Aa
Sulphuric/ Eggy burps and stomach cramps
Hello!
I have had an extensive workup for stomach pain 2 months ago. Had my gallbladder removed in 1999. My pancreas/stomach CT scan was negative. Gastric emptying scan showed slightly slow motility. Upper GI showed some "narrowing" of the pylorus, but no other pathology. I have been on prilosec BID for 3 years, for GERD, and lipitor for cholesterol. However, I get bouts of severe stomach distress that presents as eggy, foul-tasting burping, then stomach cramping, bloating and nausea. It is pretty debilitating for a whole day, and makes me feel horrible. Bentyl doesn't help much, nor does Gaviscon. Does anyone have an idea what is causing this?? Is it the pylorus, or lactose intolerance...something totally different that my doctor and I are missing? I'd appreciate some input on this, as I actually am missing work because of it. Thanks so much! Kim
I have had an extensive workup for stomach pain 2 months ago. Had my gallbladder removed in 1999. My pancreas/stomach CT scan was negative. Gastric emptying scan showed slightly slow motility. Upper GI showed some "narrowing" of the pylorus, but no other pathology. I have been on prilosec BID for 3 years, for GERD, and lipitor for cholesterol. However, I get bouts of severe stomach distress that presents as eggy, foul-tasting burping, then stomach cramping, bloating and nausea. It is pretty debilitating for a whole day, and makes me feel horrible. Bentyl doesn't help much, nor does Gaviscon. Does anyone have an idea what is causing this?? Is it the pylorus, or lactose intolerance...something totally different that my doctor and I are missing? I'd appreciate some input on this, as I actually am missing work because of it. Thanks so much! Kim
Jody's HARD BOILED EGG ATTACK Saga
Part Two of an update from a posting on May 07, 2000.
Part One of this UPDATE is directly above this one.
This post covers:
1) information I discovered on the link between LOW IRON ABSORPTION, SOFT DRINKS & RAGE SYNDROME,
2) my personal experiences with STRESS & TRANQUILIZERS,
3) a connection made with ALKALINE FOODS and warding off 'EGGY attacks',
4) 'Lymphatic Drainage' exercises to get things flowing!
5) 'What happened When I Went to a Gastroenterologist' : (
This will be followed at a later date by another post regarding emotions, stress and "Balancing Your Life". Emotions definitely play a part in this, and after reading all my info, research and accounts, I would love to hear from each of you and learn whether or not you are living your life in a similar manner, or experiencing similar imbalances in your lives.
Here's Part Two of my Update...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whatever it condition is, this is definitely a reaction to (and likely a result of) stress!
At least in my circumstance. I can literally feel my stomach clench when I get stressed, and I get stressed TOO easily, and too excessively (as far as intensity) these days.
The Catch-22 here is that the lack of iron absorption (see my post from May 7, 2000) CAUSES a person to stress more easily and makes them very anxious, edgy, hotheaded and enraged. When this rage occurs, the surge of adrenaline that follows, weakens the iron absorption ability even more, which starves the brain more, and makes everything worse!
I was snowballing out of control, acting crazy, yelling and screaming and slamming things.
As a result of my 'rages', I was put on very strong tranquilizers, which ironically do very little but keep me from freaking out on people. I am NOT myself. VERY short-tempered.
I have been informed by my doctor that this is to be expected. Out of all the elements in existence, the one element your brain needs for patience and mood stability is iron. TAKING iron supplements, in my case, won't do a thing. I get iron in my diet. It's there in my blood, as evidenced by my test results, but for some reason, my body isn't absorbing it and taking it from my blood when my food digests, so my iron is not getting sent to my brain .....and my brain is freaking out because it NEEDS it bad, like a damn drug addict.
Getting upset is something I REALLY have no control over, I'm told by my good (and trusted) doctor, and this FEELS so true. It's like CONSTANT BAD PMS, 24 hours a day. I have NO patience. My dogs are now scared of me. I NEVER yell at them and, lately, that's all I do. I go to bed and wake up angry! My iron doesn't reach my brain, and my brain freaks out and I react like a madwoman. It just happens, like sun burns white skin.
My family is pretty through with me because I am a *****! They think I can (and should) control myself, and Lord knows I try, but it is like holding in a sneeze. Your body just betrays you. It is FAR stronger than your will is at times, especially when you are drained (physically and/or mentally) to begin with.
Imagine trying to fight anesthesia before an operation. The chemical reaction to your brain is much more powerful than any desire you may have to stay 'awake'. You get knocked out, whether you want to be or not. Well, that is what happens when I go into these rages. My brain chemicals are off kilter and I just 'explode'. I even surprise myself! My fiance' had to ask me to leave a diner we frequent one evening because I started screaming about a new waitress and how she was an 'incompetent as*hole' because she didn't clear our table fast enough. THAT IS NOT ME!!!!! I treat people with respect, ESPECIALLY waitresses and people who bust their *** for a living.
So I went to my doctor immediately and was put on medication. Another Band-Aid but I needed it! When my stomach tightened and I felt like I was about to go over the edge, I took my Clorazepate 15mg, otherwise known as Tranzene (a member of the Valium family), to ward off the outbursts. I don't know if they helped keep my 'Hard Boiled Egg Attacks' at bay or not, but they did help keep ME in control. They also calmed me down if I got out of control.
I had been diagnosed with low thyroid in January of this year, which went out of whack back in November '99. I was under EXTREME, out-of-the-ordinary, and unrelenting stress then. One especially emotional night in November, I had thrown up blood, and since then, my HBE attacks have been closer in frequency. My doctor tells me that low-thyroid will contribute to the 'anger' I am suddenly feeling so strongly, but it is the low iron absorption he is most concerned about.
My fiance' suggested that sugar may be part of this, as I do consume quite a bit, drinking Pepsi rather than coffee to keep me going. So I started reading a classic book called SUGAR BLUES, and there on page 178, I made a discovery that had me rushing to the Internet for more information. It turns out, the phosphoric acid in soda 'eats up' iron.
I found information about this chemical, present in all soft drinks, on a website for construction workers which instructed them how to remove rust from concrete. Use phosphoric acid!
On another site, a nutritionist explained: "diet drinks are no-better for your body...... almost all soft drinks, whether they are with sugar, sugar-free, and/or caffeine-free have phosphoric acid. They add phosphoric acid to make the drink bubble. When they add this extra phosphorus, again it upsets the mineral relationships. Phosphorus works in relationship to iron, sodium, calcium, magnesium and other minerals. If you add extra phosphorus, you could make the phosphorus toxic because you have not added the other minerals, and, again, minerals only work in relationship to each other. Now the calcium and other minerals can become deficient because there is too much phosphorus and that relationship has become disturbed."
There were many, many sites I traveled to, but I don't believe everything I read on the net! Yet, when something came up repetitively, I made note of it. Many hospital sites have articles written by their physicians. On one such site, I found a list of nutritional factors that decrease iron absorption. Two listed were:
~~Carbonates, such as phosphoric acid in soft drinks, sparkling waters, ciders and champagne, phoxalates, phosphates and phytates (found in unleavened bread, unrefined cereals and soy beans) bind iron, rendering it inabsorbable.
~~Taken with meals, tea can reduce iron absorption by 50% through the formation of insoluble compounds with tannins found in the tea.
So I am now practicing a form of food combining. One small change. Let's see what happens. If low iron absorption is making me more susceptible to stress, and stress is causing my emotional outbursts and my gastrointestinal outbursts (or clogs), and the phosphoric acid in soda and the tannins tea can inhibit iron absorption, why not eliminate soda and tea (iced tea especially) from my meals, and drink water or fruit juice instead?
I will check my iron absorption via a blood test in a month from now and see if this has made an improvement, though I FEEL a difference already. I stopped drinking Pepsi with meals and since I've made that one small change, I haven't needed one of my anxiety pills (tranquilizers for the rage syndrome). I am off them!
ALKALINE FOODS
While surfing and researching, I also discovered the 'miracle' of eating alkaline foods.
One night I had another attack and figured: "Since Aciphex doesn't work to calm down this stomach acid, maybe alkaline food would ??? What in the world could I eat that might neutralize this acid?" I went on the Internet and found a list of acidic foods (ones you probably want to stay away from during an Eggy Burp Attack), and foods that are alkaline, which neutralizes the acid.
Acidic Foods are:
Barley, Eggs, Bananas (unripe), Grain Foods, Beans, Lentils, Bread Meats, Cereals, Nuts (except almonds), Cakes, Oatmeal, Chicken, Peas, Confections, Rice, Corn, Sugar, Chocolate, Sea Foods, Soft Drinks, Coffee, Tea
Alkaline Foods are:
Almonds, Melons, Apples, Milk, Apricots, Onions, Banana (ripe), Oranges, Beets, Parsley, Cabbage, Peaches, Carrots, Pears, Cauliflower, Pineapple, Celery, Potatoes, Coconuts, Pumpkins, Cottage Cheese, Radishes, Cucumbers, Raisins, Dates, Spinach, Figs (Fresh and Dry), Soybeans, Grapes, Tomatoes, Lemons, Turnips, Lettuce
So there I was, going on faith that all these nutritional sites I'd found were right, and that these foods; foods that CONTAIN acids (such as fruit acid) would actually help my digestion and reduce the amount of stomach acid my body was now rapidly overproducing.
I went down to my kitchen, hunched over in pain and breathing heavily, with the food list in hand. I went through the pantry and the fridge and loaded the table with as many of the 'alkaline foods' I could readily grab. I sat down, and, in the middle of an attack, I stuffed raisins and apricots in my mouth, ate a whole grapefruit and a banana, had some melon and pineapple slices, and then I had a salad of lettuce, carrots and cucumber with fresh lemon juice as dressing. I took some digestive enzymes my doctor gave me as extra insurance, and then popped a tranquilizer so I would calm down. After my last attack, which had been the worst yet, I was scared that this one would be even worse.....and what if the foods I'd just eaten only worsened it more???
Well, I laid in bed wiggling my feet back and forth to music, as I listened to a Walkman in the dark and tried to relax. God as my witness, that attack never got worse. It just stayed the same for a while and then eventually, slowly subsided!!! I couldn't wait to share all this exciting news with my doctor!
I called him in the morning and he said I had also helped the attack by wriggling my feet! Doing so got the lymphatic system humming and moving and cleaning toxins out. I was giving myself a form of lymphatic drainage treatment without even realizing it! I spent that entire day reading more on all of this, learning more and the next day I went to see a gastrointestinal specialist. I had applied for medical coverage and was going to cancel this appointment and wait until my insurance kicked in, but then the attack came on, and risking my health was just plain stupid, so I went and shelled out the $250. to see this guy.
'What happened When I Went to a Gastroenterologist'
The doctor was a very nice man. I could tell he is compassionate, but quite overworked. Not patient, but good about keeping that hidden. Respectful, though not at all into chatting about what I THINK is going on, and what IS going on, with my body. There I was, in his office (AKA: The Consultation Room), armed with my recent medical history; an organized list of symptoms in detail, a dated record of all attack-occurances, doctor's visits, tests taken and the results of each one, as well as some questions regarding my suspicions.
The gastro doctor basically said that I: "shouldn't play guesswork with medical books and should instead do definitive medical tests."
