Please help - so fed up and been ill for months - is it an ulcer/ibs/gallstones or what?

[kuckingfunt]

I am waiting to see gastro specialist after 6 months of hell.

These are my symptoms:

dizzy/lightheaded
pain that I get under both ribs (just under boobs)
vomitting
pain goes into back
2 stone weight loss
occasional pain in chest towards right breastbone
constipated a lot

I can't see a pattern with it being worse after eating anything in particular, it just seems to be anything can set it off. It also isnt horrendous every minute of the day, it comes and goes.

I am getting desparate now though, had every blood test you can think of, had brain scan, had ultra sound for gallstones. My next step is to see the gastro specialist.

I have thought it could be a peptic ulcer, a duodenal ulcer, gallstones, ibs.

Anyone any idea and can any of the above make you feel dizzy?

I'm really getting down about this now - I can't plan anything as I never know how I will feel, I can't work as I am ill almost everyday. I had to cancel a holiday as I wasn't well enough to go, I can't even plan to even go and see friends as I just don't feel up to it. I feel like my life is on hold until I find out what is wrong. Today has been a bad day, pain and vomitting and I have spent most of it in tears to my DF - it has been going on 6 months now and I am so fed up of it.

Hi KF

What was different about the poo?

Bump

With gallstones you can get pain round your back or front, and it can also radiate to your shoulder tip too due to the vagus nerve.

Was your poo paler or white in colour?

Hope you ok

poo was a bit mucus like with a bit of white in it yes. Ooooh interesting it may be gallstones then.

If you haven't been eating anything this can change the colour of your poo, but it could also be jaundice..is your wee darker? I would take yourself to get checked out..sounds like you need a blood test to check you not getting jaundiced as this would need medical intervention.

No, wee is ok - am feeling better today than i have in the last few days. I tend to feel worst in the morning when I wake, as though all the acid is rising in the night and I feel sick when i get up.

Have you tried propping up your head end of the bed? I know it sounds bizarre but it can help with rising acid at night.

No fox, I will try that, or at least try and prop myself up on a load of pillows and see if it helps.

FIL is experiencing something similar at the moment but the pain is constant and is ruining his life. It seems to be taking forever to get proper attention (he's been like this since February and is on stacks of painkillers) but we seem to have got to the point where we know there is something amiss with his pancreas, possibly pancreatitis.

moggiek - do you know a bit about it? What is the treatment for it, we're all a bit worries about FIL at the moment and he's had to end up paying for a private scan because the NHS waiting list is another 6 weeks long just for the scan which is intolerable really, he has hardly any quality of life at the moment...

(Sorry OP for hijack, hope you get to the bottom of it soon!)

Hi cherryburton

The first thing to say is that I'm fine!! But, four years ago (after years of the GP telling me that I had IBS) I paid for a private scan which revealed that I had a tumour in the head of my pancreas. Thank God, further testing revealed it be benign, but it still had to be removed.

Really hope that your FIL gets some answers soon.

Hi Kuckingfunt - I'm so sorry to hear you are in such pain and for so long.

I had a lot of rib pain/burning for a while last year and GPs said it was heart burn and prescribed omeprazole tablets but the pain got worse and worse. I ended up in A&E after vomiting and collapsing in pain (way way worse than child birth).

It turned out I had pancreatitis caused by gall stones - I had a seemingly endless supply of little stones that were being spat out by my gall bladder, getting stuck in my bile duct causing the pancreatitis and then working their way loose causing the intense pain (the burning pain was my pancreas being dissolved by my digestive enzymes aka pancreatitis).

It was diagnosed by an arterial blood gas test. The Dr takes blood from the artery in the side of your wrist not from a vein like a ordinary blood test. It's pretty painful (but ok once you are loaded with morphine ) so I would imagine you'd remember having one done.

Anyway, when I had my gall bladder taken out one stone slipped into the bile duct and refused to come back out causing another bout of pancreatitis after the op. I had an endoscopic procedure to find the stone and retrieve it (forget proper name) under IV sedation. I had fentanyl & medazolam and was given so much the only other patient who had had as much suffered heart failure so they had to give up and stop. The reason they had to keep injecting me with more medazolam was I kept waking up and gagging on the scope which meant the scope was being vomited out from me. Oops...

On the poo front when I had pancreatitis I had diarrhea that was bright yellow in colour but when I was just spitting the stones out I had constipation.

What pain relief have you been given for home use? Or are you just expected to rely on paracetamol/ibuprofen?

Hi truthsweet, that sounds awful that you had to go through that.

I have all kinds of symptoms - rib/stomach pain, vomiting, chest pain etc. I see the specialist in 8 days so not long now to wait.

I am trying not to take many painkillers because if it is an ulcer it will probably not help, when I need to though I take codeine or paracetamol.

I suspect I will be given an endoscopy as the first step when I see the gastro specialist.

Thanks for telling me about your experience too and hope you are ok now.

Cherry, I hope your dad gets sorted out soon too.

I had rib and stomach pain, I vomited too when it got really bad as well.

