Gastric erosion occurs when the mucous membrane

Mucous membrane

The mucous membranes are linings of mostly endodermal origin, covered in epithelium, which are involved in absorption and secretion. They line cavities that are exposed to the external environment and internal organs...

 lining the stomach

Stomach

The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...

 becomes inflamed. Some drugs, as tablets, can irritate this mucous membrane, especially drugs taken for arthritis

Arthritis

Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....

 and muscular disorders, steroids, and aspirin

Aspirin

Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication. It was discovered by Arthur Eichengrun, a chemist with the German company Bayer...

. A gastric erosion may also occur because of emotional stress

Stress (medicine)

Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...

, or as a side effect of burn

Burn

A burn is an injury to flesh caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, light, radiation, or friction.Burn may also refer to:*Combustion*Burn , type of watercourses so named in Scotland and north-eastern England...

s or stomach injuries.

Symptoms

There is basically one symptom of gastric erosion: bleeding from the area where the stomach lesion is. Bowel movements may contain blood

Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

. Vomit may be bloody as well, but a gastric erosion may not cause vomiting. Blood may be black because it will be partially digested. Loss of blood may cause one to develop anemia

Anemia

Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...

.

Risks

Anemia and other problems related to blood loss may occur. Sometimes a person with a gastric erosion will experience severe bleeding all at once; here red (bloody) vomiting may occur, and/or black bowel movements.

Treatment

Doctors can prescribe alternative anti-arthritic drugs, and alternatives for aspirin are available. Once you have gastric erosion, however, you cannot treat it without the aid of a physician. To keep from getting gastric erosion, drugs that could irritate your stomach should be taken with (or directly after) food. Avoid alcohol. Those with severe gastric erosion will likely be hospitalized and given a blood transfusion

Blood transfusion

Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...

. Unless there is an underlying disease causing gastric erosion, once the irritant is removed, gastric erosion will not occur again.

Source

"Gastric Erosion." Encyclopædia Britannica, Micropaedia. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 1998 ed.