I agree. However, my research and record keeping is very thorough, and IS NOT at all 'guess work'. It helps to determine what tests to do!
MAN was I frustrated! I am so accustomed my personal physician relying on ME to tell him what's going on with me, and then taking it from there. Doc's 'intent listening approach' has always been an effective, and respectful one. I don't understand why other doctors can't take a few moments to just hear their patients out! If this GI man has been doing this for, say, 10 years, and he gets ONE, just one, new patient a week, we can even give him two months relaxing in the Bahamas and he will still see over 300 new patients per year. In 10 years, we can safely guess that he has consulted with, and examined, over 3000 people. He knows those 3000 bodies very vaguely. He'd have to check a patient's chart if he wanted to recall why he saw them and what for. In the last 10 years, I have only dealt with ONE body --mine-- and I know it intimately, so why wouldn't this doctor at least respect that I could help in my diagnosis.... maybe even make it easier for him?
I certainly want to determine what is going on here and get it fixed. I was not playing games, and I didn't come by to pay good money to sit in an expensive office and be told by a STRANGER that he knows better about my body than I do, and that I should basically sit back, shut up, and let him drive.
Now, he NEVER said this in those words. He was always a gentleman, but the message was clear. The sighing, the body shifting, the facial expressions, the forced, insincere smiles.... the kind done with a closed mouth and empty eyes. It was evident he didn't have the time or the interest in hearing about my experience and answering my questions. I didn't have many questions, but it didn't matter. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing to ask him until he did tests. He's the doctor, and I am a 'thing' to be examined and explored. Asking questions just holds him up. And anything I wanted to know about any tests done thus far by another doctor should have been explained to me by them, not by him.
EVER HEAR OF A SECOND OPINION, DOC?????
The man couldn't wait to get me out of the consultation room and into the examination room. He was sweet and happy as hell--- as long as I allowed him to believe that he was in control and I played the "good, trusting, stupid little patient'. Well, my own doctor warned me about this, and told me to be diligent and repetitive, and basically, be a pain in the *** if I had to, so I persisted. I wouldn't get off the 'pyloric valve thing'. I am SO convinced the trouble lies there. Or near there.
Unfortunately, according to the controlling 'Dr. Gastro', the pyloric valve cannot be checked for spasming.
SPASMING???!! You mean it can spasm and screw up your digestion and cause food-clogs, and bloating, and an overproduction of stomach acid????
Yes.
And it can all be induced by stress...
So how to we determine that THIS is what is occurring? We must rule out everything else until we are left with that as our only answer.
Not very encouraging, but I am 35, and it's time for a look under the hood and a tune-up. During his exam, he palpated my body, 'went over' me and found everything great. He was happy. He loved my blood work, and my upper GI x-rays. Said I am in fine health and have an excellent digestive system. SO WHY THE HELL AM I THERE, DOC ???
He added that the tests I have had thus far have only eliminated 50% of the various ulcers I could be suffering from. Lovely. Well, then, it follows that I need a 'scope' to rule the rest out...
No. Not according to the doctor. He needs a Porsche payment, I believe, so he wants to slip in another test before he does the scope. Though diet does not affect or bring about my attacks, which would be indicative of a gallbladder disorder, he wanted an ultrasound done on my gallbladder anyway!
BUT I WANT THE ENDOSCOPY!
Doesn't matter. I am the patient. What I want is not important.
If the gallbladder is found to be normal, then I am to go for an endoscope. If all shows to be fine there too, Dr. Gastro will then declare that this is a "stress induced spasming of the pyloric valve", WHICH IS WHAT I ASKED HIM ABOUT WHEN I FIRST SAT DOWN and he gave me the answer about not reading medical books and forming suspicions, and doing tests instead. Boy was I worked up!
So I asked him how we would TREAT the condition if it were found, by process of elimination, to be, as he called it: "stress induced spasming of the pyloric valve".
His clinical, almost comical answer: "Stress management." WHY WAIT ?!?!
My first step in managing stress was to pay his bill and leave his office. As I waited for my credit card to process, his receptionist scheduled an ultrasound for my gallbladder and handed me the appointment card.
Well, I went home and researched gallbladder problems intensely, and then I called several people who had had theirs removed. After learning MUCH about gallbladder conditions, and talking with former gallbladder victims, all of whom have NEVER had even one of my symptoms, I decided that my bouts are DEFINITELY NOT gallbladder related. Besides, my own competent and thorough physician would certainly have suggested/ordered gallbladder testing if he even suspected it a possible cause of my suffering. He never mentioned the gallbladder being suspect, and he is quite aware of every symptom and every attack I have. And let's not forget my dog.....
I canceled the ultrasound first thing the next morning.
Dr. Gastro disagreed with my doctor on a few other points as well, such as my iron being low. He said it was 'fine' and 'perfectly normal and expected for a menstruating woman of my age'. I don't agree with that at all, as I have been experiencing the increase of 'rage' symptoms as the level of iron absorption decreases. There is a connection for sure, as even my own research has indicated.
And I repeat; since I've stopped drinking Pepsi with meals (back to the phosphoric acid connection), I haven't needed one of my anxiety pills (tranquilizers for the rage syndrome). I am off them! But this wasn't worth telling Dr. Gastro, ESPECIALLY after his reaction to my most recent intestinal attack and how I 'treated' it with the alkaline foods.
During the consult, he had asked what foods specifically upset my digestive system and bring on my attacks. I told him that food does not cause these bouts at all. It has nothing to do with WHAT I eat, but when... If I eat hamburger when I'm stressed, I throw up hamburger. If I eat ice cream when I'm stressed, I throw up ice cream. On one occasion, it happened with asparagus. (I was rushed that evening and I ate too quickly. See my previous post about that.)
Well, as I said, two nights prior to this appointment, I'd an attack and I stopped it with a combination of tranquilizers, my doctor's digestive enzymes, and a meal of alkaline foods.
(Alone, the tranquilizers do not work for the stomach. That was just to calm me down cause I was scared. And even the prescription acid reducers, medications that are 10 times stronger than ANYTHING you can get over-the-counter, don't work for this. So I attributed the cessation of the excessive (and sickening) acid-over-production to the only thing it could have been: the enzymes and my 'alkaline food feast' combination.)
I brought the enzymes along for Dr. Gastro to have a look at. I handed them to him and told him of my experience. He glanced at the bottle, laughed with a soft huff, handed it back to me, and said "coincidence".
So.......... food has NOTHING to do with STOPPING attacks, but CAN have something to do with STARTING them???
That wasn't the first time he contradicted himself. Yet, I don't think him an incompetent doctor, or even a bad guy. He was nice enough. Polite. Did his best to be 'tolerant' of me and to show me respect, even if he was gritting his teeth and I didn't know it. <grin!>
Nice man. He's just VERY textbook, and too linear for me.
One and four will always be 'five' to him. It will NEVER be fourteen.
Now: I said 'one AND four', not one "plus" four, or one "added to" four.
1 and 4 together can be 14.
He can't think that way. He doesn't want to stretch, not comfortable with expanding himself. Going beyond traditional medicine and treating the body as something more than a machine he can fix is just not his nature. He can't be bothered with you 'playing doctor' and sharing your suspicions. But he's polite about it, at least.
I am SO spoiled by my doctor who gets a mental turn-on from questions and research and learning. Every time I learn something new, he wants a copy of it. When my fiance' reads a great health book and swears the suggested methods are helping him, Doc wants to borrow the book. He encourages his patients to be involved in their care and treatment, and to tell him EVERYTHING. He doesn't cut you off. Ever. He even draws diagrams of the internal systems and their various responses to help you understand your condition, or how a drug works. He is a remarkable man.
Every other doctor I have ever dealt with has done the opposite. They have responded to me impatiently, as if I am an annoying 'doctor-wanna-be'. They prefer to treat you like a problem they must to fix, not learn from as well. They are like 'body mechanics' and you are a predictable car. We may all be built the same way, but our bodies don't live the same experiences and therefore, don't react the same way. Most doctors don't get this. They all seem so BORED with their profession, where my personal physician is so excited about it.
Well, now I know why we are called PATIENTS!!!! We need to have a lot of PATIENCE to deal with most doctors!!!
Last week I had another attack. I was teaching someone the computer and she was trying to do so many things at once, and she was making the learning harder on herself by being so 'all over the place' and trying to learn everything at once. I explained to her that she needed to learn progressively; a step at a time, but she was all wound up about a deadline. She'd decided to make something on her computer as a gift for someone, yet she didn't even know how to use her computer, OR her scanner, OR the software that she planned to use for this project. It was a bad idea to try to learn how to use hardware, it's compatible software, and then actually do a project with it..... all in less than three weeks!
I was only supposed to meet with this gal once, but when I got to her house the first time, I saw that she had everything hooked up wrong, so I had to reconfigure everything. Then I had to download new drivers for her hardware to make her new scanner and her old printer compatible. The whole thing took four hours and we never got the 'the lesson' part.
I was back the next week to actually teach her some basic stuff, but she wanted to learn SO MUCH, and to learn it all in an afternoon; as she was so concerned about her deadline. It was really important to her that she learn. That was great, but you can't graduate to Grade 5 without first mastering Grades 1-4, and she wanted to attempt exactly this.
After two hours, I should have left. I shouldn't have stayed another two. Yup! Four MORE hours spent doing the impossible. My fault. I should have politely excused myself. Her agitation and frustration was getting in her way of learning, and our session was becoming less and less productive. I finally HAD to leave to go home and feed my dogs. Before I was even out of her house, I felt the attack coming on.
I'd kept it at bay with the alkaline foods the last time, but this was a bad one, and the foods only worked well enough to allow me to sleep a bit. First thing the next morning, I was on the phone to my regular Doc, begging for pain killers, muscle relaxers.... anything!
Dr. Kevorkian would have been a suitable option.
My doctor, God bless him, prescribed Belladonna and Phenobarbital. He'd also told me to do my leg exercises as a form of lymphatic drainage, just as I had done during my last attack when listening to the music and wriggling my feet. I had to move my feet back and forth so much that my belly shook, he said!
So, while waiting for the prescription to be filled and delivered, I moved! Instead of lying in bed curled up in a tight ball, I put on some music, pulled my bed away from the wall and began cleaning under it. I was stretching and moving and really working up a sweat. Well, that 'loosened' things up quite a bit, and pretty soon I crapped out feces the smell of sulfur. Yup! My poop smelled like the eggy-burps. Very interesting.....
After that trip to the bathroom, I was feeling a little better, but getting those drugs, as much as I don't like the feeling of being spacey, was preferable to the pain. The drug was a smooth-muscle relaxer, and if I was wrong about my suspicions and it WAS the gallbladder, they wouldn't work. They worked. The pain subsided soon after taking them, and I was able to eat. I enjoyed some 'alkaline foods' and no Pepsi. The soda is a treat I reserve to enjoy all by itself, until I am no longer in the habit of drinking it.
I haven't had an attack since then, so I cannot honestly say that the medication helped tremendously. I know the 'moving' did, and I know that since I have been working on eliminating the stresses I can remove from my life, dealing more effectively with the ones I can't, and balancing my life, I have not thrown up since 'The Great Asparagus Blockage Episode'. I have had attacks, but they have not progressed to the vomiting stage, and that is a BIG and profound change.