Thinking of that, I've just had a flash back to one of DD1's playschool teachers holding my hair back whilst I vomited in a bucket at pick up time while we waited for an ambulance to come and whisk me off to the land of pharmaceutical wonders. That probably would have been the second time I had pancreatitis, I had it 4 times in 3 months .

I was prescribed a big bottle of ora-morph to have at home which helped take the edge off. However when it was bad I had a huge list of things I was given in hospital (max dosages of IV morphine, IV paracetamol, buscopan, diclofenac and the biggest canister of G&A I have ever seen and it still hurt worse than having a baby Having a baby = 4, pancreatitis = 9, the only things I could think of that could hurt more would be more suited to a horror film than a thread on MN!

Even if it is only 8 days until the specialist don't be afraid to go back to A&E if you are in too much pain, it's inhumane to expect you to suffer pain with no relief just because they don't know why you hurt. IV meds total miss the intestinal tract (obviously) but you can't administer those at home so you need to get them done in hospital. Be a pain in the butt and turn up at all hours screaming in agony - I find that concentrates their minds wonderfully on getting pain meds in you - they don't like screaming patients in hospital for some reason

Don't be afraid to go back to gp and/or a&e. If your poo gets lighter and wee darker you MUST go to a+e and mention this, the pain, the weight loss

When you see gastro you need an endoscopy and also a ct or MRI of your abdomen to check out your pancreas

Good luck

You see I don't get the 'doubled over in agony' pain - mne is very painful but doesnt actually have me screaming in pain.

I ate well last night and haven't been sick yet today, so an improvement. I am very dizzy though - that is the bit I hate the most - not being able to do anything due to being dizzy is awful.

Your dizziness may be due to dehydration or low blood pressure. But it may also be unrelated and has flared up something like an inner ear problem?

Glad that you have been able to eat. Have you got an app with dr to get additional nausea tablets yet? I would still recommend a check up with dr to get your bloods checked again. My blood results can change on a daily basis with my bile duct problems, and I was always told to keep getting them checked in case I have developed an infection in bile duct or pancreatitis.

Yes, I am having bloods done tomorrow again. The nausea tabs do seem to be working (when I can keep them down) so I think I will stick with them.

The dizziness started last October with a massive attack of it. It may be ear related as I had a cold when it started.

Tonight I have burning in my chest and also shoulder blades - is this normal with ulcer or gallbladder?

Poor you

I don't know anything about the gallbladder I'm afraid but I'm very glad you are keeping food down

Dizziness is awful though isn't it :(. Hope they aren't draining too much blood from you tomorrow!

Ps I always got burning and pain with oesohagitis and gastritis but I have no idea if you get this with gallbladder stuff. Is such a nightmare with parts of your body you can't see!

Thanks fox and thank you for sticking around on what must be a very boring thread! Your support has been great.

Dizziness is awful - it just stops you being able to do anything at all

I'm already like a pin cushion, a bit more won't do any harm!

Shoulder pain is common in gall baldder and if you haven't been eating and vomiting like you have you can develop gastritis which is just were your stomach gets irritated and inflamed..this can give you a burning pain in your chest..for me it feels like someone has put a hot poker from the front of me to the back. A big dose of gaviscon advance I find helps me.

OP, I really feel for you. I have had several spells of long-term illness and know how awful and depressing it is. I am that you were sent away from A&E and told to put up with this for 10 days. You sound as though you are hanging on atm, but I wouldn't hesitate to go back to A&E and force them to admit you if it gets too much to cope with.
FWIW, the best doctor I've ever been treated by was a gastroenterologist who happened, luckily for me, to be on duty in A&E when I was admitted. I have my fingers crossed that you will get a good one and all this will be sorted out.
One last thing - the dizziness could be something separate. My DH had labyrinthitis a while back and that sounds similar. Worth checking out?

thanks Am36butfeel66 I will take some tonight and see if it eases it - that is just what the pain is like, a burning pain going though my pain to my back.

Eightieschick - I hope the gastro man is fantastic - I am so desparate to see him now. Poor doctor won't know what has hit him when I get in!
Labrynthitis is what they suggested dizziness could be when I saw ENT, but I have had it since October now - it should be going by now surely.

Hi kucking. Labyrinthitis sounds like what you're describing, or have you heard of Menieres Disease? My mother has this and it's awful, comes with a horrible ringing in the ears type thing? When are you next seeing someone?

moggie - glad you're well now!

Hi cherry, thanks for checking back into the thread. Yes I have heard of Menieres but it is supposed to afect hearing (or so I thought), and I have had 2 ear tests at the hospital and they were fine. I do sometimes get ringing in the ear with it though.

I am waiting for an appointment to come through for me to go to the dizzy clinic so they can find out what is making me dizzy and how to treat it. Labryrinthitis is what I thought but it doesn't usually last 7 months does it?

Hmmm, dunno. My sister gets it from time to time but it usually lasts less than a week.

It's the waiting that's the worst, isn't it? So frustrating to have to live with all the aggro while waiting for appointments to come through. Are they going to give you a cat scan or something like that? I think that's what my mum had.