stomach pain issues - anybody else?

ashiesmash
ashiesmash Posts: 32 Member
edited September 27 in Health and Weight Loss
This may not be the spot for this, but I need to know if this has happened to anybody else with a diet change.

Several months ago, when I was eating terribly with a high carbs and high fat diet, I started having stomach pain about once a week. It was under the breast, in the upper stomach and was so painful it radiated to my back and the only thing that could help was a hot shower. But the second out of that shower I'd be hunched over for hours. Vomiting helped sometimes, but other times it didn't elevate the pressure enough and the acid felt like it was going to eat me inside out.

I self diagnosed, and discovered it happened if I ate too much, too late, and if my meal consisted of red meat. It started only occurring once or twice a month but for the most part I'd had it under control.

This past month, since I started MFP, my diet has been lovely. And with said diet it seemed as though the stomach pains were gone. Healthier meals, smaller, eating only until about 7pm. But then, this past week, no matter what I do there's a dull aching pressure in the same spot. Lingering. It's the worst in the evenings, even if I haven't eaten much during the day or even eaten dinner yet. My work has yet to give me medical benefits, and I cannot afford health insurance which is why I've been putting off going to see a physician.

I'm scared. Lying down on my side seems to help, and I'm able to sleep just fine. But it's a feeling you get when you're stressed out, eaten something too spicy, or feel constipated...but all in the upper abdomen. I can't shake it, and I feel very alone in this. But mostly scared. I know I need to see a gastroenterologist, and am making plans to get my own insurance but that won't kick in for a few more weeks.

Please, if anybody out there has experienced something like this please let me know.

Replies

  • mmcgille
    mmcgille Posts: 60 Member
    Have you ever had problems with your gallbladder? I had an attack last year (after a high fat meal) that gave me significant pains just as you described. It could be gallbladder stones, which would explain why you may still feel the pains even after changing your diet.

    Feel free to friend me if you want.
  • talysshade
    talysshade Posts: 273 Member
    To me it just sounds a lot like extreme heart burn like i've had myself. When i was 11 i got hormone injections and ever since i've been really susceptible to heart burn. Acids would kill me after spicy food, intense exercise, eating too much, especially eating too much grease, seriously to a point where i'd get dizzy and almost faint at times.

    Now that i've changed my diet it's almost gone, because i don't give it any incentives anymore (tomatoes or anything like that would do it, too) and now it only comes by when i'm stressed, around my period, or when i binge.. Oh and just to let you know, the pain would come not when i had just eaten, but after i had not eaten for a bit and my body had made more and more acid for expecting food that didn't come.

    IF (i say if, because i'm not a doctor) this is the case, try a good antacid for a while, preferably a drink and not the tablets and especially NO calcium tablets since they will make it worse! And go see a doctor as soon as you can, since even if it's acids it might be something serious.
  • andreae13
    andreae13 Posts: 239 Member
    It sounds like you might have an ulcer. I'm in no way a doctor but I have experienced many of the same symptoms. My husband actually used to throw up every night until we switched to a no red meat diet, stopped eating before bed and stayed away from really spicy food. I still get pains every now and then right at the top of the stomach when I get super stressed. I take a daily stomach acid reducing medication like Zantac and it really helps!
  • xtinalovexo
    xtinalovexo Posts: 1,376 Member
    i had sumthin very similar and it turned out to be severe heartburn! they said acid refulx and i was taking an otc for it. the exact same spots you mentioned! and it lasts for several hours! my trigger seams to be cheese and i get this at night mostly.
  • jonikeffer
    jonikeffer Posts: 218 Member
    I would have said it sounded like acid reflux, but that should get worse when you're lying down, not better. Gallbladder pain will usually give you trouble with fatty meals. Since you're already tracking what you're eating, have you figured out a pattern (since you changed to the healthy diet)?

    Could also be chest pain, although you look young enough that hopefully that wouldn't be an issue. Is it in the center of your chest (like where your diaphragm is) or on one side (and if so, which side)?

    Two things to do - go see a primary type of doctor before seeing a GI. They can do some basics tests first. Also, you could try an acid reducer and see if that helps - Prilosec (generically known as omeprezole) is over the counter now. Take it daily for 2 weeks then stop.
  • ravenclawseekergirl
    ravenclawseekergirl Posts: 342 Member
    It sounds like you might have severe heartburn, that's sometimes caused by fats and red meat. It could also be a gall bladder problem try cutting out as much fat as possible, if this helps its probably either of these. Though you could have acid reflux, thats were the sphincter of your oesophagus either doesnt close properly or spasms letting stomach acid into the oesophagus.
    You really should go to the doctor... i understand that you've got money problems but...
  • paubanda
    paubanda Posts: 34
    SOUNDS LIKE GALLBLADDER! make doc appointment asap! it's painful and dont think you should wait until the last moment! i had it for a year,but under different circumstances. in 2001 i weighed in @ 298! BY THE END OF THT YEAR I WENT TO 198! i lost the weight and less pain,but it had to be removed because of the blockage the stones may cause! sending many prayers! feel free to add me as a friend! :)

