Gastritis..? H.Pylori..? Ulcer..? All in my head..? :(

Hello, my names Andy. I'm 22, 6ft 1", 12 stone (last time I was weighed -5 months ago I think) I don't drink alcohol at all, I don't ever eat spicy food & I think in all my life I've smoked about 3 cigarettes the last one being on new years eve 2011. I also have Ulcerative Colitis, I was diagnosed with that via colonoscopy in October 2012, however I've lived with the symptoms on and off for the last 4 years. Other than that I'm fine... well not recently anyway.

It all seemed to start about just over a month ago when I was stressed out and nervous about almost everything in my life. I started missing the occasional meal, or eating one at an odd time or too late. I've always eaten a lot, not too much, but a lot. My diet has never been top notch, but I wouldn't say it was awful.

Anyway I was getting stressed about things in late August and like I said my eating habits were thrown wildly off for about a week. But then it became two weeks & then three And before I knew it I was feeling sick,nauseous and weak. I had a heavy feeling stomach and couldn't bring myself to eat much. My stomach would complain that I wasn't eating and I would get really bad hunger rumblings that would be quite nauseating, but then if I did eat something I would feel sick.

I found myself in the doctors and her diagnosis was stress induced Gastritis, which I had never heard of before. I wasn't really told too much about Gastritis, but I was told to basically try and de-stress myself & get myself eating again. I was also given some tablets called Lansoprazole(?) I was supposed to have one a day, which I did. So I took all 28 of them and have now been off them for about 5 days.

I feel as though the Lansoprazole didn't do much, if anything at all. After having been on them for a week I ended up back in the doctor's office for a follow up to see how I was doing. At that point I was more or less eating again, (still not my normal amount though) and my stomach didn't feel too bad anymore. So my doc said "ok well finish the course of tablets and you should feel better" and that was that.

I didn't really manage to "de-stress" in the end, if anything I was getting more stressed. I ended up looking up Gastritis on the internet, which I will say right now was a mistake I ended up reading about stomach cancer among other stuff.

On top of this constant nausea,to make it all a little worse I had stopped taking my Mesavant tablets for my Colitis because of a silly fear that the combination of those and the Lansoprazole would make me feel ill. So for about a week or two I've had a slight flare up of my Colitis

Anyway I have not been on the lansoprazole now since last friday. My stomach still hates me and I've been feeling nauseous pretty much every day. I've made myself take my Mesavant Colitis tablets again but I know from experience that that SHOULD clear up in a week or two. I have been much better with my eating habits, I've made myself eat even though I haven't always wanted to. I've eaten more this week than I think I did all last month. However I ended up having an emergency appointment with my doctor on monday morning I got up, felt more or less alright, had some cornflakes and before I knew it, it was as if my stomach had grown a fist and was trying to get out of my body. It was the most discomfort I've felt since this all started so I was in a bit of a panic to say the least.

Another thing to point out is that I have noticed an odd sensation this week. And that is that when I feel hungry, my stomach seems to struggle gurgling. Its hard to explain My stomach doesn't seem to rumble as much anymore, but if it does it is VERY "deep" and it feels rather more horrible than it used to normally. Also I've not been burping as much as I used to (if that's relevant at all), even though a lot of the time it feels like I need to burp. When I DO burp however its always a small pathetic one that doesn't relieve anything

Anyway I told my doctor about how the lansoprazole gave me a bit of relief, but my appetite wasn't great still. I said that I had nausea still and a heavy feeling in my stomach and that I couldn't seem to notice a pattern. By that I mean I can't tell if my stomach is aggravated by certain foods etc. I told her that I hadn't been taking my Colitis tablets & I more or less got told off rightly so I think in a way, I've just made things a little worse for myself

My doctor gave me some anti-emetics I think they're called Cyclizine(?) I've been on 2 or 3 of those a day since Monday. I think they've given me peace of mind if nothing else. The Doc booked me in for some blood tests which were taken today. The results should come in by next week apparently. My doctor is still certain that this is all because I get so stressed out, but I'm going in circles here I have still never vomited throughout this ordeal, which I'm assuming is good...? But this nausea is just crippling me.

I asked my doctor if maybe I needed to cut out dairy or gluten from my diet but she said "no you need to eat" My doctor is lovely but that felt very dismissive of her To be honest though if I DID cut out dairy and gluten I feel like I would be left with nothing to eat

My appetite is pretty much back, but its nothing like it used to be. It's very depressing I have to say. I'm not going out anymore because even walking around seems to make my tummy feel bad. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if I ever got on a bus or a train, I've never really been susceptible to motion sickness before... but then my stomach has never felt like its dying on me before

What I've been left with is a recurring sensation that's like a brick in my stomach in the middle area under my ribs. Whenever I'm hungry my stomach feels too weak to tell me so. But then I'll feel just sort of sickly a little while after eating. I wouldn't say I've been in pain as such, more of a nauseating discomfort. I'm annoyed at myself that I've read through pages and pages of the internet for what might be wrong with me. I know I should trust my doctor, she knows what's up after all, but I'm just a little sceptical since she didn't perform any kind of tests on me, apart from her lying me down and feeling my abdominal region in a few places.

Right now I'm in a horrible position of waiting for my blood tests to come back to me. I don't even know what they are looking for or what they might find? What if hey find something bad? What if they find nothing at all & tell me I'm fine when I might feel no better or worse even? The nurse took about 3 phials of blood out of my arm and I remember the doctor saying they would do a general blood count or something... and look at my liver funcions for some reason..? I don't know. Can Gastritis be confirmed through a blood test?

My doc said she didn't think I had an ulcer, (or cancer). But this H. Pylori thing, (I've done my reading to say the least) If I DO have Gastritis that seems like the only reason to me how I would have it. I've read though that some people have Gastritis/H. Pylori for years and sometimes it might never go away and then could perhaps lead to ulcers which then lead to cancer anyway If I was to feel like this for any more than a few more weeks I feel like my life will be destroyed & I might end up in hospital...

On the other hand I suppose this COULD be all due to anxiety and extreme stress, but I can't seem to make any progress, I'm in a vicious circle & it's upsetting me I miss eating the food I used to eat & I miss not worrying about myself so much I'm sorry this is a ridiculously lengthy post & if anyone has actually read through it all I'd like to say thank you. Perhaps leave me any advice? Or even a kind word or two? I feel like I'm at the end of my tether. If I do indeed have Gastritis, what should I do to help myself? If I have H.Pylori what would that mean for me?

Thanks,

Andy

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