A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease[1] is an ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. As much as 80% of ulcers are associated with Helicobacter pylori, a spiral-shaped bacterium that lives in the acidic environment of the stomach, however only 20% of those cases go to a doctor. Ulcers can also be caused or worsened by drugs such as Aspirin and other NSAIDs
A peptic ulcer may arise at various locations:

• Stomach (called gastric ulcer)
• Duodenum (called duodenal ulcer)
• Esophagus (called esophageal

Symptoms of a peptic ulcer can be:

• Abdominal pain, classically epigastric with severity relating to mealtimes, after around 3 hours of taking a meal (duodenal ulcers are classically relieved by food, while gastric ulcers are exacerbated by it);
• Bloating and abdominal fullness
• Waterbrash (rush of saliva after an episode of regurgitation to dilute the acid in esophagus)
• Nausea, and lots of vomiting
• Loss of appetite and weight loss;
• Hematemesis (vomiting of blood); this can occur due to bleeding directly from a gastric ulcer, or from damage to the esophagus from severe/continuing vomiting.
• Melena (tarry, foul-smelling feces due to oxidized iron from hemoglobin)
• Rarely, an ulcer can lead to a gastric or duodenal perforation. This is extremely painful and requires immediate surgery.