I'd like some opinions from anyone here who might have a similar experience to mine. Last October I had a bout of abdominal pain below my right ribs a little right of center. I thought it was my gallbladder. Prior to this I had noticed for some time, an awful lot of very loud stomach growling and stool changes including thin stools and mucus. Anyway, the pain lasted for days and I saw a gastroenterologist who didn't seem very concerned about it but I ended up with a colonoscopy due to family history of polyps. The result of that was all clear but the next day I became extremely ill with chills, dizziness and anxiety. It seemed like a possible reaction to the demerol they gave me for the colonoscopy. A week later I was still under the weather with fatigue and some abdominal "pressure" mostly when sitting, so I went to a family practice doc and had all manner of blood tests done. I was concerned about my liver by that time because prior to this I had drank more than I should and the initial pain came on one night after I had eaten some fatty food and had 3 glasses of wine. The blood tests all came back fine the doc said. He said there's no way it's your liver. Well, I got better after a few more days and didn't think anything of it. I also didn't know whether I believed him about the liver, so I didn't drink for the next two months. This year, feeling all back to normal, I went back to having from 1 to 3 drinks at night, about 5 nights a week. I had some heartburn off and on, which was helped by famotidine (pepcid). Then the pain came back one day, this time like a ton of bricks. I had terrible burning pain all along my right ribs and below a couple of inches, going all the way around my side and across the back. I had chills and wouldn't eat, lost a lot of weight. My anxiety was through the roof and I do have panic attacks and general anxiety anyway so I wasn't sure how much of my symptoms were from that. I thought it might go away like the last time but over a week later it hadn't so I went to the doctor who did all the blood tests again, did h. pylori, stool tests, and eventually a CT scan. All were normal, and during the time this was going on, the symptoms were changing week to week. After the rib area pain subsided I got horrendous heartburn (sharp stomach pains) and a lump in my throat and back pain, along with "heat" sensations all over my abdomen centered on the stomach. The week after that, the heartburn ended and I had pain along my upper spine, neck, and even TMJ-like symptoms, as well as numbness in my arms and joint pains. Now, a couple of weeks after all that, I'm eating and my weight's going back up, I still have "pangs" in that one spot a couple inches below my ribs and now also just to the right of my belly button where it actually hurts to push on it. I don't think I'm digesting fats very well...mostly I've avoided them completely but if I eat ice cream or even 5 or 6 potato chips at night I'll wake up nauseated and I'll have a lighter color stool and stomach discomfort. I also still have the periodic "heat" sensation on my abdomen, like I have a heating pad on it. The diagnosis BOTH doctors gave me was STRESS. Really, my question is, doesn't this sound like pancreatitis or hepatitis...could stress truly have caused so much pain??? The GI doc has me taking Librax, which actually does help a little bit, and prilosec, which I believe does nothing at all. Thanks for ANY input you may have! I am not sure I believe these doctors, but I must admit that I have suffered from panic attacks and anxiety for years and I could very well be in total denial here looking for a biological cause for the pain. Also as a result of all this I did start some counseling and my counselor also feels that it's entirely possible stress could be the root of the problem, she still feels I should explore other medical explanations if other tests are warranted. Have my doctors ignored a true medical problem because they feel I'm hysterical? ANY OPINIONS? Thanks!!!!

hi, to me this sounds like pancreatits. however the blood work would have shown this for sure. i really don't think that blood work could miss pancreatits. so now you must look at other possibilities that may be casuing fat malabsorption. is your stool tan and pasty. this is the diagnostic sign of fat malabsorption. you also mentioned mucus in your stool, this sounds like or is very indicative of celiac dz. you should read up on that and see if it relates to your symptoms.

After the first bout of this last year the amylase was 19 and lipase was 11. This time around, however, the doc did not test them, only did liver enzyme and blood tests. Maybe I need to ask for those to be done again. The stool tests that were done, occurred when I was eating practically zero fat...they didn't tell me to eat a certain amount of fat before the test! So it's no wonder that came back negative for fat. Two weeks into this, I had a good feeling day and ate a small piece of cheese pizza, then later a small bowl of vanilla ice cream. The next day the stool was very pale tan color. The doctors thought that totally unimportant, I mentioned it to both of them. This week I made vegetarian lasagna with fat free ricotta cheese and low fat mozzerella, and had no problems with that.

Boy do I relate to this. Except my g spot is a little left of the solar plexus. I have pale stool with smelly mucous, neck pain with some actual lumps or lymphs, shoulder problems, migraines at times, tingling, burning feet, heat sensations, palpitations you name it. This has been going on a year. Also had the colonoscopy which showed nothing. All of this gave me panic/depression etc.
The spot on the right you are mentioning is close to the ileum, which could mean Chrons disease in the small intestine if you havent had the barium small bowel follow through. I havent yet either. I believe the pancreas would be on the upper left, like mine though.
Do I think its all from stress. No. I also have a problem if I nap, and in that in between state I feel nausea and i guess heat around the solar plexus.
I dont know, maybe pancreas, spleen, chrons disease, celiac, whatever it is, Im afraid
I might die. I also wonder about lyme(though i test negative) and hepatitis c or something similar. Keep me posted, and best wishes. My life has become next to nothing and Ive almost lost my income, or will soon. Not to mention my mind.

