For 3 months now I've had something going on in what feels like my upper abdomen. Epigastric region.
Started randomly after having a Pizza from a takeaway one night. I started feeling a mild dull ache in my upper abdomen. This has just continued and continued and I was very reluctant to go to the doctors hoping it would resolve itself. It would seem to get intense for a few days making a cramping, squeesing sensation below my sternum and ribs and then I would get days when it would calm down a bit. Over time I have noticed other things come and go. Hunger pangs being one of them.
I did consult my GP around 2-3 weeks ago after putting up with it for 2 or so months. Probably didn't explain in enough detail what I needed to. He pressed around my stomach to check if it hurt or if he could feel anything. Listened to my breathing etc and took my blood pressure which were all fine. Apart from that from my symptoms he couldn't tell what was up and said see how it goes but it's continued to bother me since.
I've tried looking up the symptoms online but I can't make sense of how it keeps coming and going in waves of intensity.
Symptoms:
- Mainly dull ache/cramp/squeesing sensation in episgastric region and below ribs.
- Slight backache at times to go with it.
- Feeling of heavyness in chest.
- Slight pinching type feelings generalised around abdomen sometimes.
- Sometimes strong hunger pains when already ate.
My stools are a normal colour from what I can tell. Sometimes can find it hard to push them out, whether soft or hard. Varies what they are like probably depending on what I've ate. I'm still eating, not lost my appetite or anything. No vomiting.
Any ideas?
Hi Gam
I do not know what you have but i suggest you go back to your doctor and ask to have a full examination of your body with all the systoms you are describing and hopfully he/she can tell you what is going on ok Good Luck
Thank You for the reply Angela. I've got an appointment for Monday now, have to take a Urine sample with me. Hopefully I can get this sorted!
Thats very good news Gam. If the out come is not to private and you dont mind other people reading your information, please let me know how you get on ok girl. Good Luck again
Well I attended my appointment today which was stressful. My Anxiety seemed to kick in hard today so I was pretty much vomiting on the walk to the doctors lol Not good.
Managed to ride it out and seen him though. Handed over my paper with my symptoms I wrote down. He said he thinks I eat too much takeaway and to cut down on the food and see how I go..... So 3 months and now this... I asked if it continues could I get blood tests done and he kinda pulled his face and said that wouldn't really show anything... Puzzled me but. I guess I will watch what I eat and see how it goes but I'm not so confident it will resolve everything.
Hi Gam
I've just read your email about you going to your doctor's and explaining to him what your symptoms are, and he suggests you cut back on eating to much takeaway foods. Do you by any chance eat alot of pizza's and maybe the odd chinese takeaway? When you take these kind of foods back to your home to eat them ,you should make sure they are very hot all the way thru before you eat it as the rice may sometimes contain a wheat worm, that needs to be cooked to a certain temperature, that it does not make the customers get food poisoning and also with the pizza dough. I hope some of this info can help and that you begin
to feel better soon. 
sorry about this bit not on the end of the first email. silly me 
I wouldn't say any more often than the average person Angela. To be honest I mostly tend to have one takeaway a week on a Friday which is a Steamed Peri Chicken Causar Salad with Rice. It just so happens that I wrote down on my symptoms that this all started 3 months ago when I had Pizza. So instantly my doctor assumes that I live on take away food. Well I was feeling alright on Friday night after my usual takeaway, saturday fine, sunday fine. Haven't had anything bad to eat and now my stomach is all cramped up and having bad hunger pains again. So I don't see how it can be food doing this to me.
Gam would you mind if I suggested, that you try drinking some hot Ginger tea or hot Peppermint tea, before you have anything to eat. These teas can be bought in teabags form, but you would drink them without milk, but you could add some sugar for taste. This could expel a great amount of wind from you when you drink either one of them, as it is beginning to read like it could be trapped wind, you might get after you've maybe had an operation or keyhole surgery, where the pump your stomach with alot of air. Have you had any surgery done to your stomach recently, if you dont mind me asking?
