reflux and back pain

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I am at my witts end. Had endoscopy, colonscopy found inflammation in dueodenum. And polyps. I have been suffering for over a year now and constantly have chest burning pain which goes through to my back and into my arm. Had bloods done several ecgs including 24 tape test, been a&e several times as convinced is my heart but all come back negative. I don't get short of breath or have any worse pain on excertion. Feel liked i am a hypochondriac.is not me.. All this started after i had a hysterectomy and no one seems to want to help. Feel like Drs just keep fobbing me off, is this all caused through just acid does anyone else feel like this ? Xxx

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9 Replies

  • Posted

    Stephy,

    I seem to grasp you have 1.reflux, 2. back and arm pain (which arm?) 3. chest burning 4. duodenum inflammation, 5. and during either the edoscopy or colonoscopy there were ?polyps where? transverse, or sigmoid? ..if they were in the  colon and benign they would  (should) have been removed? Not really too unusual...hysterectomy? why?

    Wife had ovarian Cancer, we did a complete hysterectomy plus ovaries, plus gall ballder plus appendix..6 hour op has a long zipper scar.(NO CHEMO..we did our own).....She too experienced some pains of course....but she didn't experience stomach pains until well after surgery. Pain from your chest to your arm is often presumed from cardio insufficiency...but not always...

    I'd suggest target your inflammed duodenum...cause? I just suggested to a youngster who had the bacteria infection of H Pylori combned with Gastritis inflammed stomach and duodenum... to get relief...1. Get DGL 750 mg, take 15 to 20 minutes pre meals and one pre bedtime...Slippery Elm 150 to 300mg...alternate with DGL till you determine which works best for you. small easy digestive meals...no acid foods...eat only low fat foods,.No food 4 hours before bedtime, sleep on your left side if possible with head and shoulder elevated...SIP plenty of water 7.1 PH or better 9+...only between meals. and food has been completly digested.

    I'm at a loss as to how to respond to your  colon issue?  if polyps yet exist...size?.? (I'm assuming they were in colon not stomach).Wife's problems too began in 2010..post hystrectomy (the Cancer was not presenting a pain  problem other than the tumor was impacting against her bladder was a large fast growing type).....we are now reaching near 100% recovery (provided she stays compliant with diet and exercise. .Was your most recent blood work "all in range"?...and Was a biopsy done during the endoscopy, and if so...results? if any? You can get your good health back in order...the body can heal...but don't rely solely on the medical profession. Take control yourself...

    with my best hopes....Claudio

  • Posted

    Have you been seen by a specialist? You can always ask to see one.
    • Posted

      Hi Janet, good to see your posting...

      Janet,

      I think Stephy has seen specialists and thus her being at "wits end".

      Her various tests seem to indicate Gastroentrology vs GP work..my guess of course.

      (none of my GP's could order an upper endoscopy as an example".

      Stephy et. al.... can have cardio implication without "shortness of breath" and or no indication of pains during exercise. (I'm not up to speed with the process that could elucidate why? I know the symptom only)

      I would have suspected * "printzmetal"  until she stated **"constantly"...

      If so, this leads to a few other probablities..

      She may have several conditions, some overlapping...some could be cascades from medications like anesthesia and others and or the quick withdrawal of some meds......it's like trying to pick fly

      droppings out of pepper..

      Claudio

      Printzmetal:

      Back in  1959, Prinzmetal et al described a syndrome of NONEXERTIONAL EXERCISE chest pain, back and arm pain as well..

      Unlike patients with typical angina, these patients characteristically had normal exercise tolerance/s 

      and no shortness of breath.

      ** Constantly might indicate gall bladder implication..perhaps a small stone trapped in a bile duct? post hystorectomy and or  holecystectomy. But a good ultrasound tech or dr should be able to id.

      This condition could lead to Gastritis among other things. 