Aslo I understand your fears because I have them too. It's very stressful when they can't just tell you what is wrong. I seem to have hit a plateau with the symptoms...it's now sort of a permanent heartburn with occasional pangs on the right side. And of course the not being able to eat fats thing. Today I got results of a re-test for liver AND pancreas enzymes and was told they are all normal. Unfortunately I was also informed I had pre-cancerous cells in a pap test I had done a couple of weeks ago, that exam was also done as a result of all this illness. So if they caught this early then I guess this was a blessing in disguise. I will find out more after a biopsy on Monday. However, even cervical cancer would not have caused these upper GI symptoms. As far as Crohn's disease I will ask the doc about it but I don't have diarrhea or blood in stool and I guess those are common symptoms. Like you I have missed a lot of work in the weeks this has been going on. I've managed to improve to the point that I can make it through the day but it is always uncomfortable and distracting. I hope your doctors manage to figure it out. Mine too. I will be getting another opinion on March 30 from a doc my GYN recommended. At least my GYN took me seriously...

Im sorry to hear about your pap, but dont worry about that yet. and it doesnt sound like its related to the rest. Your spot on the right of the naval is definately the ileum, or appendix, but more likely the ileum. Pale stool etc. all brings to mind Chrons, or Celiac, and the muscle, paresthesia stuff sounds like a malabsorption problem. As far as the fat, you really should avoid the ice cream and chips for now anyway.
If you havent, you should try a sublingual b12, calcium magnesium, and a multiple liquid or spray if possible. If I come up with something exciting, Ill let you know.
As far as panic, I wouldnt be surprized at what it can do. It shoots adrenaline, cortisol,
histamine and everything else into your blood stream, and moves the blood from where it should be to the strangely enough, stomach area. You could try breathing exercises, slow abdominal breathing. If you hyperventilate, even in your sleep, this is changing the co2 levels in your blood, a condition called alkalosis, which effects muscles, tingling, numbness etc.Personally I think my dilemma is a three way punch of some kind, and very difficult to escape. Best wishes, and keep me posted.

Now I'm really wondering if something's wrong with my liver. Yesterday I had an unrelated GYN procedure done and was supposed to take Percocet beforehand. I took one tablet (5 mg oxycodone). 45 min later I had incredible dizziness, shortness of breath, and I was sweating BUCKETS! This lasted about 5-10 minutes, after that I just felt kind of sick for several hours. I read later that one should not take percocet with gallbladder or liver disease, or if taking SSRIs like prozac. I started 10 mg prozac just a few days ago. I don't know what to think. Any ideas? I've had hydrocodone in the past...it made me feel a wee bit sickly and I didn't liike it but NOTHING like the percocet. Luckily I have a second opinion on all of this GI stuff next week.

Sorry i didnt see this earlier.
All the codones are rough on the g.i. tract to say the least. In fact,
both of my cases of bowel problems, started with vicodin.
The first time, years ago, I hurt my back and took vicodin at night for about 4 days. At the end of that time i realized i hadnt moved my bowels at all since then. Then bam. I had horrible intestinal pain with blood, mucous and foreign material id rather not describe.
Then last year in my latest g.i. catatsrophe, this whole thing that continues to this day started with a cough medicine. I Knew it was narcotic, but didnt put the codeine derivative connection together, I started to get the rib pain, colon pain, and once again i was on this horrible journey.
So, no matter that you took it before, since you obviously have inflammation somewhere, I suggest you stay away from these codeine related drugs. Vicodin mentions as an adverse reaction, ulcerative colitis.
Any more news on your condition?

HEY BKSW

It seems your post was deleted. Please repost carefully so I know what you had to say.

Hi Aslo,

I guess it was deleted because I wrote about how I had researched some info on IBS, which it looks like is probably what's ailing me. I went to a different GI doc who gave me a much better exam and fully assured me that I do not have any liver or pancreas problems, probably not gallbladder but need to better evaluate, and most likely irritable or inflammatory bowel with possible gastritis or ulcer. So I did some research and changed my diet quite a bit...got rid of all the stuff that was supposed to be "good" for me like whole wheat and yogurt. So now I am eating no dairy, no whole grains, lots of soluble fiber and less insoluble fiber, and I was already on low fat. I feel like a new person. I still feel a little bit of pain/burning at times in my gut that I take Librax for, no more than once a day. That pain is nothing like it was before I changed my diet. I'm having a barium upper GI with small bowel follow-through next week but actually I feel nearly recovered! Perhaps diet changes would help you to some extent as well?

Im glad you are doing better. It would be nice if diet helped, but I dont know what to eat and not.
Ive eliminated most wheat, dairy, sugars etc. Doesnt leave much but meat and vegeatables, let me know what youre doing diet wise.