One of the biggest things I did to help remove stress was get medical coverage. I went out and purchased group health insurance with a friend who also needed a medical plan. We pay just over $200. per month for great medical insurance from a top company, and we have our choice of In-Network, or Out-Of-Network coverage. This all goes into effect as of July 1st. Since nothing has been diagnosed, I am not considered to have a pre-existing condition. As long as I simply contact a GI doctor on my own, and go in with my complaint, I am covered. I already have a guy in mind. He is in the Network plan, and comes HIGHLY recommended by three very reliable sources in the medical field. He also treats a dear friend for her Chrones Disease. So, when July comes, I will simply make an appointment with him and let him do all the tests he wants.
My insurance payments are far less than any of the monthly expenses I have incurred trying to diagnose and treat this mystery condition, and finally having medical coverage is one HUGE stress eliminated from my life. Now I can relax a bit regarding amassing piles of medical bills, and they can do all the tests they want. Stick tubes up my ***, down my throat, I don't care. I just want doctors to always remember that a PERSON is attached to that mouth, that as*hole, that gallbladder. Being treated with dignity and respect is part of medical care and I will settle for nothing less.
My next update is on stress, the possible 'Type A personality' connection, and how I am learning to balance one's life with work AND play.
How much to YOU play???
It has not been written yet; still a work in progress, so to speak, and in the meantime,
I would LOVE to hear from any one of you suffering from these Hard Boiled Egg Attacks.
I am especially interested in all the gory details if you consider yourself to be:
~ high-strung,
~ overwhelmed with activity,
~ have no time for yourself (and maybe even forgot who YOU are),
~ suspect you may be a 'Type-A Personality' (or know you are one),
~ feel stressed and agitated often --- if not; all of the time,
~ work too much and don't relax enough,
~ have been treated for low-thyroid and/or poor iron absorption.
My name is Jody.
My e-mail address is ***@****.
I thank you for reading, and for taking control of YOUR health and body.
Part Two of an update from a posting on May 07, 2000.
Part One of this UPDATE is directly above this one.
This post covers:
1) information I discovered on the link between LOW IRON ABSORPTION, SOFT DRINKS & RAGE SYNDROME,
2) my personal experiences with STRESS & TRANQUILIZERS,
3) a connection made with ALKALINE FOODS and warding off 'EGGY attacks',
4) 'Lymphatic Drainage' exercises to get things flowing!
5) 'What happened When I Went to a Gastroenterologist' : (
This will be followed at a later date by another post regarding emotions, stress and "Balancing Your Life". Emotions definitely play a part in this, and after reading all my info, research and accounts, I would love to hear from each of you and learn whether or not you are living your life in a similar manner, or experiencing similar imbalances in your lives.
Here's Part Two of my Update...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whatever it condition is, this is definitely a reaction to (and likely a result of) stress!
At least in my circumstance. I can literally feel my stomach clench when I get stressed, and I get stressed TOO easily, and too excessively (as far as intensity) these days.
The Catch-22 here is that the lack of iron absorption (see my post from May 7, 2000) CAUSES a person to stress more easily and makes them very anxious, edgy, hotheaded and enraged. When this rage occurs, the surge of adrenaline that follows, weakens the iron absorption ability even more, which starves the brain more, and makes everything worse!
I was snowballing out of control, acting crazy, yelling and screaming and slamming things.
As a result of my 'rages', I was put on very strong tranquilizers, which ironically do very little but keep me from freaking out on people. I am NOT myself. VERY short-tempered.
I have been informed by my doctor that this is to be expected. Out of all the elements in existence, the one element your brain needs for patience and mood stability is iron. TAKING iron supplements, in my case, won't do a thing. I get iron in my diet. It's there in my blood, as evidenced by my test results, but for some reason, my body isn't absorbing it and taking it from my blood when my food digests, so my iron is not getting sent to my brain .....and my brain is freaking out because it NEEDS it bad, like a damn drug addict.
Getting upset is something I REALLY have no control over, I'm told by my good (and trusted) doctor, and this FEELS so true. It's like CONSTANT BAD PMS, 24 hours a day. I have NO patience. My dogs are now scared of me. I NEVER yell at them and, lately, that's all I do. I go to bed and wake up angry! My iron doesn't reach my brain, and my brain freaks out and I react like a madwoman. It just happens, like sun burns white skin.
My family is pretty through with me because I am a *****! They think I can (and should) control myself, and Lord knows I try, but it is like holding in a sneeze. Your body just betrays you. It is FAR stronger than your will is at times, especially when you are drained (physically and/or mentally) to begin with.
Imagine trying to fight anesthesia before an operation. The chemical reaction to your brain is much more powerful than any desire you may have to stay 'awake'. You get knocked out, whether you want to be or not. Well, that is what happens when I go into these rages. My brain chemicals are off kilter and I just 'explode'. I even surprise myself! My fiance' had to ask me to leave a diner we frequent one evening because I started screaming about a new waitress and how she was an 'incompetent as*hole' because she didn't clear our table fast enough. THAT IS NOT ME!!!!! I treat people with respect, ESPECIALLY waitresses and people who bust their *** for a living.
So I went to my doctor immediately and was put on medication. Another Band-Aid but I needed it! When my stomach tightened and I felt like I was about to go over the edge, I took my Clorazepate 15mg, otherwise known as Tranzene (a member of the Valium family), to ward off the outbursts. I don't know if they helped keep my 'Hard Boiled Egg Attacks' at bay or not, but they did help keep ME in control. They also calmed me down if I got out of control.
I had been diagnosed with low thyroid in January of this year, which went out of whack back in November '99. I was under EXTREME, out-of-the-ordinary, and unrelenting stress then. One especially emotional night in November, I had thrown up blood, and since then, my HBE attacks have been closer in frequency. My doctor tells me that low-thyroid will contribute to the 'anger' I am suddenly feeling so strongly, but it is the low iron absorption he is most concerned about.
My fiance' suggested that sugar may be part of this, as I do consume quite a bit, drinking Pepsi rather than coffee to keep me going. So I started reading a classic book called SUGAR BLUES, and there on page 178, I made a discovery that had me rushing to the Internet for more information. It turns out, the phosphoric acid in soda 'eats up' iron.
I found information about this chemical, present in all soft drinks, on a website for construction workers which instructed them how to remove rust from concrete. Use phosphoric acid!
On another site, a nutritionist explained: "diet drinks are no-better for your body...... almost all soft drinks, whether they are with sugar, sugar-free, and/or caffeine-free have phosphoric acid. They add phosphoric acid to make the drink bubble. When they add this extra phosphorus, again it upsets the mineral relationships. Phosphorus works in relationship to iron, sodium, calcium, magnesium and other minerals. If you add extra phosphorus, you could make the phosphorus toxic because you have not added the other minerals, and, again, minerals only work in relationship to each other. Now the calcium and other minerals can become deficient because there is too much phosphorus and that relationship has become disturbed."
There were many, many sites I traveled to, but I don't believe everything I read on the net! Yet, when something came up repetitively, I made note of it. Many hospital sites have articles written by their physicians. On one such site, I found a list of nutritional factors that decrease iron absorption. Two listed were:
~~Carbonates, such as phosphoric acid in soft drinks, sparkling waters, ciders and champagne, phoxalates, phosphates and phytates (found in unleavened bread, unrefined cereals and soy beans) bind iron, rendering it inabsorbable.
~~Taken with meals, tea can reduce iron absorption by 50% through the formation of insoluble compounds with tannins found in the tea.
So I am now practicing a form of food combining. One small change. Let's see what happens. If low iron absorption is making me more susceptible to stress, and stress is causing my emotional outbursts and my gastrointestinal outbursts (or clogs), and the phosphoric acid in soda and the tannins tea can inhibit iron absorption, why not eliminate soda and tea (iced tea especially) from my meals, and drink water or fruit juice instead?
I will check my iron absorption via a blood test in a month from now and see if this has made an improvement, though I FEEL a difference already. I stopped drinking Pepsi with meals and since I've made that one small change, I haven't needed one of my anxiety pills (tranquilizers for the rage syndrome). I am off them!
ALKALINE FOODS
While surfing and researching, I also discovered the 'miracle' of eating alkaline foods.
One night I had another attack and figured: "Since Aciphex doesn't work to calm down this stomach acid, maybe alkaline food would ??? What in the world could I eat that might neutralize this acid?" I went on the Internet and found a list of acidic foods (ones you probably want to stay away from during an Eggy Burp Attack), and foods that are alkaline, which neutralizes the acid.
Acidic Foods are:
Barley, Eggs, Bananas (unripe), Grain Foods, Beans, Lentils, Bread Meats, Cereals, Nuts (except almonds), Cakes, Oatmeal, Chicken, Peas, Confections, Rice, Corn, Sugar, Chocolate, Sea Foods, Soft Drinks, Coffee, Tea
Alkaline Foods are:
Almonds, Melons, Apples, Milk, Apricots, Onions, Banana (ripe), Oranges, Beets, Parsley, Cabbage, Peaches, Carrots, Pears, Cauliflower, Pineapple, Celery, Potatoes, Coconuts, Pumpkins, Cottage Cheese, Radishes, Cucumbers, Raisins, Dates, Spinach, Figs (Fresh and Dry), Soybeans, Grapes, Tomatoes, Lemons, Turnips, Lettuce
So there I was, going on faith that all these nutritional sites I'd found were right, and that these foods; foods that CONTAIN acids (such as fruit acid) would actually help my digestion and reduce the amount of stomach acid my body was now rapidly overproducing.
I went down to my kitchen, hunched over in pain and breathing heavily, with the food list in hand. I went through the pantry and the fridge and loaded the table with as many of the 'alkaline foods' I could readily grab. I sat down, and, in the middle of an attack, I stuffed raisins and apricots in my mouth, ate a whole grapefruit and a banana, had some melon and pineapple slices, and then I had a salad of lettuce, carrots and cucumber with fresh lemon juice as dressing. I took some digestive enzymes my doctor gave me as extra insurance, and then popped a tranquilizer so I would calm down. After my last attack, which had been the worst yet, I was scared that this one would be even worse.....and what if the foods I'd just eaten only worsened it more???
Well, I laid in bed wiggling my feet back and forth to music, as I listened to a Walkman in the dark and tried to relax. God as my witness, that attack never got worse. It just stayed the same for a while and then eventually, slowly subsided!!! I couldn't wait to share all this exciting news with my doctor!
I called him in the morning and he said I had also helped the attack by wriggling my feet! Doing so got the lymphatic system humming and moving and cleaning toxins out. I was giving myself a form of lymphatic drainage treatment without even realizing it! I spent that entire day reading more on all of this, learning more and the next day I went to see a gastrointestinal specialist. I had applied for medical coverage and was going to cancel this appointment and wait until my insurance kicked in, but then the attack came on, and risking my health was just plain stupid, so I went and shelled out the $250. to see this guy.
'What happened When I Went to a Gastroenterologist'
The doctor was a very nice man. I could tell he is compassionate, but quite overworked. Not patient, but good about keeping that hidden. Respectful, though not at all into chatting about what I THINK is going on, and what IS going on, with my body. There I was, in his office (AKA: The Consultation Room), armed with my recent medical history; an organized list of symptoms in detail, a dated record of all attack-occurances, doctor's visits, tests taken and the results of each one, as well as some questions regarding my suspicions.
