Gastric issues - any ideas?

[RespectTheForum1]

I've had stomach issues for 3 weeks now: either a sharp pain at the top left of my abdomen, or a dull ache all over around the belly button. I have also had some reflux symptoms.

There is no pattern to it. Sometimes it's mostly when my stomach is empty, sometimes it's straight after eating. Sometimes I'll have days without symptoms at all. It started during a very stressful week but I'm not stressed anymore now.

No change to bowel habits, feeling hungry as normal. There are a lot of bubbling sounds in my bowels, sometimes bloating but that's not unusual for me.

They're slight symptoms and don't affect my daily life but I self diagnosed with stomach cancer upon googling so any other ideas would be appreciated! I was hoping it would go away but it hasn't so I'll probably speak to the GP next week too.

Thank you!

I don’t know how old you are but have a think about hiatus hernia.

Thank you I did come across it and just had another look and it does seem possible. I'm only late 30s though but have recently been pregnant. Most symptoms definitely seem to be in the stomach but occasionally it feels lower down in the bowels and crampy which is a little confusing...

Very similar to my husband and it was his gallbladder! I never thought of it because it was lower down but one operation later his gallbladder is out and he’s symptom free so 🤷🏼‍♀️ Hope you find answers, it’s miserable feeling unwell x

Get yourself some gaviscon Tomo see if that helps. Make an appointment with GP Gallbladder the pain is right side and back usually.

I have a 5cm sliding hiatus hernia and had my gallbladder removed. It's not much fun for you.

Thank you, I'll look into gallbladder issues, I just always imagined this to be really painful, but mine is really mild, more of a discomfort/awareness of the area than pain most of the time. Only a couple of times it has been painful and crampy as if I had a stomach bug but disappeared within about 10 minutes.

In a way I wish symptoms were more obvious, I worry it is something slow growing and sinister :(

I’ve also had non-specific digestive symptoms for a while and I’m fed up and worried too.
So far I’ve had a colonoscopy due to raised calprotectin levels indicating gut inflammation (as started w diarrhoea and exhaustion post-covid) but poo has been normal for at least 3 weeks now and the results were negative, , as was a Fit test.
Am now awaiting results of small bowel mri as chrons is suspected, although I don’t have classic chrons symptoms of bloody/mucous poo and the tiredness has abated.
I’ve googled the hell out of the symptoms and I’m none the wiser as nothing really fits!

if I were you I’d go to the GP and they’ll prob send you for bloods in the first instance and maybe refer to gastro or for a scan. I doubt you’ll get a colonoscopy as that’s more for poo issues, but maybe a gastroscopy to check for hernia if there’s reflux (I feel that’s next for me if the mri is clear).

Sorry you're suffering too @JustDanceAddict . If you had Covid, I found a few threads of people with long term gastro issues after Covid. I was hoping that would be the case for me to be honest but I'm not aware of having had covid recently. I only had a weird stomach bug a month before all this started.

What symptoms are you left with now? I had a colonoscopy 5 years ago and they did remove a large polyp and symptoms went overnight. I'm not getting those bowel symptoms this time though, so I'm pretty sure its higher up in my stomach.

I have been wodnering about ulcers. I also read about h pylori if you want to see if that fits for you? Superdrug does a home test which I thought might be my next step.

@RespectTheForum1 yes, I had covid and they started about a week after I tested positive.
i had blood tests plus the stool ones about two weeks after it all kicked off. I was getting intermittent diarrhoea, was exhausted, had weird rumblings and felt a bit sick/no appetite. Also some random aches and pains!
bloods didn’t show much apart from slightly raised inflammation markers (8 when it should be 5 tops) and the stool test ruled out everything except inflammation!!
i was referred to gastro (privately on insurance) and he was of the mind it was prob covid related too, but he ordered a colonoscopy which was normal and then small bowel mri which I had this week.
Symptoms now are mild reflux (I took omaprazole for 4 weeks and sm now trying to keep it at bay w dietary changes), rumblings mainly on rhs of abdomen, some random twinges mainly on rhs and I started getting what I think is referred back pain too although it’s eased off as well.
The only symptom that has been there throughout (2 months) is the rumbling! Some of the gallbladder symptoms fit but pain has never been severe.
i will ask about h pylori when I see the gastro next week.

Your current symptoms are pretty much exactly like mine. I also have random aches and pains, especially my back. It even woke me up the other night but by morning it was gone. Sometimes it's at the top of my back, sometimes lower back, it just moves around, comes and goes, so random.

I did have sickness and diarrhea but a whole month before this. No-one else in the household got ill at the time though which was weird for a stomach bug (I share food with the kids all the time) so I wonder if it was something else which triggered this whole thing.

I'm having the rumbling now, just like a million little bubbles, almost like a vibration.

@RespectTheForum1 it’s so weird isn’t it? I will let you know what the gastro says next week.