You can't understand why your stomach always seems to burn.

Your excessive heartburn may be a symptom of something more serious, a perforated stomach ulcer.

The antacids don't seem to give you as much relief as they once did. You've noticed you have constant gas and burping. You have more stomach pain with some foods and less stomach pain with other types of food. It may be time for you to go see a doctor. You may have an ulcer in your stomach or your lower throat or small intestine area. You may have had some damage to your stomach or maybe at the start of your small intestines due to excessive acids that are normally used to digest your foods.

It's amazing to think that stress, worry and anger can actually cause extra stomach acid to eat away at your stomach lining. Sometimes it may not be the added stress at all however. There are times when things we eat and drink that are added things to our systems like alcohol and different types of food can cause ulcers.

The ulcer itself may be a small eating away of the stomach lining that is about 1/8 to 3/4 inches in size. A perforated ulcer or peptic ulcer is actually a hole that has eaten into the wall of your stomach and is causing bacteria and food to lodge in the hole in your stomach. You'll want to get a perforated ulcer diagnosed and treated right away so you can avoid unnecessary visits to the doctors and maybe even the emergency room later on as it gets worse.

A good sign of your heartburn being an actual ulcer and not just heart burn, is when you feel a sudden pain between the chest area and above the waist. Ulcers must be treated by a physician to stop them from getting progressively worse and causing you more complications. A perforated or pectic ulcer is usually accompanied by sharp stomach pains due to the food you've already eaten getting lodged into the ulcer hole in the stomach itself.

A perforated ulcer that isn't treated will eventually lead to a bleeding ulcer and you may notice blood in your bowel movements or in your vomit. If your stools get blackish or red looking, you'll want to be seen by a professional for treatment as soon as possible. There are great treatments for ulcers and help is available for you.