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Gastritis? Something worse?

Posted , 9 users are following.

petra55548
petra55548

Hi. I'm going out of my mind. I just turned 39. For the past 12 weeks I've been in pain on left side of my rib and middle where stomach is. It all startwd after a horrible stress( death in family), drinking wine a lot and coffee on empty stomach. Sometimes it feels like pressure, like a baby foot stuck there while pregnant, sometimes like a stomach pain protruding into back, sometimes like rib itself burns. I have been put on omeprazole 40 for last 10 weeks with no real change. I've had complete blood work which was perfect ( the only thing they found was low thyroid), h pylori breath test- negative, complete abdominal ultrasound - normal, upper GI series with barium swallow - normal, chest x ray - normal. I finally had upper endoscopy 2 days ago. Waiting for biopsy, but doctor said he didn't see any cancer, polyps, ulcers. All he saw was small scratch and possibly mild gastritis. And that I can stop omeprazole. I didn't take it last two days and pain got worse, waking me at night. So I just took it again today. I'm at the end of wits, scared of pancreatic cancer etc. Googling symptoms is killing me. 8m a very anxious person. Anyone else had gastritis that took this long to heal?

0 likes, 25 replies

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  • melissa06686
    melissa06686 petra55548

    Posted

    Pancreatic cancer generally causes a lot of back pain and must be quite advanced before you have any symptoms. I would think with all the testing you've had done, they would have seen something on your scans that indicated cancer if you were in so much pain already. Either that or your bloodwork would have come back skewed. Sounds to me more like you maybe injured a rib ligament or something similar. That can cause a lot of pain and take a long while to heal, but isn't deadly. 

  • sam18386
    sam18386 petra55548

    Posted

    Hi petra I think I'd ask for stronger medication  try zoflat,  it's a powerful antacid medication. 

  • petra55548
    petra55548

    Posted

    Thank you guys. I will ask about the Zoflat. I'm hoping my doctor will send me for MRI or CAT scan, to ease my mind. Having constant pain without knowing why is really doing a number on my mind.

  • Joe79711
    Joe79711 petra55548

    Posted

    If you had abdominal ultrasound. And it was good you have nothing to worry about. CT is only used to look for other things like ulcers etc.. or if they found something on your ultrasound which they didn't.. 

    Sounds like ulcer to me

    • petra55548
      petra55548 Joe79711

      Posted

      I was hoping for ulcer, but my gastroenterologist did upper endoscope two days ago under sedation where they put camera down your throat and no ulcers were found. Just a scratch on the lining of stomach. I'm frustrated that all these tests show nothing . Thank you for taking time calming me down. My husbands ears are falling off by now. Lol

    • sam18386
      sam18386 petra55548

      Posted

      Ha,  ha at least your husband laughs.  It's not funny though.  Find out what it is but when he stubs his toe in pain,  laugh back! 

    • Joe79711
      Joe79711 petra55548

      Posted

      Well at least you have had tests and they are all clear.... you can pretty much rule out anything really bad like cancer. So I wouldn't worry about that 

  • mike60178
    mike60178 petra55548

    Posted

    I had the  same symptoms in my late 30's, had a full feeling and dull ache in my stomach through to my back. I let it go for a couple days thinking it was gas of some type. On the final night I had a big burger and a tasty craft beer, later that night the stomach pain increased. I checked into Er next morning, they thought maybe stones either kidney or gull blader. It turned out to be pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) they held me for 3 days. The only way to treat is to not eat or drink until the pancreas settles back down. I'm ok now the doctor just said to cut out fatty foods and alcohol. I'm sure the docs checked your amylase and lypase enzymes in your pancreas? This test is from your blood and isn't always a standard test unless specified. You might want to check out what they tested for exactly. One thing I learned about doctors, hospitals, labs, etc. is that never assume they know what they're doing and always double check to see what is tested and the results. If you have any questions you can send me a private message.          

    • petra55548
      petra55548 mike60178

      Posted

      Thank you Mike! Yes, they checked amylase and lipase twice in last month. Once in full panel and once later just those two specifically. Both were normal. You are so right about being your own health advocate and not assuming they know better. I had gastritis 10 years ago and they sent me home from ER with ibuprofen 800. NSAID s are known to cause gastritis..mm go figure
  • pippa58442
    pippa58442 petra55548

    Posted

    You may have picked up gastrtis due to stress.  This shows up on scans.  Are they treating you for underactive thyroid?  Make sure they give you enough thyroid medication.  Don't google; it will make you worse.  Discuss your worries with your doctor.

    • petra55548
      petra55548 pippa58442

      Posted

      Hi Pippa! Yes, I've been on Levothyroxine for 3 weeks now. Blood recheck in a month to see if dose needs adjusting. I definitely went through a lot of stress back in May.

    • pippa58442
      pippa58442 petra55548

      Posted

      If gastritis is suspected, avoid fatty and spicy foods.  Try a food diary to see what foods may be triggering symptoms.  Gastritis can be caused by stress,  When you have your thyroid checked again, if you have normal results but you still have underactive symptoms, insist on s higher dose, because sometimes the test is inaccurate.
    • petra55548
      petra55548 Joe79711

      Posted

      It's basically inflammation of stomach lining. Digestive system is usually the first to show signs of high anxiety and stress . I am a vet tech and know dogs easily get street colitis just by changes in their routine and have bloody diarrhea etc. It's amazing how our bodies work, everything is connected.

    • petra55548
      petra55548

      Posted

      Stress, lol, not street
    • pippa58442
      pippa58442 Joe79711

      Posted

      The stomach has more nerves in it than the spinal cord and is linked to your brain.  When your brain detects stress, it can be felt in your stomach.  With gastritis, the stomach lining gets infammed.
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