  • Posted

    Thanks for all your replies, sorry missed out few bits, yea two polys removed during endoscopy and inflammation found in gallbladder also. Biopsies all clear also. I have to admit my diet is poor, not overweight more scared to eat as fear of flare up. On HRT patches following hysto due to early menopause. Am currently taking cimetidine and metolin 3 times a day. I tried raising bed but not sure i done correctly. My pain in chest and arms has been constant for sometime. All bloods for heart came back clear and good ECG,s with low risk for heart problems. I know alot is diet and correct food but no idea where to start.
    • Posted

      Hi Stephy,

      I'm in a hurry here, so forgive me if I err...just off the top...so, you've done an ultrasond..thus found gall bladder inflammation?..I recall that Metolin affects acid or acidossis...and the cimetidine reduces HCL..I'm not fond of either plus..in any way of HRT..don't know how to ween it.would need to go back to school and my sounding board is no longer available (in heaven)...I would agree with your take on diet and or lack of.

      My first thought...if the Cimetidine isn't working..why continue? ween and replace with DGL...15 to 20 mins before each and every meal..and one pre bedtime. (I'll assume you haven't been evaluated for HPyori). you can alternate between DGL and Slippery Elm which ever does the best for you.750mg of DGL and 150 to 300mg Slippery elm...(I favor DGL)...these will protect the stomach lining while eating and digesting...only the DGL has scientific efficacy agains inflammation and HPylori.

      Diet...wow...think your a well  above average intelligent...your letting your stomach control your intellect..some of course is habit but again...intellect should dominate.

      Start yesterday...diet should be non acid foods...small meals..maybe put thru blender first week...then "very slowly add" non puree foods..just to see "how it goes"..one at a time...low fat of course...fats difficult to digest and as such...sit at the duodenum and ferment..thus Inflammation...(most all foods can be reintroduced when stomach is healed). Nothing hot...nothing cold...you don't want to "shock" the stomach even a tad..nothing raw...except papaya..if you don'g get a negative reactiion. sip water at ph 9+...not during meals...when food has been completely digested and sent down the tubes...if not..can quickly cause havoc....I mentioned non acid foods...few and far between...but you can mitigate some..example breakfast oatmeal...acid of about 4.5 PH...add a banana while cooking...should increase the PH .Once you've weened the cimetidine, the stomach's ratio of HCL, Bile..Pepsin should be more balanced. On youtube...there was a gal who promoted the GAP diet...really isn't a diet but a process...very long winded...but the gal is dead on correct...I've used the process of what..modifed the length of time...and it worked>>>.Gall bladder inflammation...the low fat and limited acid foods should completely take care of it. And I suspect this will help the chest, back and arm pain..(I take it the spleen was OKK?)...Dr. JA Kaufman MD ENT (the dr who coined "Silent Refulx" published a diet book.."drop the acid"...I was able to obtain it for $20 and then found its free on "nook"?. Lastly when you have the time and patience...google Steven Shakel...a Mensa qualifed Brit who was diagnosed with ALS in 1994...now living in AU published "his story"..if it was a book it would top the Best Sellers for a year plus (while he says he is yet physically limited...has littel to do with ALS but prior spinal injury...and in no way similar to Steven Hawking........ALS, think metolin was initially prescribed for ALS??

      Get back to me with any questions...if I don't respond quickly...sorry..but I should be able as this is a period of time when I'm doing "tidy up" work in the garden...Northern California Coast...my continued best to you...Claudio

    • Posted

      Interested in gap diet, is this similar to the fod map diet. This eliminates certain foods, glueton, wheat, dairy and lactose free products. It sounds tough but for me it worked. No acid items, chocolate and no no on tomatoes. Have just had gallbladder out Monday so be interestingly now to see what symptoms am left with. As several health issues to do with my gut. Always been hard to define what symptom goes with which issue. But it's good to try things and hopefully things will work out.