The gastro doctor basically said that I: "shouldn't play guesswork with medical books and should instead do definitive medical tests."
I agree. However, my research and record keeping is very thorough, and IS NOT at all 'guess work'. It helps to determine what tests to do!
MAN was I frustrated! I am so accustomed my personal physician relying on ME to tell him what's going on with me, and then taking it from there. Doc's 'intent listening approach' has always been an effective, and respectful one. I don't understand why other doctors can't take a few moments to just hear their patients out! If this GI man has been doing this for, say, 10 years, and he gets ONE, just one, new patient a week, we can even give him two months relaxing in the Bahamas and he will still see over 300 new patients per year. In 10 years, we can safely guess that he has consulted with, and examined, over 3000 people. He knows those 3000 bodies very vaguely. He'd have to check a patient's chart if he wanted to recall why he saw them and what for. In the last 10 years, I have only dealt with ONE body --mine-- and I know it intimately, so why wouldn't this doctor at least respect that I could help in my diagnosis.... maybe even make it easier for him?
I certainly want to determine what is going on here and get it fixed. I was not playing games, and I didn't come by to pay good money to sit in an expensive office and be told by a STRANGER that he knows better about my body than I do, and that I should basically sit back, shut up, and let him drive.
Now, he NEVER said this in those words. He was always a gentleman, but the message was clear. The sighing, the body shifting, the facial expressions, the forced, insincere smiles.... the kind done with a closed mouth and empty eyes. It was evident he didn't have the time or the interest in hearing about my experience and answering my questions. I didn't have many questions, but it didn't matter. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing to ask him until he did tests. He's the doctor, and I am a 'thing' to be examined and explored. Asking questions just holds him up. And anything I wanted to know about any tests done thus far by another doctor should have been explained to me by them, not by him.
EVER HEAR OF A SECOND OPINION, DOC?????
The man couldn't wait to get me out of the consultation room and into the examination room. He was sweet and happy as hell--- as long as I allowed him to believe that he was in control and I played the "good, trusting, stupid little patient'. Well, my own doctor warned me about this, and told me to be diligent and repetitive, and basically, be a pain in the *** if I had to, so I persisted. I wouldn't get off the 'pyloric valve thing'. I am SO convinced the trouble lies there. Or near there.
Unfortunately, according to the controlling 'Dr. Gastro', the pyloric valve cannot be checked for spasming.
SPASMING???!! You mean it can spasm and screw up your digestion and cause food-clogs, and bloating, and an overproduction of stomach acid????
Yes.
And it can all be induced by stress...
So how to we determine that THIS is what is occurring? We must rule out everything else until we are left with that as our only answer.
Not very encouraging, but I am 35, and it's time for a look under the hood and a tune-up. During his exam, he palpated my body, 'went over' me and found everything great. He was happy. He loved my blood work, and my upper GI x-rays. Said I am in fine health and have an excellent digestive system. SO WHY THE HELL AM I THERE, DOC ???
He added that the tests I have had thus far have only eliminated 50% of the various ulcers I could be suffering from. Lovely. Well, then, it follows that I need a 'scope' to rule the rest out...
No. Not according to the doctor. He needs a Porsche payment, I believe, so he wants to slip in another test before he does the scope. Though diet does not affect or bring about my attacks, which would be indicative of a gallbladder disorder, he wanted an ultrasound done on my gallbladder anyway!
BUT I WANT THE ENDOSCOPY!
Doesn't matter. I am the patient. What I want is not important.
If the gallbladder is found to be normal, then I am to go for an endoscope. If all shows to be fine there too, Dr. Gastro will then declare that this is a "stress induced spasming of the pyloric valve", WHICH IS WHAT I ASKED HIM ABOUT WHEN I FIRST SAT DOWN and he gave me the answer about not reading medical books and forming suspicions, and doing tests instead. Boy was I worked up!
So I asked him how we would TREAT the condition if it were found, by process of elimination, to be, as he called it: "stress induced spasming of the pyloric valve".
His clinical, almost comical answer: "Stress management." WHY WAIT ?!?!
My first step in managing stress was to pay his bill and leave his office. As I waited for my credit card to process, his receptionist scheduled an ultrasound for my gallbladder and handed me the appointment card.
Well, I went home and researched gallbladder problems intensely, and then I called several people who had had theirs removed. After learning MUCH about gallbladder conditions, and talking with former gallbladder victims, all of whom have NEVER had even one of my symptoms, I decided that my bouts are DEFINITELY NOT gallbladder related. Besides, my own competent and thorough physician would certainly have suggested/ordered gallbladder testing if he even suspected it a possible cause of my suffering. He never mentioned the gallbladder being suspect, and he is quite aware of every symptom and every attack I have. And let's not forget my dog.....
I canceled the ultrasound first thing the next morning.
Dr. Gastro disagreed with my doctor on a few other points as well, such as my iron being low. He said it was 'fine' and 'perfectly normal and expected for a menstruating woman of my age'. I don't agree with that at all, as I have been experiencing the increase of 'rage' symptoms as the level of iron absorption decreases. There is a connection for sure, as even my own research has indicated.
And I repeat; since I've stopped drinking Pepsi with meals (back to the phosphoric acid connection), I haven't needed one of my anxiety pills (tranquilizers for the rage syndrome). I am off them! But this wasn't worth telling Dr. Gastro, ESPECIALLY after his reaction to my most recent intestinal attack and how I 'treated' it with the alkaline foods.
During the consult, he had asked what foods specifically upset my digestive system and bring on my attacks. I told him that food does not cause these bouts at all. It has nothing to do with WHAT I eat, but when... If I eat hamburger when I'm stressed, I throw up hamburger. If I eat ice cream when I'm stressed, I throw up ice cream. On one occasion, it happened with asparagus. (I was rushed that evening and I ate too quickly. See my previous post about that.)
Well, as I said, two nights prior to this appointment, I'd an attack and I stopped it with a combination of tranquilizers, my doctor's digestive enzymes, and a meal of alkaline foods.
(Alone, the tranquilizers do not work for the stomach. That was just to calm me down cause I was scared. And even the prescription acid reducers, medications that are 10 times stronger than ANYTHING you can get over-the-counter, don't work for this. So I attributed the cessation of the excessive (and sickening) acid-over-production to the only thing it could have been: the enzymes and my 'alkaline food feast' combination.)
I brought the enzymes along for Dr. Gastro to have a look at. I handed them to him and told him of my experience. He glanced at the bottle, laughed with a soft huff, handed it back to me, and said "coincidence".
So.......... food has NOTHING to do with STOPPING attacks, but CAN have something to do with STARTING them???
That wasn't the first time he contradicted himself. Yet, I don't think him an incompetent doctor, or even a bad guy. He was nice enough. Polite. Did his best to be 'tolerant' of me and to show me respect, even if he was gritting his teeth and I didn't know it. <grin!>
Nice man. He's just VERY textbook, and too linear for me.
One and four will always be 'five' to him. It will NEVER be fourteen.
Now: I said 'one AND four', not one "plus" four, or one "added to" four.
1 and 4 together can be 14.
He can't think that way. He doesn't want to stretch, not comfortable with expanding himself. Going beyond traditional medicine and treating the body as something more than a machine he can fix is just not his nature. He can't be bothered with you 'playing doctor' and sharing your suspicions. But he's polite about it, at least.
I am SO spoiled by my doctor who gets a mental turn-on from questions and research and learning. Every time I learn something new, he wants a copy of it. When my fiance' reads a great health book and swears the suggested methods are helping him, Doc wants to borrow the book. He encourages his patients to be involved in their care and treatment, and to tell him EVERYTHING. He doesn't cut you off. Ever. He even draws diagrams of the internal systems and their various responses to help you understand your condition, or how a drug works. He is a remarkable man.
Every other doctor I have ever dealt with has done the opposite. They have responded to me impatiently, as if I am an annoying 'doctor-wanna-be'. They prefer to treat you like a problem they must to fix, not learn from as well. They are like 'body mechanics' and you are a predictable car. We may all be built the same way, but our bodies don't live the same experiences and therefore, don't react the same way. Most doctors don't get this. They all seem so BORED with their profession, where my personal physician is so excited about it.
Well, now I know why we are called PATIENTS!!!! We need to have a lot of PATIENCE to deal with most doctors!!!
Last week I had another attack. I was teaching someone the computer and she was trying to do so many things at once, and she was making the learning harder on herself by being so 'all over the place' and trying to learn everything at once. I explained to her that she needed to learn progressively; a step at a time, but she was all wound up about a deadline. She'd decided to make something on her computer as a gift for someone, yet she didn't even know how to use her computer, OR her scanner, OR the software that she planned to use for this project. It was a bad idea to try to learn how to use hardware, it's compatible software, and then actually do a project with it..... all in less than three weeks!
I was only supposed to meet with this gal once, but when I got to her house the first time, I saw that she had everything hooked up wrong, so I had to reconfigure everything. Then I had to download new drivers for her hardware to make her new scanner and her old printer compatible. The whole thing took four hours and we never got the 'the lesson' part.
I was back the next week to actually teach her some basic stuff, but she wanted to learn SO MUCH, and to learn it all in an afternoon; as she was so concerned about her deadline. It was really important to her that she learn. That was great, but you can't graduate to Grade 5 without first mastering Grades 1-4, and she wanted to attempt exactly this.
After two hours, I should have left. I shouldn't have stayed another two. Yup! Four MORE hours spent doing the impossible. My fault. I should have politely excused myself. Her agitation and frustration was getting in her way of learning, and our session was becoming less and less productive. I finally HAD to leave to go home and feed my dogs. Before I was even out of her house, I felt the attack coming on.
I'd kept it at bay with the alkaline foods the last time, but this was a bad one, and the foods only worked well enough to allow me to sleep a bit. First thing the next morning, I was on the phone to my regular Doc, begging for pain killers, muscle relaxers.... anything!
Dr. Kevorkian would have been a suitable option.
My doctor, God bless him, prescribed Belladonna and Phenobarbital. He'd also told me to do my leg exercises as a form of lymphatic drainage, just as I had done during my last attack when listening to the music and wriggling my feet. I had to move my feet back and forth so much that my belly shook, he said!
So, while waiting for the prescription to be filled and delivered, I moved! Instead of lying in bed curled up in a tight ball, I put on some music, pulled my bed away from the wall and began cleaning under it. I was stretching and moving and really working up a sweat. Well, that 'loosened' things up quite a bit, and pretty soon I crapped out feces the smell of sulfur. Yup! My poop smelled like the eggy-burps. Very interesting.....
After that trip to the bathroom, I was feeling a little better, but getting those drugs, as much as I don't like the feeling of being spacey, was preferable to the pain. The drug was a smooth-muscle relaxer, and if I was wrong about my suspicions and it WAS the gallbladder, they wouldn't work. They worked. The pain subsided soon after taking them, and I was able to eat. I enjoyed some 'alkaline foods' and no Pepsi. The soda is a treat I reserve to enjoy all by itself, until I am no longer in the habit of drinking it.
