What could this be ? Sulphur burps/ stomach pain / nausea / vomiting

[duckys]

I've obviously seen the GP about this, but not much use really.

I started suffering from episodes of upper stomach pain, accompanied by nausea / vomiting and occasionally diarrhoea over the last couple of years.

It kind of started with a stomach bug I picked up on holiday. Or maybe it's not related. But that year I had a few episodes of just waking up in the night with upper stomach pain and either nausea and vomiting or diarrhoea.

The episodes last around 6 hours and then I feel ok.

I haven't had an episode for a couple of years now.

Then on Sunday I ate an egg ( was not off ) and started feeling indigestion and uncomfortable. It's never been linked to food before. Then sulphur burps started. Then the pain. It lasted all night. I vomited a few times and eventually it went.

Then yesterday I was careful what I ate as I still had a bit of nausea. So I just ate plain bread really. At the end of the day I ate a few tomatoes with olive oil too. That's when the burps started again.

I spent all night in pain again and this time I had diarrhoea but I also felt very sick. I didn't vomit though. Then again, after some hours, it's gone.

I'm scared to eat anything.

I called the GP who said irritable bowel syndrome ?

Can anyone else help me ? To me it sounds like gallbladder maybe?

Does sound gallbladder. Where do you have pain?

Were you tested for giardiasis?

Quite commonly picked up on holiday. Where were you when you had the stomach bug?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/giardiasis/

I've also considered that! No never been tested.

Top of my stomach area. Radiates to the back. Not any particular side.

Pancreatitis. These were my exact symptoms.

So what did your GP actually say? Did they refer you? You need to be a bit pushy at the GP with this sort of thing. IBS is just a made up 'we can't be arsed to find the cause condition'. You'd know if it was gallstones because you'd have horrendous pain so it doesn't sound like that to me. Could just be really bad acid reflux? Stop eating eggs and acidic stuff like tomatoes before bed and see how you go.

Was it acute or chronic? I also suggested that to the GP, but she said no. It would be much more severe. Apparently it also wouldn't just die down apparently.

Sounds like you've gone to the GP as doctor Google and thrown a load of possible conditions at them and they've reacted by brushing you off and saying IBS. Next time (maybe see a different GP) just go with your symptoms and let them explore the possibilities whilst also not being brushed off - push for referrals if you can. They don't like it when patients come in and talk through Google possibilities!

Acute mild. Came and went for ages. (until I ended up in hospital where they accused me of being an alcoholic, which I am not)

Eggs and tomatoes and onions the absolute worst!

What they do in hospital (if it helps) is starve you for 3 days and then start you on light broths, especially carrot.
Lots of water.
Lots of rest.
No caffeine or alcohol or smoking for 6 months after. (If you do these things, I didn[t)

It can get really serious quickly though.

Oh, I had gastritis at the same time and they tested me for giardiwhatsit (did not have it)

Agree with this. 100%.

The gp has bo clue that it is ibs - she should be referred to gastroenterology who would do a an endoscopy to have a look - ibs is generally diagnosed after they find nothing else.

Op I would do a food and symptoms diary anyway as that would be useful if you get referred.

Also op - where is the pain when you get it?

I had bad acid reflux when I was pregnant with my daughter which led to sulphur burps and diarrhoea and nausea. I took over the counter omeprazole every day and it cleared up and (thankfully) when she was born the symptoms just stopped. Might be worth considering, particularly if it seems to come on when eating certain foods.

I’ve had this a couple of times over the last year & it is truly awful so I really feel for you! Still not been diagnosed with anything but also look into h pylori testing too!

Yes, I had similar after a trip to France - we did canoeing on Seine so wondering if I picked something up there - last summer. I had bouts of vomiting after that any time I had a sip of alcohol, followed by low level nausea up to last week. It has felt quite mild and really had a lot of other things going on so ignored it and assumed it would go away but a couple of months ago the nausea got worse and about an hour after eating I was getting extreme pains under the ribs along a band that then seemed to move to the left. I was retching and heaving but as I can't eat much nothing coming up, but the pain was enough to make me think I was going to pass out.

I was diagnosed hyperthyroid which I began taking carbimazole for (was on proprananol for hypertension before and still getting the pains) and the thyroid swelling and nausea seem to have gone. I am wary though as I know I am not eating much and have cut out processed meats which seemed to trigger it. I also worried it was pancreas as my mum had pancreatic cancer. I also haven't had a drink since December but my kidneys are struggling and I'm stage 2 CKD verging on 3 over the last month...

Like you no one has requested a stool sample or checked for bacterial infections. I had bloods for coeliac which were negative. They wanted to CT but couldn't because of the iodene and thryroid which was untreated. So currently I don't know if it is better because i've lost so much weight i'm bed bound and resting or if the meds have somehow helped/it was connected to the thyroid.

Sorry for the long story - it's odd how hard it seems to be to discover why someone has stomach pains and nausea though. My lymph nodes under my chin have been up for a month but lymphocytes are low so feels like I'm trying to fight something.

She asked me what I thought it was !!!

Bloody hell.

Fgs

If you can, I would give your whole digestive system a rest and not eat for 3 days.

Just drink fluids and rest.

Then, see how you feel.
How stressful for you.

My friends went to Nepal climbing. Picked up a bug, they were ill on and off for a year like this. It came and went. In the end samples were sent off to the school of tropical medicine who correctly identified the bug and they got the right treatment.

Other family picked up something in Egypt. That too came and went. Sadly she had a miscarriage during a bad attack. When he visited us and went down with it again, I whisked him off to my GP. He said to fast for 48 hours, if that didn't work then tropical testing. Thankfully the fasting worked.

So I would try testing.

As a starting point, stool testing would be a good shout. Giardiasis has these symptoms and h.pylori can cause sulphur burps so these are easy to treat or rule out.

Gallbladder is “fat fair fertile female forty”

I was all of those with crippling pain which was worse at night and felt slightly better if I leaned forward. I also had clay coloured stools. I had my gallbladder out and I’m like a new woman and I also got to keep the stones.

Glad I read this thread, am having similar issues for a few months but without the vomiting, never heard of Giardiasis but this looks to fit my symptoms. Seen GP last week and they’ve sent off my poo samples, I’m hoping it could be something like giardiasis that sounds like it’s easy to treat.

mine also occurs mostly at night

"Sounds like you've gone to the GP as doctor Google and thrown a load of possible conditions at them and they've reacted by brushing you off and saying IBS. Next time (maybe see a different GP) just go with your symptoms and let them explore the possibilities whilst also not being brushed off - push for referrals if you can. They don't like it when patients come in and talk through Google possibilities!"

Every time I go to see my GP he just says "what do you think it is?" and doesn't really offer any opinions of his own!

The only way I can get any actual treatment is to give my own diagnosis! If I just describe my symptoms and ask him what he thinks it is he just says "oh that's weird! Dunno what that is. Bye now!" and ushers me out of the door.

Did you make a necklace out of them