No Angela never had surgery.... I don't know why this started. I was dieting from Jan to March and lost about 18lbs but then came off the diet and ate whatever I wanted like I used too. It was a night after eating Pizza that a dull ache started in my stomach and never went away. This has gradually led to cramping sensations and hunger feelings in the past month. I spend a lot of time sat down at the computer on this chair, so my back muscles feel really tight too. Do you think sitting down for long periods and tight back muscles could cause havoc with the stomach and diaphram?
Well Gam it seems this one is a mystery to me, and all i can say now is try not to eat to much of what you like since you lost a stone and 2lbs since jan-mar which is very good for 3 months, and try to have a break from sitting hunched over your computer for long hours in the day and hopefully everything should settle down again over time in both your stomach, diaphram and back muscles. Good Luck Hun
I may invest in a weight bench and try work my back muscles a bit rather than being lazy at this desk. Thanks for the replies Angela Hopefully something will give.
Hi Gam, Has anything changed since your last post. I have the same symptoms
Hello David. Sorry for the late reply. I have only just noticed your message as I was searching my symptoms again and came across my own post. Unfortunately no, no new developments. I do have myself to blame as I do hate visiting the doctors and after forcing myself to go 3 or 4 times and keep being told it's probably down to what I am eating and no real tests being done I gave up. I've lived with the mild pain for months now, this week in particularly has me feeling bad again. My back is cramped up like crazy, I can't sleep properly as I get that horrible strange mild pain in my abdomen and then a extremely strong feeling of hunger. I am still convinced I have been infected by something I had eaten. And of course there is the stress and worry that it could be something more sinister. I am debating with myself about going to a different doctor and asking for stool and blood tests to be done. Have you visited your GP David?
Hi Gam,thanks for getting back to me. Yes I have been doctors lots of times and had xrays, ct scan, ultrasound. Nothing found at all. Reading your symptoms again and they are exactly the same as mine. Im going back again on Monday and ask for some blood tests.
It's a strange one. As I say I'm probably not an ideal patient as I avoid the doctors at all cost but when going there if I keep getting fobbed off it makes me not want to attend again All I had done was my blood pressure checked, a quick feel around my stomach and also a urine sample which all were normal. I still feel adamant that this all starting after eating a takeaway has to be something to do with it. I'm surprised they gave you XRays etc without running any blood tests already. I was reading about something called SIBO earlier also, it sounded of interest.
Hi, I just came across this article and thought I might be able to help. I had the same symptoms about two years ago and they continued to get progressively worse for about a year, until one day the pain and pressure in my upper abdomen got so bad that I had to go to the hospital. After a sonogram was done I was told that I had gallstones and that I needed to have my gallbladder removed. Since the surgery I have been pain-free and have not had any symptoms since. I suggest you go see your doctor or a new doctor and tell them that you think you may have gallstones and request a sonogram. I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck.
Erica
I got checked out for gallstones but none found.
Hi Erica
Thanks for the reply. Gallstones is one of a few things that also crossed my mind. I had been dieting for a good 3 months and lost some weight and had came off the diet eating take aways etc when my symptoms first started. I believe dieting and then coming off one can actually cause Gallstones. It's annoying as abdominal pain can be so many different things. Last night I took a paracetemol as my back just felt so tensed up and sore. Today things seemed to have eased up a little bit again. It's strange how the intensity comes in different waves.
Yes, the reason the pain comes and goes, and the reason you may feel pain and discomfort after eating fast food with gallstones, is because when you eat something high in fat your body will excrete bile that is stored in your gallbladder. When you have gallstones, sometimes they will get caught in the tube in which your bike is excreted. The pain and pressure you feel is the stone trying to pass through this duct. The pain gradually gets worse and then gradually subsides as it works its way up the bile duct and then eventually back down when your gallbladder calms down. As time progresses, the stones can grow and the gallbladder and bile duct can get increasingly more and more irritated and inflamed. It's just gets worse and worse until either the stones or the entire gallbladder are removed. At this point changing your diet will not eliminate the gallstones, but it may prevent them from growing larger. However a change in diet will not prevent the gallbladder attacks if you already gave stones that have been causing pain as they will continue to make their way up your bile duct once in a while. I'm sorry to say that if your condition is in fact gallstones, your pain and discomfort will not go away without medical attention.