Is this what ulcer feels like?

For these past few years, I have been experiencing some form of back pain. This pain occurs occasionally, persists for a few days, and leaves. My whole body system will return to normal as if nothing happened. Sometimes, it seems the pain migrates from a certain region within my vertebral column to another region. Some other times, it seems the pain migrates to my chest, in the ribcage region, just around the diaphragm.

I never considered this pain a major health issue because it never persists beyond a few days. At some points, I attributed it to my sitting posture whenever I'm working on the pc. I once wrote an article relating to this, but I'm currently too weak to even go through my blog to fetch the link.

A few months back, my sister came down with serious lower back pain that ended up affecting her leg. After several tests, She was diagnosed with a compressed nerve due to a herniated disc at the lower vertebral column. The only way forward prescribed by the physicians was a decompression surgery. It took a lot of resources considering our family's economic status, but we were able to get the surgery done and my system has recovered almost 100%.

This particular incident made me be more self-aware of my own nagging back pain. I didn't want to end up in a similar way considering the fact that my sister's condition could be due hereditary. Just recently, the back pain came back. This time, stronger than ever before. It was so terrible that I found it difficult to sleep. The pain also kept moving from one region to another as described earlier, before eventually settling around my chest.

Will I also have to go through nerve decompression surgery? But wait! My pain seems to be different from that of my sister's. At least, my leg is yet to be affected. Could it be that my own condition is still at an early stage and can still be rescued using drugs? A lot of questions were going through my mind amidst the sleepless nights.

I eventually gave in a bit and decided to approach a Pharmacist for advice. After explaining in detail about my condition, he dipped his hand into his stock and brought out Omeprazole 20 mg, Metronidazole 400 mg, and Amoxycillin 500 mg.

^{My ulcer starter pack. Omeprazole 20 mg, Metronidazole 400 mg, and Amoxycillin 500 mg.}

Didn't you hear all that I've been saying?

I was expecting him to give me some analgesic to block the pain, at least. From the knowledge acquired while working as a Pharmacy Technician, the combination of drugs prescribed infers that the Pharmacist's presumptive diagnosis is an ulcer.

He later explained that all the symptoms I highlighted pointed to an ulcer. To further reinforce his presumption, he applied a little pressure below my diaphragm using his hand. I winced from the sheer amount of pain I felt from the little pressure. He explained to me how to go about the prescribed drugs and I left his premises albeit not entirely convinced.

I took the first dose of the drugs immediately after I got home and to my surprise, I got relieved significantly a few hours after. Apparently, the Pharmacist seems to be spot on with his presumptive diagnosis. The big question is:

How did I end up with an ulcer?

As far as my knowledge in science can carry me, there is yet to be a scientifically proven cause of ulcers. Of course, there are a few unconfirmed hypotheses as to the cause. Two out of these include the Helicobacter pylori hypothesis and the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)hypothesis. However, I don't know of any investigation that confirms these hypotheses, either singly or in synergy.

I still feel a bit of discomfort around my lower chest, but looking back at the symptoms, I can help but wonder how diverse the symptoms of ulcers are. I have witnessed ulcer crises in some people and their symptoms were quite different to mine. In fact, I have seen a case of chronic vomiting due to an ulcer.

Anyway, I am hoping that my symptoms will subside totally after completing the prescribed drugs. I don't what a case whereby my diet will be restricted because of ulcers, as seen in many ulcer patients.

What do you think?