I haven't had an attack since then, so I cannot honestly say that the medication helped tremendously. I know the 'moving' did, and I know that since I have been working on eliminating the stresses I can remove from my life, dealing more effectively with the ones I can't, and balancing my life, I have not thrown up since 'The Great Asparagus Blockage Episode'. I have had attacks, but they have not progressed to the vomiting stage, and that is a BIG and profound change.
One of the biggest things I did to help remove stress was get medical coverage. I went out and purchased group health insurance with a friend who also needed a medical plan. We pay just over $200. per month for great medical insurance from a top company, and we have our choice of In-Network, or Out-Of-Network coverage. This all goes into effect as of July 1st. Since nothing has been diagnosed, I am not considered to have a pre-existing condition. As long as I simply contact a GI doctor on my own, and go in with my complaint, I am covered. I already have a guy in mind. He is in the Network plan, and comes HIGHLY recommended by three very reliable sources in the medical field. He also treats a dear friend for her Chrones Disease. So, when July comes, I will simply make an appointment with him and let him do all the tests he wants.
My insurance payments are far less than any of the monthly expenses I have incurred trying to diagnose and treat this mystery condition, and finally having medical coverage is one HUGE stress eliminated from my life. Now I can relax a bit regarding amassing piles of medical bills, and they can do all the tests they want. Stick tubes up my ***, down my throat, I don't care. I just want doctors to always remember that a PERSON is attached to that mouth, that as*hole, that gallbladder. Being treated with dignity and respect is part of medical care and I will settle for nothing less.
My next update is on stress, the possible 'Type A personality' connection, and how I am learning to balance one's life with work AND play.
How much to YOU play???
It has not been written yet; still a work in progress, so to speak, and in the meantime,
I would LOVE to hear from any one of you suffering from these Hard Boiled Egg Attacks.
I am especially interested in all the gory details if you consider yourself to be:
~ high-strung,
~ overwhelmed with activity,
~ have no time for yourself (and maybe even forgot who YOU are),
~ suspect you may be a 'Type-A Personality' (or know you are one),
~ feel stressed and agitated often --- if not; all of the time,
~ work too much and don't relax enough,
~ have been treated for low-thyroid and/or poor iron absorption.
My name is Jody.
My e-mail address is ***@****.
I thank you for reading, and for taking control of YOUR health and body.
Hello All!
At last, an update from a post of Sunday, May 07, 2000. This will be followed by two more. If you have not read my post of 5/7/00, I suggest doing so and then returning to this one. My previous post explains the symptoms I experience, in detail, and may be a helpful way to compare your own, especially if you have no idea what this is and what is happening to you!!!
I am getting closer to an answer, based on my experiences of the passed month, and it is best to read my 'whole story' so you understand what I am referring to in this series of posts and why.
When we last left off, I was at the onset of on of my horrible "Hard-Boiled-Egg Attacks". I'd said they were becoming more and more frequent as life gets more involved, and signed off saying that "I am beginning to think/realize/suspect that good old-fashioned living is the way to go." I am now even more convinced. Let me tell you what happened that evening...
I had taken a dose of Aciphex 20mg that night, immediately upon tasting the horrid, rancid sulfuric acid. (Now, this IS NOT 'acid reflux'. This is a serious attack of excessive acid overproduction, and it is not gallbladder related either. More on that later....)
So, I took 20mg of ACIPHEX (rabeprazole sodium). Later, after getting no relief, I took a second dose; knowing one can take as much as 40mg per dosage. The Aciphex did nothing.
I guess it was too far into the attack by then, because it had worked once before at the onset of an attack, but that night, my stomach ballooned to the size of a pregnant woman and I now have stretchmarks on my belly for the first time in my life!!!
There I was, bent over the keyboard, holding my gut, bloated and burping up the vile, offensive taste of sulfur, and surfing the net for some relief. And then, suddenly; what seemed a miracle: I was astounded and grateful to find this site, and posts about this very odd condition! As I'd said then, it was like an oasis in the middle of a vast gastrointestinal disorder desert! I was devouring the information on it, hoping for some answers... I read every post from those of you also suffering of the hellish egg-burps and the related symptoms, yet, no one else had any answers either. All sufferers, like myself, were concerned, in pain, and questioning what the hell was going on. No one had found any treatments or even a diagnosis.
I was up all night looking for, praying for, and waiting for relief, lying with a hot waterbottle on my tummy. The water was taken, at boiling point, from a tea kettle and I scalded my skin using the hot-waterbottle, but the burn on the outside was preferable to the unbearable pain on the inside. Why didn't I just go to the hospital??? Again, I have no medical insurance, and am already thousands of dollars in debt from this nasty condition.
I finally made myself vomit. It was TOO MUCH pain. Pain. Not nausea. But I had to get that hydrochloric/suphuric acid out of my stomach. It felt like my stomach was going to pop! Well, out came the slick, smelly yellow acid, and with it, the most AMAZING thing:
one small tip of asparagus. No other food at all.
Now, I am not allergic to asparagus. Infact, I had not even eaten it that night! I had eaten it THREE DAYS BEFORE!!! Everything else I'd eaten since had passed right through...
At last! A clue! I must have had a blockage! Maybe my stomach was overproducing acid to break up this lodged piece of food??? Maybe I am prone to blockages? Immediately, all pain and symptoms subsided. I went to sleep, and slept until 2:00pm that afternoon. Then, I woke up and went back to my doctor.
My suspicion, after MUCH research, is that a valve, called the pylorus, which leads from the stomach to the intestine, may be damaged. It could be ulcerated, cancer-ridden, out-of alignment..... among other possibilities. And it may not be the valve at all that is the problem. But I do think it this valve that is weak or something. My doc thinks I am onto something and is very impressed. This is not common, he tells me, but very, very possible.
Perhaps this valve stays open at times, allowing undigested food to go through? Maybe the body then reacts violently when the undigested food gets into the intestines, Or, perhaps, at times, something like an asparagus tip gets caught in the valve as it quickly, tightly closes in response to stress, just as if a fist suddenly closed around it. Then it would make sense that my stomach would go CRAZY making an abundance of hydrochloric acid trying to unclog the clog.
You see, the pyloric valve us a like a thick, metal gate that closes shut, keeping food 'closed off' from the rest of the digestive world. The food you eat stays in your stomach and cannot pass through that gate until your stomach acid has broken it all down and liquefied it. It's like putting food in a blender or a food processor and hitting 'liquefy'. The churned up food and drink in your tummy is now one big bunch of digestive soup that doctors refer to as 'chime'. Once the 'chime' is ready, the pyloric valve opens and let's it down into your intestine, where the intestine ***** all the nutrients out of it.
But what if the valve opens up too early?
I am reminded of the scene in the movie "Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory" where Gene Wilder, who plays Mr. Wonka the Chocolatier, is walking down the stairway that leads into The Great Candy Room, with all his guests following right behind him. He's singing them a song about his philosophies, and all the people; both kids and parents, are anxious to get beyond him, to the bottom of the stairs and into this great room of candy. But Wonka keeps slashing his cane back and forth and blocking them. He won't let them through until he is good and ready, and finished with his song. And when he is, he spreads his arms, smiles, bows gracefully, and allows them access. HE is like the pyloric valve. That valve won't open until the food (guests) is properly prepared and good and ready for the intestine (Great Candy Room). That valve stays closed and tight like a cervix keeps a baby in a womb until the baby is ready to enter the birth canal. Unless there is a problem......
Oddly, my dog had gotten quite bloated one evening and suddenly looked pregnant. I've seen her pregnant, and this is exactly how she looked. She started burping up belches that smelled EXACTLY like the rotten egg burps I experience. She'd had bad diarrhea for two days, so I'd been feeding her rice, small pieces of bread, and chicken broth. When she burped up that foul smell, I was in shock! Maybe I have a bacteria??? Maybe she caught it?
A friend suggested my pooch was simply being sympathetic to me and imitating my symptoms. I said "Balderdash! She's sick!" After 48 hours, my pup began shaking, so I rushed her to the 24-hour veterinary hospital. I was speeding to get there and almost missed the exit, so I took a quick, sharp turn off the highway and this sudden movement made my dog throw up all over the place!
WOW! All the rice and bread she had eaten for the passed two days came up, along with something else..... (No! Not asparagus! LOL!) Upon inspection of her vomit, I found a mass of medical cotton. I use sterile cotton, which comes in a roll, to give facial treatments. She'd swallowed the size of a small fist's worth, it turns out! Yup, she actually ate of my cotton pads, and the cotton blocked food from getting into her intestines, so, like a juicer, only liquid dripped through it, which explains the horrid, watery poop that had been bursting and spraying out of her butt those passed two days. The cotton she'd gobbled down days earlier had acted like a coffee filter and collected all her food. The diarrhea was the 'juice' that was able to soak through it.
The vomit itself, interestingly, had the stench of rotten eggs ..... the very same smell I burp up when I get my attacks. And, just as with my attacks, my pup immediately lost her bloated belly and became more chipper after the cotton was dislodged --- kinda like my asparagus tip experience. What an odd blessing. Now I knew for certain that I am having some kind of obstruction problem as well. That was an amazing connection to make.
(X-rays at the animal hospital immediately afterward showed all was clear and I am happy to report that she is fine. ) Now, why did she even eat the cotton??? Well, she's a dog!
She has been getting over her 'heat' and has had an intense hunger. This was when she decided to feast on my cotton supply. I'd prepared facial cotton pads to use on my clients one afternoon for the next. I left the first set out on the work table. Then I had a Hard-Boiled-Egg-Attack, and canceled my appointments. The cotton remained downstairs in my Studio, (where my dog is NOT allowed, but takes adventures anyway when she can sneak them in). The neat little wet pads smelled like my hands, and my pup, who has been known to eat sponges, Body-Buffs, wash-rags, and even panty-liners, devoured them to protect me. If it smells like me, she tries to 'eat the evidence' so that I won't be discovered by predators. Fascinating, but a real pain in the butt --- pun intended!
So I told all this to my doctor and insisted that he "Pull all the stops. Do every test in the book! I don't care about the money!" Just to be sure, he did a fairly expensive blood test for the detection of an intestinal bacteria called Helicobacter pylori. It came back negative. That test also ruled out three types of ulcers; peptic, gastric and duodenal, but there are other kinds of ulcers I could be suffering from and which could cause blockages, so off I was sent for an Upper GI, which is an X-ray of the digestive system.
The Upper GI revealed I have a hiatal hernia, which is when your intestine busts through your stomach wall. This is a result of violently throwing up. How nice! I also have a 'pouch' on my small intestine that looks like a pizza crust bubble, simply from a lack of fiber and poor nutrition (and probably caused from the vomiting). These are results, or damage, from whatever the cause of my digestive troubles are, and will heal in time, so my doctor is now sending me off to have an endoscopy!
The 'scope' is a very interesting procedure. You are on a table and your blood pressure, pulse, and the oxygen level in your blood is monitored. You are tranquilized so that you don't care if they say: "We are going to cut off your head now". You feel so good and relaxed that you will smile and agree to it. <wink!> A mouthpiece is put in your mouth to keep it open. Then they stick an 'endoscope'; a long tube, down your throat, through your esophagus, and right into your stomach and then, on it goes into the intestine. Then they pump air into your butt to blow and swell everything up so that they can see it all better. OH MY! The endoscope has a camera and a clamp on it, and the clamp can literally snip samples of it your stomach or your intestine to examine, test and biopsy.
