Stomach diseases are often accompanied by symptoms of dyspepsia, i.e. indigestion. This term includes an excessive feeling of fullness after a meal, a feeling of fullness inadequate to the eaten meal, and epigastric pain after a meal. Heartburn may also appear.
A characteristic symptom of peptic ulcer disease is epigastric pain several hours after a meal or on an empty stomach, e.g. in the morning or at night. The complaints usually occur at fixed times. Eating a meal then brings relief. One of the complications of peptic ulcer disease is a perforation in the stomach ulcer. It is accompanied by much stronger pain, often compared by patients to a stabbing.
Clear symptoms of stomach cancer usually appear when the cancer process is well advanced. You may experience persistent epigastric pain, weight loss, loss of appetite and difficulty swallowing. Both a cancerous tumor and a stomach ulcer can be a source of hemorrhage. Bleeding in the stomach manifests as vomiting with dust-like contents or black tarry stools. If the bleeding is minor, it may go unnoticed. Then it leads to slow blood loss and the development of anemia.