Gas related or maybe just anxiety?? - Digestive Disorders Message Board

pjcat · 05-27-2005, 06:30 PM

Hey all,

Off and on for the past few months I have been having these random what feels like Hunger Pains under my right rib cage? I went to the doctor and my liver checks out fine, he said they were probably just gas related. Does anyone else get them? They are pretty random and the only foods I've noticed they seem to correlate with are coffee and high spicy foods. Any ideas?

Also, I tested negative for h. pylori.

Thanks

kehorner · 05-28-2005, 01:59 AM

How did your doc check your liver? Did they do an ultrasound? Did they check the gallbladder as well? It's in the right place for gallbladder, so you might want to look into that.

pjcat · 05-28-2005, 04:21 PM

Well my doctor said that chances are that due to my age (22), sex (Male), and the fact that I dont get the pains after I eat large amounts of food that it probably wasn't my gallbladder, and indeed I looked it up in my girlfriends medical dictionary and I dont really have any gallbladder symptoms other than these occasional hunger pains under my right rib cage. They are so random is the thing, I dont get them that often. But I dont know maybe I should press to get my GB checked out

However, I was under the impression that it is usually rare for males, particularly young males to get gallstones, gall bladder problems, etc.

One other thing, I did develop symptoms of acid reflux last summer; I took protnix for a few weeks and they all pretty much disappeared though I still get them on occasion. Maybe this is related to that?

kehorner · 05-28-2005, 07:55 PM

It could be acid problems or gastritis. You might consider getting an endoscopy if you haven't had one. The coffee and spicy foods aggravating your condition does sound like acid or stomach lining issues. The endoscopy can diagnose this, and is generally a fairly simple procedure. They knock you out with an IV and most people don't remember anything.

As for gallbladder problems... I'm only 24 and I just had mine out in April. I had had problems for maybe two years before that off and on. The symptoms that I developed ended up being just a constant type of pain, rather than discrete attacks. So even if you are not the typical patient, don't rule it out based solely on that. Other risk factors are if you have high cholesterol (eat fast food a lot), or if you have lost a lot of weight at some point, and also family history.

So those are some things to check out. You could also try taking a course of prilosec OTC to see if that helps. Hope you feel better soon!

pjcat · 05-30-2005, 04:32 PM

Kehorner,

Yeah I dont know my Dr. didn't seem too worried about it, and though it is rare that doesn't mean that it can't happen.

Could you describe your symptoms in a little more detail? Like how old were you when you first noticed them; how did they progress? Etc. Etc.

Also, does anyone know...how serious can gallstones become if you just let them continue on. From my understanding there are no real serious effects other than pain.

Thanks