I want this done. It will cost three grand, and again, I have no insurance, but a funeral will cost my family more! I obviously need something fixed, so I'm on a mission! My story continues, as I tell you all about discoveries I've made, and what happened when I went to see a gastroenterologist about getting and endoscopy. Read on!
See my next post for more on this 'saga', which includes:
1) information I discovered on the link between LOW IRON ABSORPTION, SOFT DRINKS & RAGE SYNDROME,
2) my personal experiences with STRESS & TRANQUILIZERS,
3) a connection made with ALKALINE FOODS and warding off 'EGGY attacks',
4) 'Lymphatic Drainage' exercises to get things flowing!
5) 'What Happened When I Went to a Gastroenterologist'
: (
That post will then be followed, at a later date, by another regarding emotions, stress, and 'balancing your life'. Emotions definitely play a part in this, and after reading all of my info, research and accounts, I would love to hear from each of you and learn whether or not you are living your life in a similar manner, or experiencing similar imbalances.
At last, an update from a post of Sunday, May 07, 2000. This will be followed by two more. If you have not read my post of 5/7/00, I suggest doing so and then returning to this one. My previous post explains the symptoms I experience, in detail, and may be a helpful way to compare your own, especially if you have no idea what this is and what is happening to you!!!
I am getting closer to an answer, based on my experiences of the passed month, and it is best to read my 'whole story' so you understand what I am referring to in this series of posts and why.
When we last left off, I was at the onset of on of my horrible "Hard-Boiled-Egg Attacks". I'd said they were becoming more and more frequent as life gets more involved, and signed off saying that "I am beginning to think/realize/suspect that good old-fashioned living is the way to go." I am now even more convinced. Let me tell you what happened that evening...
I had taken a dose of Aciphex 20mg that night, immediately upon tasting the horrid, rancid sulfuric acid. (Now, this IS NOT 'acid reflux'. This is a serious attack of excessive acid overproduction, and it is not gallbladder related either. More on that later....)
So, I took 20mg of ACIPHEX (rabeprazole sodium). Later, after getting no relief, I took a second dose; knowing one can take as much as 40mg per dosage. The Aciphex did nothing.
I guess it was too far into the attack by then, because it had worked once before at the onset of an attack, but that night, my stomach ballooned to the size of a pregnant woman and I now have stretchmarks on my belly for the first time in my life!!!
There I was, bent over the keyboard, holding my gut, bloated and burping up the vile, offensive taste of sulfur, and surfing the net for some relief. And then, suddenly; what seemed a miracle: I was astounded and grateful to find this site, and posts about this very odd condition! As I'd said then, it was like an oasis in the middle of a vast gastrointestinal disorder desert! I was devouring the information on it, hoping for some answers... I read every post from those of you also suffering of the hellish egg-burps and the related symptoms, yet, no one else had any answers either. All sufferers, like myself, were concerned, in pain, and questioning what the hell was going on. No one had found any treatments or even a diagnosis.
I was up all night looking for, praying for, and waiting for relief, lying with a hot waterbottle on my tummy. The water was taken, at boiling point, from a tea kettle and I scalded my skin using the hot-waterbottle, but the burn on the outside was preferable to the unbearable pain on the inside. Why didn't I just go to the hospital??? Again, I have no medical insurance, and am already thousands of dollars in debt from this nasty condition.
I finally made myself vomit. It was TOO MUCH pain. Pain. Not nausea. But I had to get that hydrochloric/suphuric acid out of my stomach. It felt like my stomach was going to pop! Well, out came the slick, smelly yellow acid, and with it, the most AMAZING thing:
one small tip of asparagus. No other food at all.
Now, I am not allergic to asparagus. Infact, I had not even eaten it that night! I had eaten it THREE DAYS BEFORE!!! Everything else I'd eaten since had passed right through...
At last! A clue! I must have had a blockage! Maybe my stomach was overproducing acid to break up this lodged piece of food??? Maybe I am prone to blockages? Immediately, all pain and symptoms subsided. I went to sleep, and slept until 2:00pm that afternoon. Then, I woke up and went back to my doctor.
My suspicion, after MUCH research, is that a valve, called the pylorus, which leads from the stomach to the intestine, may be damaged. It could be ulcerated, cancer-ridden, out-of alignment..... among other possibilities. And it may not be the valve at all that is the problem. But I do think it this valve that is weak or something. My doc thinks I am onto something and is very impressed. This is not common, he tells me, but very, very possible.
Perhaps this valve stays open at times, allowing undigested food to go through? Maybe the body then reacts violently when the undigested food gets into the intestines, Or, perhaps, at times, something like an asparagus tip gets caught in the valve as it quickly, tightly closes in response to stress, just as if a fist suddenly closed around it. Then it would make sense that my stomach would go CRAZY making an abundance of hydrochloric acid trying to unclog the clog.
You see, the pyloric valve us a like a thick, metal gate that closes shut, keeping food 'closed off' from the rest of the digestive world. The food you eat stays in your stomach and cannot pass through that gate until your stomach acid has broken it all down and liquefied it. It's like putting food in a blender or a food processor and hitting 'liquefy'. The churned up food and drink in your tummy is now one big bunch of digestive soup that doctors refer to as 'chime'. Once the 'chime' is ready, the pyloric valve opens and let's it down into your intestine, where the intestine ***** all the nutrients out of it.
But what if the valve opens up too early?
I am reminded of the scene in the movie "Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory" where Gene Wilder, who plays Mr. Wonka the Chocolatier, is walking down the stairway that leads into The Great Candy Room, with all his guests following right behind him. He's singing them a song about his philosophies, and all the people; both kids and parents, are anxious to get beyond him, to the bottom of the stairs and into this great room of candy. But Wonka keeps slashing his cane back and forth and blocking them. He won't let them through until he is good and ready, and finished with his song. And when he is, he spreads his arms, smiles, bows gracefully, and allows them access. HE is like the pyloric valve. That valve won't open until the food (guests) is properly prepared and good and ready for the intestine (Great Candy Room). That valve stays closed and tight like a cervix keeps a baby in a womb until the baby is ready to enter the birth canal. Unless there is a problem......
Oddly, my dog had gotten quite bloated one evening and suddenly looked pregnant. I've seen her pregnant, and this is exactly how she looked. She started burping up belches that smelled EXACTLY like the rotten egg burps I experience. She'd had bad diarrhea for two days, so I'd been feeding her rice, small pieces of bread, and chicken broth. When she burped up that foul smell, I was in shock! Maybe I have a bacteria??? Maybe she caught it?
A friend suggested my pooch was simply being sympathetic to me and imitating my symptoms. I said "Balderdash! She's sick!" After 48 hours, my pup began shaking, so I rushed her to the 24-hour veterinary hospital. I was speeding to get there and almost missed the exit, so I took a quick, sharp turn off the highway and this sudden movement made my dog throw up all over the place!
WOW! All the rice and bread she had eaten for the passed two days came up, along with something else..... (No! Not asparagus! LOL!) Upon inspection of her vomit, I found a mass of medical cotton. I use sterile cotton, which comes in a roll, to give facial treatments. She'd swallowed the size of a small fist's worth, it turns out! Yup, she actually ate of my cotton pads, and the cotton blocked food from getting into her intestines, so, like a juicer, only liquid dripped through it, which explains the horrid, watery poop that had been bursting and spraying out of her butt those passed two days. The cotton she'd gobbled down days earlier had acted like a coffee filter and collected all her food. The diarrhea was the 'juice' that was able to soak through it.
The vomit itself, interestingly, had the stench of rotten eggs ..... the very same smell I burp up when I get my attacks. And, just as with my attacks, my pup immediately lost her bloated belly and became more chipper after the cotton was dislodged --- kinda like my asparagus tip experience. What an odd blessing. Now I knew for certain that I am having some kind of obstruction problem as well. That was an amazing connection to make.
(X-rays at the animal hospital immediately afterward showed all was clear and I am happy to report that she is fine. ) Now, why did she even eat the cotton??? Well, she's a dog!
She has been getting over her 'heat' and has had an intense hunger. This was when she decided to feast on my cotton supply. I'd prepared facial cotton pads to use on my clients one afternoon for the next. I left the first set out on the work table. Then I had a Hard-Boiled-Egg-Attack, and canceled my appointments. The cotton remained downstairs in my Studio, (where my dog is NOT allowed, but takes adventures anyway when she can sneak them in). The neat little wet pads smelled like my hands, and my pup, who has been known to eat sponges, Body-Buffs, wash-rags, and even panty-liners, devoured them to protect me. If it smells like me, she tries to 'eat the evidence' so that I won't be discovered by predators. Fascinating, but a real pain in the butt --- pun intended!
So I told all this to my doctor and insisted that he "Pull all the stops. Do every test in the book! I don't care about the money!" Just to be sure, he did a fairly expensive blood test for the detection of an intestinal bacteria called Helicobacter pylori. It came back negative. That test also ruled out three types of ulcers; peptic, gastric and duodenal, but there are other kinds of ulcers I could be suffering from and which could cause blockages, so off I was sent for an Upper GI, which is an X-ray of the digestive system.
The Upper GI revealed I have a hiatal hernia, which is when your intestine busts through your stomach wall. This is a result of violently throwing up. How nice! I also have a 'pouch' on my small intestine that looks like a pizza crust bubble, simply from a lack of fiber and poor nutrition (and probably caused from the vomiting). These are results, or damage, from whatever the cause of my digestive troubles are, and will heal in time, so my doctor is now sending me off to have an endoscopy!
The 'scope' is a very interesting procedure. You are on a table and your blood pressure, pulse, and the oxygen level in your blood is monitored. You are tranquilized so that you don't care if they say: "We are going to cut off your head now". You feel so good and relaxed that you will smile and agree to it. <wink!> A mouthpiece is put in your mouth to keep it open. Then they stick an 'endoscope'; a long tube, down your throat, through your esophagus, and right into your stomach and then, on it goes into the intestine. Then they pump air into your butt to blow and swell everything up so that they can see it all better. OH MY! The endoscope has a camera and a clamp on it, and the clamp can literally snip samples of it your stomach or your intestine to examine, test and biopsy.
I want this done. It will cost three grand, and again, I have no insurance, but a funeral will cost my family more! I obviously need something fixed, so I'm on a mission! My story continues, as I tell you all about discoveries I've made, and what happened when I went to see a gastroenterologist about getting and endoscopy. Read on!
See my next post for more on this 'saga', which includes:
1) information I discovered on the link between LOW IRON ABSORPTION, SOFT DRINKS & RAGE SYNDROME,
2) my personal experiences with STRESS & TRANQUILIZERS,
3) a connection made with ALKALINE FOODS and warding off 'EGGY attacks',
4) 'Lymphatic Drainage' exercises to get things flowing!
5) 'What Happened When I Went to a Gastroenterologist'
: (
That post will then be followed, at a later date, by another regarding emotions, stress, and 'balancing your life'. Emotions definitely play a part in this, and after reading all of my info, research and accounts, I would love to hear from each of you and learn whether or not you are living your life in a similar manner, or experiencing similar imbalances.
