Can anyone please give me some advice on my abdominal pain!?

Digestive health
1

Hi all,

I'm a 21 year old female who has had bowel trouble all my life, I was diagnosed August last year with severe IBS after a full colonoscopy. I'm now having a lot of trouble with my stomach area. I vomit after meals, sometimes fully but sometimes it just come back up my throat and back down again, I burp consitantly after eating and have heartburn and indigestion. I'm full after eating the smallest amounts. My worst symptom is how bloated my stomach is, I look 6 month pregnant, it's really uncomfortable to be so big and bloated all the time and it's hard to breathe. I also have upper abdominal pain just below my breast bone in the middle and the pain can radiate around to my back. I'm constantly tired and always have jaundice eyes in the morning. I always have blood with my stools but I do suffer with frequent anal fissures. I've been so generally ill with this for about 3 months now. My doctor has finally reffered me to have an endoscopy after 4 visits to the GP. I have to do a stool test first for H.Pylori then if that's negative I can have the endoscopy. I'm just freaking myself out that I have something serious and I wondered if anyone else is going through the same thing?

2

Hi I was feeling all those things you have mentioned over Xmas and into the New Year-(I didnt vomit though)

I was sent for a endoscopy and it came back all clear.

However I was also sent for other tests-Ultrasound-clear

Full bloods and celiac-all normal

Still waiting some others...

Start with your Endoscope and take it from there as you could have various problems in the stomach given your symptoms

Or-like me it could all be clear

Doctors are thinking I have IBS(though was told this 10yr ago and have managed over the years,however this time around everything feels different for me)

Good luck

3

Hi Sarah.

I'm glad to hear you're all okay. It's a horrible thing to go through because you just worry yourself to death!! Thank you for the advice though, I'll wait until my endoscopy and try not to worry until then.

Good luck with everything. 

4

With IBS before with GERD and now jaudice eyes and severe bloating indicates multiple problems. You do need an endoscopy and liver panel tests with a GI specialist.

5

Your symptoms sound like you have an IBS food trigger.  Perhaps try the Fodmap diet.  An endoscopy would pick up h pylori so you don't necessarily have to have an h pylori stool test as well.  Heartburn and indigestion are common IBS symptoms.  Worry is also part of IBS and will make symptoms a lot worse.  I have very mild IBS.  It was a lot worse before diagnosis, but once my symptoms were identified, I started feeling much better.  If you are having fissures, don't strain too much to pass stools.  If you can't go, try an over the counter stool softener/laxative to make your stools easier to pass.  If you are not intolerant to fruit, try oranges, prune juice and grapes to help your bowel habits if you get constipation.

6

Your blood should have been tested for basics already, one of the first things:

liver enzyme panel

bilirubin

electrolytes

full blood count

inflammation markers (CRP, white cell count)

celiac disease antibodies

if possible:

copper, caeruloplasmin  

You can test how you digest different sugars:

Lactose Breath test for lactose intolerance 

Fructose Breath test for fructose malabsorption

Glucose Breath test for small bowel/intestinal bacterial overgrowth

Lactulose Breath test for Hydrogen production and intestinal transit time

Sucrose Breath test for sucrose malabsorption 

Sorbitol Breath test for sorbitol malabsorption

Mannitol Breath test for mannitol malabsorptionand

Usually biopsies are taken during a colonoscopy even nothing is visible to the macroscopic eye for microscopic investigation.

Usually also some of those relating sugar enzymes can be tested on biopsies how active they are (we had fructase, maltase, lactase tested...hence FODMAP diet never worked for us since no deficiencies in all these enzymes)

Sometimes it's as easy as something in your food upsetting your gastrointestine. Food diary would be great, easy digest food too (be it soup, mashed and cooked)

If the vomiting was due to slowed down motility,

a simple and fully pain free gastric emtying study can be done to show, how fast the stomach emptied.

The gallbladder and duct would be interesting for some imaging (ultrasound).

Also the superior mesenteric artery syndrome (when the angle is to sharp, the artery squeezed) can cause vomiting. But is very rare. That would be at the end of my list to check for.

I find checking good since it is also peace of mind. IBS can be a pain in the patella and huge in symptoms, but first even rare things must be ruled out. Endoscopy is usually a routine and basic procedure before being brushed off.

Why you have to be H.pylori negative before an endoscopy is performed, I don't quite understand. Usually an endoscopy is to look at walls of oesophagus, stomach and dueodenum to get clues for symptoms, that can very well be not H.pylori related at all or can be H.pylori related, and while in there taking multiple biopsies and also test them for H.pylori.

Best of luck!

Hang in there!