Bruce Springsteen postponed shows to get treatment for symptoms of the disease.
Bruce Springsteen announced on Wednesday night that he would be postponing September shows because he is being treated for symptoms of peptic ulcer disease.
Such symptoms are common, said Dr. William Chey, chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at Michigan Medicine, and typically include nausea and burning, stabbing pain in the upper abdomen (just below the sternum.) People with peptic ulcers can also experience bloating, stomach pain after meals and a sensation of fullness that comes on quickly. In serious cases, they can have unexplained weight loss, vomit blood or material that resembles coffee grounds, or have black, tar-like stool.
But of those who experience peptic ulcer symptoms, only a small fraction are likely to actually have ulcers, Dr. Chey said.
“There’s a big difference between the symptoms of peptic ulcer disease and having peptic ulcer disease,” he added.What is peptic ulcer disease?
Peptic ulcers are defects in the lining of the stomach or small intestine that present like shallow sores, Dr. Scott Gabbard, a gastroenterologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said. It is more common in older people, but anyone can get the disease.
Around 5 to 10 percent of the general global population will develop peptic ulcers at some point in their lives, but many patients are asymptomatic. They may not know they have these ulcers until they experience bleeding, Dr. Harold J. Boutte, Jr., a gastroenterologist at Northwestern Medicine, said. But for those who do have symptoms, they can be painful, disruptive and, in some cases, debilitating.