OH MAN!!!
What a 'relief' it is to find others suffering from this horrible 'mystery ailment'.
I call my bouts: "The Hard-boiled Egg-Yolk Attacks". They are absolutely HORRIBLE!!! I bloat so badly that I cannot even wear clothes because the pressure of the weight of any fabric on my belly is too much to bear. I am in pain, and in bed, for an entire day and NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, works to relieve the viscous pain except a hot-water bottle, but ONLY as long as the bottle is resting on my poor, enlarged and hugely bloated belly.
The 'egg-burping' is a vile, nonstop violation to my system and my sanity; the rotten egg taste of sulfur is beyond nauseating. Food never affects this condition, or brings it about. It just happens.... but always after tremendous stress. That's the connection. I do not handle stress well at all. I used to think the attacks were unpredictable occurrences. Then I realized that they would occur hours, or within days, after an especially trying event or period in my life. I seem to hold on; 'stomach it all', and then fall apart exhausted when it's over, or when my body just can't take it anymore.
I am a 34 year old woman with gallbladder and all other parts intact and functioning, who has been suffering from this, on and off, for over ten years now, though it is becoming more frequent as life becomes more involved. When I get an attack, the egg-burping starts first, with, or followed immediately by, the massive bloating and then the upper stomach pain starts. The abdominal cramping and an urgent feeling of a need to **** comes next. This is unbearable because I am usually constipated, which makes the back pain that accompanies these attacks, much, much worse. I am eventually doubled over in pain and unable to walk; just lying in bed moaning and praying I find a comfortable position for a while. It is literally disabling.
If I am fortunate enough to pass gas, there is mild and momentary relief as the gas makes it's way outof my body, but only then. No pain medicines, over-the-counter gas/acid reducers or laxatives relieve the pressure at all. I have tried nearly EVERYTHING and usually throw it all up anyway. Even an enema does nothing. I would LOVE to go to the hospital when I get like this just to be given morphine intravenously, or something to knock me out until it all passes. I just want the poison to come out...... out of my *** or my mouth, or both...I don't care which, I just want it OUT!
I often throw up slick yellow bile, and in November, during my last attack, blood came out, too! My upper belly swelled, of course, and I was in agonizing pain for about 18 hours. It passed, as usual, so I did not alert my doctor, even though the blood was NOT usual at all. That had never happened before.
I did tell my doc about the incident in January of this year, while visiting him to go over the results of routine bloodwork I'd had done. He was quite concerned about the blood, as one would expect a good doctor to be. My tests had showed low iron, as well as poor iron saturation, (binding capacity was fine), and low thyroid. It was not anemia, but an inability to absorb the iron, suggesting possible internal blood loss. My physician wondered if I was suffering from a bleeding ulcer. Since my urine test had been normal, he gave me a packet of Hemawipes. I took three consecutive (daily) stool samples and all tested normal. No blood in stool.
I returned for a follow-up (fasting) blood test a little over a month later which indicated that my thyroid was now within healthy, functioning range due to taking Levoxyl, which my doctor had started me on at the previous visit. Good. However, my iron level and saturation percentage were even lower than before! They had decreased dramatically (and rapidly).
The normal range for iron in blood is 25-170 mcg/DL. Mine had gone from 49 in late January, to 36 as of early March. Still within normal range, but at the low end and dropping.
The normal range for percentage of iron saturation is 12-57.
Mine had gone from 13 to 11 .
In late January my urea nitrogen (BUN) was 11. Between 7-25 mg/DL is normal so it was not noted. By early March it had gone down to 6.
Within two months, my iron level dropped 30%, and my iron saturation dropped by more than 15%, so SOMETHING is going on somewhere. My doctor wanted me to see a gastro-intestinologist and get 'scoped', but I do not have medical coverage or the money to pay for these tests, so he kindly put me on Aciphex for three weeks...
As it happened, that very day, a 'Hard-boiled Egg-Yolk Attack' just happened to be coming on during my visit. What a 'blessing'. The Doc pushed and pressed on my body and told me that my intestines were freaking out! I agreed and assured him that within hours I would be bedridden, unable to walk, and peuking up stomach acid, and there was nothing that would stop it. It was destined.
He immediately put me on 20mg of ACIPHEX (rabeprazole sodium) and had me take a dose then and there. I shook my head and said: "It's not gonna work! Nothing stops this!" But I'll be damned if it didn't work perfectly! The attack subsided and I took that stuff religiously and daily for three weeks and I have been fine since.....until tonight.
The last three weeks have been hell; a nonstop series of hard and unrelenting stresses (a cancer scare with Mom for one thing, a heart condition with dad, among other 'biggies') and I actually requested tranquilizers to help me handle it all. Well, maybe they made my head calmer and clearer, but my body wasn't fooled one bit! I awoke this evening from a much needed nap with another bout of this dastardly Hard-Boiled Egg-Yolk-Attack. Of course, it is now two in the morning, as is always the case. These attacks never happen during the day and/or when my doctor is available. They happen on weekends, or Wednesdays after doctor's hours, or late at night on Tuesdays! LOL! They ALWAYS comes on at night and then ruin the entire next day!
So here I am, bent over the keyboard, holding my gut, burping up the vile, offensive taste of sulfur, and surfing the net for some relief. Suddenly; a miracle..... I am astounded and grateful to find this site. It's like an oasis in the middle of a vast gastrointestinal disorder desert! I am now devouring the information on it, hoping for some answers, and hoping maybe even to help someone as well!
So far, Aciphex was the best thing I've found for these attacks. It is a prescription drug and well worth a try if nothing else has worked for you thus far. Here's a link to some info on it: Aciphex, A New Proton Pump Inhibitor
I just took my "break glass in case of emergency" dose of Aciphex; immediately upon tasting the horrid, rancid sulfuric acid. The magic pill came out of a sample bottle my good Doc compassionately supplied me with, just in case an attack happens at odd hours. So far, nothing, but it's early yet. We'll see.
In the meantime, I will peruse this site and go back and forth to the bathroom in hopes than something will expel itself. I have been trying to poop with no success. The pain is increasing and I dread the next 15 or so hours. I'll be up all night, waterbottle in one hand, TV remote in the other --if I can even bear to watch television. My tomorrow is ruined. I was to attend and work a lovely and exciting art & craft fair in Hoboken and was really looking forward to it. Now I get to enjoy the sickening taste of rotten eggs, over and over again...
Again, I have no medical insurance and am already thousands of dollars in debt from this nasty condition, but money means nothing when you're miserable and in pain, so I will take whatever tests are required of me. Stick a tube up my ***, or down my throat. I don't care. Just get this to STOP! This is seriously the worst pain I have ever experienced. Excruciating!
One more thing..... Oddly, the more I go through this (and as I said, I have been having these attacks on and off for over ten years), the more I am beginning to think/realize/ suspect that good old-fashioned living is the way to go. Eat pure food, drink pure water, breathe pure air, etc. It is ridiculous to suffer this way and there MUST be a cure! What doctors are giving us, and doing to us, as Band-Aids aren't working...
Any suggestions or commiserations are appreciated.
My e-mail is ***@****
Thanks!
JODY
What a 'relief' it is to find others suffering from this horrible 'mystery ailment'.
I call my bouts: "The Hard-boiled Egg-Yolk Attacks". They are absolutely HORRIBLE!!! I bloat so badly that I cannot even wear clothes because the pressure of the weight of any fabric on my belly is too much to bear. I am in pain, and in bed, for an entire day and NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, works to relieve the viscous pain except a hot-water bottle, but ONLY as long as the bottle is resting on my poor, enlarged and hugely bloated belly.
The 'egg-burping' is a vile, nonstop violation to my system and my sanity; the rotten egg taste of sulfur is beyond nauseating. Food never affects this condition, or brings it about. It just happens.... but always after tremendous stress. That's the connection. I do not handle stress well at all. I used to think the attacks were unpredictable occurrences. Then I realized that they would occur hours, or within days, after an especially trying event or period in my life. I seem to hold on; 'stomach it all', and then fall apart exhausted when it's over, or when my body just can't take it anymore.
I am a 34 year old woman with gallbladder and all other parts intact and functioning, who has been suffering from this, on and off, for over ten years now, though it is becoming more frequent as life becomes more involved. When I get an attack, the egg-burping starts first, with, or followed immediately by, the massive bloating and then the upper stomach pain starts. The abdominal cramping and an urgent feeling of a need to **** comes next. This is unbearable because I am usually constipated, which makes the back pain that accompanies these attacks, much, much worse. I am eventually doubled over in pain and unable to walk; just lying in bed moaning and praying I find a comfortable position for a while. It is literally disabling.
If I am fortunate enough to pass gas, there is mild and momentary relief as the gas makes it's way outof my body, but only then. No pain medicines, over-the-counter gas/acid reducers or laxatives relieve the pressure at all. I have tried nearly EVERYTHING and usually throw it all up anyway. Even an enema does nothing. I would LOVE to go to the hospital when I get like this just to be given morphine intravenously, or something to knock me out until it all passes. I just want the poison to come out...... out of my *** or my mouth, or both...I don't care which, I just want it OUT!
I often throw up slick yellow bile, and in November, during my last attack, blood came out, too! My upper belly swelled, of course, and I was in agonizing pain for about 18 hours. It passed, as usual, so I did not alert my doctor, even though the blood was NOT usual at all. That had never happened before.
I did tell my doc about the incident in January of this year, while visiting him to go over the results of routine bloodwork I'd had done. He was quite concerned about the blood, as one would expect a good doctor to be. My tests had showed low iron, as well as poor iron saturation, (binding capacity was fine), and low thyroid. It was not anemia, but an inability to absorb the iron, suggesting possible internal blood loss. My physician wondered if I was suffering from a bleeding ulcer. Since my urine test had been normal, he gave me a packet of Hemawipes. I took three consecutive (daily) stool samples and all tested normal. No blood in stool.
I returned for a follow-up (fasting) blood test a little over a month later which indicated that my thyroid was now within healthy, functioning range due to taking Levoxyl, which my doctor had started me on at the previous visit. Good. However, my iron level and saturation percentage were even lower than before! They had decreased dramatically (and rapidly).
The normal range for iron in blood is 25-170 mcg/DL. Mine had gone from 49 in late January, to 36 as of early March. Still within normal range, but at the low end and dropping.
The normal range for percentage of iron saturation is 12-57.
Mine had gone from 13 to 11 .
In late January my urea nitrogen (BUN) was 11. Between 7-25 mg/DL is normal so it was not noted. By early March it had gone down to 6.
Within two months, my iron level dropped 30%, and my iron saturation dropped by more than 15%, so SOMETHING is going on somewhere. My doctor wanted me to see a gastro-intestinologist and get 'scoped', but I do not have medical coverage or the money to pay for these tests, so he kindly put me on Aciphex for three weeks...
As it happened, that very day, a 'Hard-boiled Egg-Yolk Attack' just happened to be coming on during my visit. What a 'blessing'. The Doc pushed and pressed on my body and told me that my intestines were freaking out! I agreed and assured him that within hours I would be bedridden, unable to walk, and peuking up stomach acid, and there was nothing that would stop it. It was destined.
