama. She suggests mixing two tablespoons of activated charcoal powder with a little water in the bottom of a tall glass (at least eight ounces). Continue stirring and adding water a little at a time until the glass is full, she says, then drink it with a straw. She says to follow the charcoal water with a glass of plain water. This treatment may be repeated hourly until pain subsides, she adds. Activated charcoal is available in most health food stores and some pharmacies.
Reflexology
Work the solar plexus and stomach points on the bottoms of both feet, say Kevin and Barbara Kunz, reflexology researchers in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and authors of Hand and Foot Reflexology. They also suggest working the solar plexus, top of shoulder and stomach points on both hands.
To help you locate these points, consult the hand and foot reflex charts beginning on page 582. For instructions on how to work the points, see “Your Reflexology Session” on page 110.
Relaxation and Meditation
Daily thermal biofeedback increases blood flow in the digestive system, which helps heal and protect the lining of the stomach, says Steven Fahrion, Ph.D., director of research at the Life Sciences Institute of Mind-Body Health in Topeka, Kansas. To learn this simple ten-minute technique, see page 121.
Sound Therapy
If stress is contributing to your ulcer, relaxing music may help, says Janalea Hoffman, R.M.T., a composer and music therapist based in Kansas City, Missouri. She suggests listening to music with a slow, steady beat for about 30 minutes per day. Among the selections Hoffman recommends are her tapes Deep Daydreams and Musical Massage. For other relaxing selections, see “Sailing Away to Key Largo” on page 129. Many of these pieces are available in music stores. For mail-order information, refer to the resource list on page 642.
Vitamin and Mineral Therapy
Use the food sensitivity diet (see “Food Sensitivity: How to Discover the ‘Healthy’ Foods That Can Cause Disease” on page 52) to eliminate any foods that might have a role in causing the problem, says David Edelberg, M.D., an internist and medical director of the American Holistic Center/Chicago. He also suggests eliminating sugar, caffeine and alcohol from your diet and giving up smoking.
A person who has already developed an ulcer may want to use the following supplemental regimen to help control its symptoms, adds Dr. Edelberg: 10,000 international units of vitamin A twice a day; 50 milligrams of B-complex vitamins a day; 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C a day (use the buffered form); 400 international units of vitamin E a day; 500 milligrams of glutamine three times a day; one capsule of rice bran oil (gamma oryzanol) three times a day; two 380-milligram tablets of deglycyrrhizinated licorice four times a day—between meals and at bedtime—for one month; and 30 milligrams of zinc picolinate a day for one month. These dietary supplements, alone or in combination, are available in most health food stores, according to Dr. Edelberg.