I'm 20 years old, in good health. Recently I have been experiencing stomach aches and nausea throughout the day. This has been persisting for about a week, maybe a bit more. Sometimes the feeling phases between feeling very hungry and feeling nauseas and achy, each of these having an interval of a few minutes. It has been affecting my appetite, as I don't want to eat as much as I usually do for fear of making myself feel worse.
Recently I've moved back to school after winter break, switching from home cooked food to processed cafeteria food. Usually this upsets my stomach a little bit for a few days until i'm used to school food, but it never lasts this long and is not as bad. Also, the stomach aches & nausea don't seem to coincide with when I eat at school and when I eat elsewhere, it doesn't seem to discriminate. It's not very severe pain, but it's very frustrating and can sometimes cross the line from annoying to rather painful. I have yet to vomit because of it, though I often feel like I'm going to.
Another fellow on the forum sounded like he was having similar issues, and an ulcer was given as a possibility and pepcid or zantac was recommened. Would these help me? How serious is an ulcer if I do have one?
Also, some possibly relevant information: I never, ever burp. I've never really been able to do it at all, even if I try. I even stopped drinking carbonated beverages a while ago because they just give me a gaseous stomach ache. I've also been a vegetarian for about 3 years.
Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.