A friend of mine is now seeing a surgeon whose little slogan is "all in your head stomach problems".

Again and again I hear people who have considerable stomach/digestion/bowel problems being told by doctors that it's "all in your head", "you're making more out of it than it is", and "it's just stress related".

While I think definitely stress can make pain & problems worse... or even in some rare cases, actually be the problem itself... I've now heard SO MANY stories where people tell their stories which, from memory, sound kind of like this:
"They said my tests were all normal, and then found out my gallbladder was inflamed."
"I didn't have a bowel movement for a month. They said I had stress related IBS, and then I wound up in the ER having obstruction and had to have my colon resectioned with emergency surgery."
"I was told there was nothing found to explain the severe pain I had, and then they did surgery and found that my bladder was stuck to my abdomen wall."

I mean, why do I keep reading things like this, yet doctors keep telling people they must be exaggerating their pain because there's nothing seriously wrong?

I mean, I'm sure in SOME cases, nothing serious IS wrong, but why take that chance?

It seems particularly common with abdominal pain!

But it's not just abdominal pain & stomach problems...

In the 1995 or so, my mother had some kind of heart test called an angio-something. It showed she had 40% blockage in a main artery.
A year later she was getting worse. And another year later, she was to the point where she couldn't walk up stairs without getting at least a slight tightening in her chest... sometimes she couldn't walk very far at all without having to sit down & rest.
She had the 1st angio-something test when she lived in Tennessee. Then she had moved to Florida. She went to a cardiologist and told him that she was getting worse. She told him that she'd had an angio test before that showed 40% blockage, and that that cardiologist in Tennessee had recommended she get one of those tests periodically. This cardiologist sent her for an echocardiogram & a stress test. Both showed she was "normal", so he said she shouldn't worry.
She wasn't satisfied so she went to a 2nd cardiologist. That one too sent her for another stress test. It showed normal, and she was told she was okay.
By this time she was getting worse I guess.
She went to a 3rd cardiologist. She told him the situation, and this cardiologist said to her "Well, I'm not even going to send you for a stress test, because you'll probably pass this one too." And he did another angio test.
Turned out she had 80% blockage, and right afterwards, they recommended surgery. My step-father asked when, because it was a week or so before the holiday, and family was coming to visit. The cardiologist told my step-father that my mother might not be around for the holiday if she didn't have the surgery the very next day!
That was 5-1/2 years ago. After the surgery, my mother said she felt better than she had in years. She hadn't gone bowling for about 15 years... and now, at age 68, she's the best member on her church bowling team! (And there's a 29 year old marine on the team!)

And this is what keeps me going to doctors, and trying to do research on my own. There are times that I think to myself - maybe my problems aren't so bad. There are times the pain isn't so bad, and I think -well, maybe there is nothing serious wrong. And then the pain gets worse, or I try to do something and I can't (like sit in a chair comfortably, for example heh). And I know it's not in my head... it's in my torso! That's where my pain is! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wink.gif

i know exactly what your talking about...i'v ehad two endoscopies, a cat scan, and upper GI test, more blood test than i can remember to measure WBC, and for mono, kidney/liver/pancrease/gallbladder dysfunction, cancer, thyroid problems, a motility test, 24hr pH probe, blah blah, i'm sure there's some i forgot, and all that has come out is i reflux ALOT, i have hiatal hernia, and ibs....which is being controlled to a certain extent right now...but its taken about 5 years to get to this point...just keep pursuing, because stomach probs get worse when they are undiagnosed...make sure you keep a record of your exact symptoms, and inquire to the doc if you think that there is a specific disorder that fits your symptoms...hope this helps...

rach

Evidently digestive problems in particular can be hard to pin down. I wonder how many of the people you are "quoting" are women. A GI doctor elsewhere online once said that there are some people who clearly have symptoms of various types but tests show nothing abnormal, and he went on that most of the people who found themselves in this situation were women. Now he conceded that something WAS wrong, but for many male doctors I fear it just brings up ideas of hysterical females.

I find the answer "Its probably just stress and in your head" very disturbing. It also has been said to me. I know when something is wrong, I mean, it is your body after all. I have had various test done including, Upper GI, Abdomen Ultrasound, Endoscopy, Hida Scan, 24hr Urinalysis...and endless blood test and all they have come up with is inflammation in the esophogus and stomach. All she can do is provide pills to supposedly control all the symptoms, which of course it does and doesnt. I think that drs just run ou of test and information some times and leave ppl to live with it. my advice to anyone though is keep pushing and pressing until you find relief. Your body was made for good health not sickness and disease.
~Shanny

Every single one of them I quoted were women. And all of them were later found to have VERY SERIOUS problems.
That's what's so scary about this tendency for doctors to think "hysterical woman".
And it's NOT just male doctors - it's FEMALE doctors too, sadly!