Have you considered long term functional dyspepsia which affects many individuals. I have to take proton pump inhibitors ( zantac ) to cut down acid production. this helps the acid and seems to clam down the other symptoms like pain, bloating, cramps

tony

Aslo, that extra acid is something to consider. Even though I think I probably have IBS, I did need to take famotidine (acid reducer) occasionally as I had some awful heartburn during the worst of my symptoms as well. Prilosec (PPI) did not help for me though. On the diet stuff I guess the key for IBS is to minimize the "insoluble" fiber and maximize the "soluble" fiber. Apparently the fiber that comes from a lot of the "good for you" stuff happens to be the insoluble kind! You can do a search on IBS diet and find this. I started by eating oatmeal, potatoes, white rice, white bread, in place of my normal cereals & vegetables for a couple of days. I had been eating all manner of vegetables, brown & wild rice, and heavy bread like 9-grain organic stuff. My guts calmed down immediately. I ate bananas as my only type of fruit for a couple of days. I had zero dairy products, except there was some casein in soy cheeses that I tried. They're kind of yucky but I used them in recipes and sauces so it's not so bad. I took extra soluble fiber supplements too, I don't know if I can put a brand name here without my post being deleted but it's an orange chewable that contains "inulin." It's not bad to eat at all. Now something like a week later I've expanded my diet a bit (I've committed the ultimate sin and added back my morning coffee) and doing fine with that so far...since I've had a couple of bouts of the IBS now, I know the signs to look for and I can go back on the bland diet for a day or two if needed. So that's basically the diet information, you might give that a try...

Thanks,
Not sure if any of that will work for me. I think i have swollen gall bladder, spleen, possibly liver, i havent a clue. I guess I will have to have more horrible tests.
The muscle pain, twitches, burn etc always follows a bm with a paler stool. I could eat beets for two days and still have a light brown stool. Sorry.
Not sure about the acid reducers either. Seems to make body sensations worse.
I might need the acid.
What about all your neck, tmj type stuff did that improve?

When I finally went to the new doc I was told that some IBS'ers do experience pale stools as I did on a couple occasions. When I was going through tests, I was simply incredulous when I'd get another result from another test that didn't show anything wrong. Well in any case, you don't want to take anything that makes your symptoms worse. My neck pain and TMJ type symptoms were definitely stress related. With all the constant abdominal pain, stress was just inevitable. As the abdominal pain subsided the stress symptoms did as well. I still have neck pain to some extent but I had a herniated disk a few years back, and this whole situation probably just aggravated that. It'll clear itself up again in time I believe. Anyway, in your case, if pain and burning in abdomen come after a BM instead of before it, then maybe IBS is not your condition. Most people with IBS have cramping or other symptoms before a BM, not after. But actually I didn't...I just had constant pain in my RUQ...later I also had pain down to the right of the bellybutton. I think my guts had got themselves into an awful spasm. Librax helped to stop that. I was a terrible patient because I would resist taking any medication whatsoever, fearing that if my liver was the problem then medication might kill me. Once I actually took it I got a lot of relief!

Well, I can tell you stress and anxiety causes a lot of your symtoms. I have been dealing with that for a very long time. I can control it usually though. What I can suggest for the anxiety is zanex. .25. I have them, but I don't take them. Very rarely anyways. Just having them makes my anxiety better, like a crutch. If and when I do have my attacks now days, if it's severe enough, I will take one and it all goes away fairly quickly.

As to your other symtoms, I have no clue. I am going to get an ultrasound done ASAP on my stomach. I have a lot of the same symtoms as yourself, and it drives me crazy not knowing. I know how you feal. Blood work would have shown a lot of the things you are thinking though. I would blame all of my symtoms on stress if it were not for this bubble thing below my sternom, above/in/on top of my stomach that I can physically move around. It's driving me crazy. As far as I can tell I'm guessing gall stones. Let me know if they find anything.

Oh, it's not your liver.....I was stabbed in the liver about 13 years ago so I have mine checked on a yearly basis. I also drink quite a bit. All looks good in the liver department still. Gallstones aparently can lead to pancretitis if they are blocking the bile duct. Chrones disease....not sure on that one....I looked it up as well....I have some issues down their as well....don't think it would be that either....

And Prilosec does nothing....Your right on that as well.

Good Luck

I hear ya!

Racecrb, I think I've come to the same conclusion that unfortunately stress and anxiety are at the root of most of my problems. I've always been a "type A" person and pretty stressed out at times but never had digestive problems from that. I guess things change. I would like to have some kind of anti-anxiety stuff around the house just like you say, knowing it is there would probably make me less anxious. I don't think I'd be a risk of over using that stuff since I seem to have developed a fear of actually TAKING medication, haha! I had a upper GI w/small bowel a couple of days ago and will see the doc for results next week. I'm pretty sure he's going to say everything's perfect but if anything interesting that actually explains my symptoms I will post it.