1. Take the Tummy Trouble Quiz
2. Digestive Disease Myths Slideshow Pictures
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Medical Author:

Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

Dr. Ben Wedro practices emergency medicine at Gundersen Clinic, a regional trauma center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. His background includes undergraduate and medical studies at the University of Alberta, a Family Practice internship at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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The majority of people who are infected with H. pylori are symptom and disease free.

For those who do have symptoms, gastritis and ulcers are the results of an H. pylori infection. These illnesses are characterized by:

• upper abdominal pain;
  
  
• loss of appetite;
  
  
• nausea and vomiting ; and
  
  
• if severe enough, bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract.

Abdominal pain is usually described as a burning sensation in the central upper abdomen below the ribs. It may be associated with bloating, burping, and loss of appetite. Often the symptoms occur after eating, and many times patients waken in the early morning hours with abdominal pain.

If there is enough inflammation, bleeding is possible from the stomach lining or from an ulcer, a small crater-like area in which the inflammation has caused the protective lining of the stomach to wear away. Symptoms of bleeding include vomiting blood and passing black, tarry stools. The black stools are a result of blood that has been metabolized and partially digested.

Note: that iron and bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol, Pink Bismuth) will also turn the stools black.

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Indigestion Indigestion (dyspepsia, non-acid dyspepsia) is a description for a feeling of fullness and/or discomfort in the upper abdomen. Symptoms of indigestion can inclu...learn more >>

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