    NO FAT DIET no spices of any kind!! either eggs or milk or cheese! u can try milk fat free depending on how ur body reacts!
    i act rice and chicken for tht whole year! i drank lost of water too! dont eat red meat or pork!

    ur gallbaladder is used in the digestive process! when we eat we should eat small meals,but sometime we dont and if u eat bigger meals it puts the gallbladder and pancreas into over drive! so strive @ small meals!

    when i had pain i would get in a bath of hot water and soak it out! tht relaxed me! since the pain is sometimes real intense! :sad:
    I'M HERE FOR U!
  • notOpel
    notOpel Posts: 46
    It could be a dozen different things, but self diagnosis is a slippery slope. Make an appointment to see your doc, asap. Whatever it is, eating healthy can never hurt you.
  • Keelyb63
    Keelyb63 Posts: 10
    Hi

    I've had similiar symptoms.

    My GP sent me for an endoscopy, ultrasound scan, and whole batch of blood tests. Came back that I was suffering from very inflamed stomach lining, Gastritis which sounds like nothing but is excruciating when it really takes hold. With pain I speak from experience, child birth, pulmonary embolism, the pain I had was right up there.

    I found I had pain when I eat too much, too little, or the wrong things - also when tired/stressed it also turned out I had a small hiatus hernia.

    My treatment was simply a course of Gastro -resistant capsules, change of diet, although doing all these things the pain still hits a sometimes.

    So sorry that you are worrying so much over this, not totally aware of how the health system over there works, luckily for me I'm from the UK and we have the National Health Service.

    Keep in touch let me know how things go.
  • craigh04
    craigh04 Posts: 31 Member
    I'm actually experiencing the exact same thing. I've been do the doctor and have had an ultrasound on my gallbladder which they didn't find anything wrong and some blood work which was fine. I am now scheduled to go so a specialist to check if it's an ulcer. I would suggest going to a doctor though, it could end up getting much worse.
  • ashley_jorah
    ashley_jorah Posts: 71 Member
    Is there also intense pain behind your right shoulder? That's a big indicator of gall stones.

    The gall bladder releases bile for fat metabolism. So you'll usually only have the pain after eating fat. If you cut out fat completely, you won't have an attack. (and it doesn't differentiate between good & bad fat) . I tried to do this while waiting for a surgery date, but I only made it two weeks before I was back in the hospital.

    Funny enough, I only started getting the attacks after I started eating more healthy. But I had fish & chips one night and woke up vomitting with chest pains for about 6hours.

    I ended up in the hospital several times and had to have emergency surgery to remove my gall bladder.
    2 years later I'm having basically the same symptoms though. They've treated me for gastritis (didn't help), tested me for a ulcer (negative) and the current guess is a hernia, but I've been waiting three months to see a specialist, so I still don't know what's wrong with me.

    Go to a doctor. Go to the hospital during the attack. Don't let them tell you it's just the 'stomach flu'! (Which actually doesn't exist)
  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
    Please see a doctor, it's quite likely to be gallbladder-related based on the pain you describe.
  • ashiesmash
    ashiesmash Posts: 32 Member
    Thanks everyone for all the replies. I haven't had to go to the emergency room or anything. But this has gone on far too long. I'll be seeing a doctor as soon as I can, once my new insurance plan kicks in.

    Regarding some questions:
    Nope, no pain in my shoulders, and the pain isn't localized to the right side or anything.
    99% of the time lying down makes it worse, but the last couple of days with the pain being very dull... lying down seemed to help for some reason. But really the only thing that works is a hot hot hot shower. But only until I'm out of it :C

    I'm going to try and cut out all fat (even the good fat waahhh), and acidic stuff (like tomatoes and citrus), and then last but not least eggs, cheese etc. Even now as I'm typing i'm feeling intense pressure on my stomach (it's been about 4 hours since I've eaten lunch) and it's starting to radiate to my mid-back. Used to never bother me during the day, just at night. Ugh!! I'm so tired of this! :sad:
  • jenttifer
    jenttifer Posts: 90 Member
    Sounds like classic gallbladder...

    See a doc as soon as the benefits kick in.

    Fatty foods or spicy foods tend to irritate it, which may be why you had some relief when you began eating better. Sometimes no matter what you do, though, it just keeps getting worse.
  • denanc
    denanc Posts: 12 Member
    Agreeing with those guessing gall bladder. Sounds exactly like my experience with gall bladder pain. Go get checked.
  • sue26
    sue26 Posts: 412
    sounds like youre doing the right thing for now, but i would like to add eat small meals more often cos it does sound like gall bladder problems.:smile:
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
    Another vote for gallbladder!
  • jujugonzalez334491
    jujugonzalez334491 Posts: 1
    I'm not sure if you still suffer from stomach pain, but I used to have severe stomach pain with vomitting and nausea and it lasted for almost 10 years. I also found that only hot showers or laying in a hot bath helped my pain. I smoked marijuana to see if that would help and I became a habitual and daily user. Come to find out that I was allergic to weed and that was my problem all along. Once I stopped, all the symptoms stopped as well. It literally saved my life to stop smoking marijuana. Not sure if this helps, but I hope you find help for your condition. God bless :)
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