Mental illness can often seem frustratingly abstract. Unlike the flu, a broken bone, or even a paper cut, the physical manifestations of conditions like anxiety and depression can be nebulous, their sources uncertain.
Stomach ulcers or “peptic ulcers” are truly terrible. They are sores that form in the lining of the stomach or in the first part of your small intestine. These sores can be quite painful, and when left untreated, they can become worse. According to WebMD, if peptic ulcers keep coming back, you may have an increased risk of developing serious complications, such as bleeding or even a hole in the wall of your stomach or small intestine.
If so, you are not alone. Many Americans suffer from heartburn or acid reflux symptoms. The conventional treatment is to prescribe an antacid – which at first glance sounds logical, doesn’t it? (I mean if you are feeling too much acid, then you need something to decrease it, right?)
It is said "all diseases begin in the gut," which is why gut health is so important. You see, we all have microbes in our intestines: Trillions of them, to be exact. These microbes metabolize food and make vitamins accessible to us. In other words, they’re essential to our health and immunity. They actually add up to 4 pounds of our body weight and help us fight off “bad” microbes (like the infamous E.coli or tetanus).
You know that feeling, the one in your stomach that tells you when something is not quite right? We use the colloquialism “gut feeling” to describe an emotion – an intuition – that we feel in our stomach, deep within the core of our being. We use other terms, too, to describe feelings that originate from our gut. Telling someone you have “butterflies in your stomach” is a way of communicating that you’re feeling some combination of excited/nervous/unsettled. Telling someone your “stomach is upset” generally communicates that you’ve eaten something wrong or you’re stressed.