    • Posted

      The GAP is not for the "timid"...it is "tough"...its a process...sorry you've lost a neighbor....Janet...Take it super super easy...I don't know what your dr suggested for "afterwards"?..not the surgeon..they rarely know anything beyond their skilled profession. (exceptions of course)...but rconsume really easy digestives and no oils or fats for some time...adding a very small tad after at least 2 to 3 weeks. When food is in the stomach being processed its "ACID"...its the bile that alkalizes it befor going down the tubes...you may not have a good supply of it? (may)...gall bladder is a bile storage tank, and when the liver signals for more......no one at home...at least in the early stages post surgery.

      I had my wife take 500mg of milk thistle daily for 3 months.  Like me she is somewhat of a "coconut head"...she felt so wonderful walking too briskly  up a steep sidewalk in the city...turned altothether too sharp on a turn and "bingo" a very sharp knife like pain under her right rib cage. No physician in any field has been able to suggest "what the ?>?)...gastro..definitely not adhesion...surgeon..."not my fault"....and so on...it's now 19 months since this happened...she does not regularly feel this pain when doing normal stuff...however, should she lift something heavy or make a quick twist....its back...but not as severe nor as long lasting....I have my own guess..and I refuse to rule out adhesion/s or the remote possibility she has a tiny stone locked in a bile duct......I know the surgeon...he is the best at this lap  procedure...I had asked him why 5 holes and not 4? "Simple....the 5th was the first...to evaluate clearance due to possible adhesions from prior major abdominal surgery"...no other surgeon in all of our West Coast considered Lap due to former surgery.

      Smart dr. you bet, with one hole only should he have found adhesions, could have easily terminated the procedure, and sent across the street to the hospital Surgery Center...already pre planned and booked......I didn't want another major surgery...and because her gall bladder was full of "small stones" (I was with dr..not tech during ultrasound and could see them)..could not wait to send her out of the country to my family surgeons...lucky to have found him...So,

      here is praying you have the good outcome...and should you want or need anything that I might be able to provide (I'm a pensioner)....let me know...our best..claudio

  • Posted

    There were a lot of really intelligent things said here.  I've done tons and tons of research, And I have found varying degrees of sense to all of what has been said here, but depending on your issue, some of these may or may not work for you.  I have the same fear of eating as well because it hurts my chest too.  I do take slippery elm and DGL, and it helps to a varying degree.  I had pain in my back and limbs with numbness from ppis(nexium, prilosec, prevacid), so if you are taking them, could that be it?  I stopped and those problems went a way at least.  Turns out that during my first endoscopy they missed the h.pylori.  They found it in the 2nd one.  Now I'm being treated for it with antibiotics and peptobismol.  I'm also doing probiotics, and mastic gum, and when the antibiotics are done, I'll do pepzin gi--but my antibiotics interphere with calcium and zinc, so I can't do that till afterwards.  I had reactions from two other types of antibiotics, and I can't  take ppis.  Anyhow, I eat lots of sweet potatoes and zuchinni and squash.  I also eat lots of lettuce, pancakes, and white bread.  These things cause me less trouble than other things.  So that's what I eat.  The yogurt gives me trouble, as does regular potatoes--pasta even gives me trouble with nothing but butter on it. I also raised my bed--I'm sleeping sitting up every night--it stinks!!!  I feel like I'm in an airplane with the passenger behind me having one of those knee defender contraptions that won't let me recline(though there's slightly more leg room for me) Anyhow, hopefully, I'll feel better once the h. pylori is cured, and you too.  Let us know how it goes.
  • Posted

    Hi stephy

    i was diagnosed a few months ago with Barrett's esophagus and hiatus hernia neither of these match the symptoms I actually feel, I too have burning and pressure from my  sternum through to my mid back every day it really gets me down. I keep googling symptoms and it comes up with esophagus cancer which scares the living day lights out of me I'm going for as an next week to look for gallstones which also doesn't, match these symptoms, I do find that stress and working hard makes it much worse does this happen to you.

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