He immediately put me on 20mg of ACIPHEX (rabeprazole sodium) and had me take a dose then and there. I shook my head and said: "It's not gonna work! Nothing stops this!" But I'll be damned if it didn't work perfectly! The attack subsided and I took that stuff religiously and daily for three weeks and I have been fine since.....until tonight.
The last three weeks have been hell; a nonstop series of hard and unrelenting stresses (a cancer scare with Mom for one thing, a heart condition with dad, among other 'biggies') and I actually requested tranquilizers to help me handle it all. Well, maybe they made my head calmer and clearer, but my body wasn't fooled one bit! I awoke this evening from a much needed nap with another bout of this dastardly Hard-Boiled Egg-Yolk-Attack. Of course, it is now two in the morning, as is always the case. These attacks never happen during the day and/or when my doctor is available. They happen on weekends, or Wednesdays after doctor's hours, or late at night on Tuesdays! LOL! They ALWAYS comes on at night and then ruin the entire next day!
So here I am, bent over the keyboard, holding my gut, burping up the vile, offensive taste of sulfur, and surfing the net for some relief. Suddenly; a miracle..... I am astounded and grateful to find this site. It's like an oasis in the middle of a vast gastrointestinal disorder desert! I am now devouring the information on it, hoping for some answers, and hoping maybe even to help someone as well!
So far, Aciphex was the best thing I've found for these attacks. It is a prescription drug and well worth a try if nothing else has worked for you thus far. Here's a link to some info on it: Aciphex, A New Proton Pump Inhibitor
I just took my "break glass in case of emergency" dose of Aciphex; immediately upon tasting the horrid, rancid sulfuric acid. The magic pill came out of a sample bottle my good Doc compassionately supplied me with, just in case an attack happens at odd hours. So far, nothing, but it's early yet. We'll see.
In the meantime, I will peruse this site and go back and forth to the bathroom in hopes than something will expel itself. I have been trying to poop with no success. The pain is increasing and I dread the next 15 or so hours. I'll be up all night, waterbottle in one hand, TV remote in the other --if I can even bear to watch television. My tomorrow is ruined. I was to attend and work a lovely and exciting art & craft fair in Hoboken and was really looking forward to it. Now I get to enjoy the sickening taste of rotten eggs, over and over again...
Again, I have no medical insurance and am already thousands of dollars in debt from this nasty condition, but money means nothing when you're miserable and in pain, so I will take whatever tests are required of me. Stick a tube up my ***, or down my throat. I don't care. Just get this to STOP! This is seriously the worst pain I have ever experienced. Excruciating!
One more thing..... Oddly, the more I go through this (and as I said, I have been having these attacks on and off for over ten years), the more I am beginning to think/realize/ suspect that good old-fashioned living is the way to go. Eat pure food, drink pure water, breathe pure air, etc. It is ridiculous to suffer this way and there MUST be a cure! What doctors are giving us, and doing to us, as Band-Aids aren't working...
Any suggestions or commiserations are appreciated.
My e-mail is ***@****
Thanks!
JODY
OH MAN!!!
What a 'relief' it is to find others suffering from this horrible 'mystery ailment'.
I call my bouts: "The Hard-boiled Egg-Yolk Attacks". They are absolutely HORRIBLE!!! I bloat so badly that I cannot even wear clothes because the pressure of the weight of any fabric on my belly is too much to bear. I am in pain, and in bed, for an entire day and NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, works to relieve the viscous pain except a hot-water bottle, but ONLY as long as the bottle is resting on my poor, enlarged and hugely bloated belly.
The 'egg-burping' is a vile, nonstop violation to my system and my sanity; the rotten egg taste of sulfur is beyond nauseating. Food never affects this condition, or brings it about. It just happens.... but always after tremendous stress. That's the connection. I do not handle stress well at all. I used to think the attacks were unpredictable occurrences. Then I realized that they would occur hours, or within days, after an especially trying event or period in my life. I seem to hold on; 'stomach it all', and then fall apart exhausted when it's over, or when my body just can't take it anymore.
I am a 34 year old woman with gallbladder and all other parts intact and functioning, who has been suffering from this, on and off, for over ten years now, though it is becoming more frequent as life becomes more involved. When I get an attack, the egg-burping starts first, with, or followed immediately by, the massive bloating and then the upper stomach pain starts. The abdominal cramping and an urgent feeling of a need to **** comes next. This is unbearable because I am usually constipated, which makes the back pain that accompanies these attacks, much, much worse. I am eventually doubled over in pain and unable to walk; just lying in bed moaning and praying I find a comfortable position for a while. It is literally disabling.
If I am fortunate enough to pass gas, there is mild and momentary relief as the gas makes it's way outof my body, but only then. No pain medicines, over-the-counter gas/acid reducers or laxatives relieve the pressure at all. I have tried nearly EVERYTHING and usually throw it all up anyway. Even an enema does nothing. I would LOVE to go to the hospital when I get like this just to be given morphine intravenously, or something to knock me out until it all passes. I just want the poison to come out...... out of my *** or my mouth, or both...I don't care which, I just want it OUT!
I often throw up slick yellow bile, and in November, during my last attack, blood came out, too! My upper belly swelled, of course, and I was in agonizing pain for about 18 hours. It passed, as usual, so I did not alert my doctor, even though the blood was NOT usual at all. That had never happened before.
I did tell my doc about the incident in January of this year, while visiting him to go over the results of routine bloodwork I'd had done. He was quite concerned about the blood, as one would expect a good doctor to be. My tests had showed low iron, as well as poor iron saturation, (binding capacity was fine), and low thyroid. It was not anemia, but an inability to absorb the iron, suggesting possible internal blood loss. My physician wondered if I was suffering from a bleeding ulcer. Since my urine test had been normal, he gave me a packet of Hemawipes. I took three consecutive (daily) stool samples and all tested normal. No blood in stool.
I returned for a follow-up (fasting) blood test a little over a month later which indicated that my thyroid was now within healthy, functioning range due to taking Levoxyl, which my doctor had started me on at the previous visit. Good. However, my iron level and saturation percentage were even lower than before! They had decreased dramatically (and rapidly).
The normal range for iron in blood is 25-170 mcg/DL. Mine had gone from 49 in late January, to 36 as of early March. Still within normal range, but at the low end and dropping.
The normal range for percentage of iron saturation is 12-57.
Mine had gone from 13 to 11 .
In late January my urea nitrogen (BUN) was 11. Between 7-25 mg/DL is normal so it was not noted. By early March it had gone down to 6.
Within two months, my iron level dropped 30%, and my iron saturation dropped by more than 15%, so SOMETHING is going on somewhere. My doctor wanted me to see a gastro-intestinologist and get 'scoped', but I do not have medical coverage or the money to pay for these tests, so he kindly put me on Aciphex for three weeks...
As it happened, that very day, a 'Hard-boiled Egg-Yolk Attack' just happened to be coming on during my visit. What a 'blessing'. The Doc pushed and pressed on my body and told me that my intestines were freaking out! I agreed and assured him that within hours I would be bedridden, unable to walk, and peuking up stomach acid, and there was nothing that would stop it. It was destined.
He immediately put me on 20mg of ACIPHEX (rabeprazole sodium) and had me take a dose then and there. I shook my head and said: "It's not gonna work! Nothing stops this!" But I'll be damned if it didn't work perfectly! The attack subsided and I took that stuff religiously and daily for three weeks and I have been fine since.....until tonight.
The last three weeks have been hell; a nonstop series of hard and unrelenting stresses (a cancer scare with Mom for one thing, a heart condition with dad, among other 'biggies') and I actually requested tranquilizers to help me handle it all. Well, maybe they made my head calmer and clearer, but my body wasn't fooled one bit! I awoke this evening from a much needed nap with another bout of this dastardly Hard-Boiled Egg-Yolk-Attack. Of course, it is now two in the morning, as is always the case. These attacks never happen during the day and/or when my doctor is available. They happen on weekends, or Wednesdays after doctor's hours, or late at night on Tuesdays! LOL! They ALWAYS comes on at night and then ruin the entire next day!
So here I am, bent over the keyboard, holding my gut, burping up the vile, offensive taste of sulfur, and surfing the net for some relief. Suddenly; a miracle..... I am astounded and grateful to find this site. It's like an oasis in the middle of a vast gastrointestinal disorder desert! I am now devouring the information on it, hoping for some answers, and hoping maybe even to help someone as well!
So far, Aciphex was the best thing I've found for these attacks. It is a prescription drug and well worth a try if nothing else has worked for you thus far. Here's a link to some info on it: Aciphex, A New Proton Pump Inhibitor
I just took my "break glass in case of emergency" dose of Aciphex; immediately upon tasting the horrid, rancid sulfuric acid. The magic pill came out of a sample bottle my good Doc compassionately supplied me with, just in case an attack happens at odd hours. So far, nothing, but it's early yet. We'll see.
In the meantime, I will peruse this site and go back and forth to the bathroom in hopes than something will expel itself. I have been trying to poop with no success. The pain is increasing and I dread the next 15 or so hours. I'll be up all night, waterbottle in one hand, TV remote in the other --if I can even bear to watch television. My tomorrow is ruined. I was to attend and work a lovely and exciting art & craft fair in Hoboken and was really looking forward to it. Now I get to enjoy the sickening taste of rotten eggs, over and over again...
Again, I have no medical insurance and am already thousands of dollars in debt from this nasty condition, but money means nothing when you're miserable and in pain, so I will take whatever tests are required of me. Stick a tube up my ***, or down my throat. I don't care. Just get this to STOP! This is seriously the worst pain I have ever experienced. Excruciating!
One more thing..... Oddly, the more I go through this (and as I said, I have been having these attacks on and off for over ten years), the more I am beginning to think/realize/ suspect that good old-fashioned living is the way to go. Eat pure food, drink pure water, breathe pure air, etc. It is ridiculous to suffer this way and there MUST be a cure! What doctors are giving us, and doing to us, as Band-Aids aren't working...
Any suggestions or commiserations are appreciated.
My e-mail is ***@****
Thanks!
JODY
What a 'relief' it is to find others suffering from this horrible 'mystery ailment'.
I call my bouts: "The Hard-boiled Egg-Yolk Attacks". They are absolutely HORRIBLE!!! I bloat so badly that I cannot even wear clothes because the pressure of the weight of any fabric on my belly is too much to bear. I am in pain, and in bed, for an entire day and NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, works to relieve the viscous pain except a hot-water bottle, but ONLY as long as the bottle is resting on my poor, enlarged and hugely bloated belly.
The 'egg-burping' is a vile, nonstop violation to my system and my sanity; the rotten egg taste of sulfur is beyond nauseating. Food never affects this condition, or brings it about. It just happens.... but always after tremendous stress. That's the connection. I do not handle stress well at all. I used to think the attacks were unpredictable occurrences. Then I realized that they would occur hours, or within days, after an especially trying event or period in my life. I seem to hold on; 'stomach it all', and then fall apart exhausted when it's over, or when my body just can't take it anymore.
I am a 34 year old woman with gallbladder and all other parts intact and functioning, who has been suffering from this, on and off, for over ten years now, though it is becoming more frequent as life becomes more involved. When I get an attack, the egg-burping starts first, with, or followed immediately by, the massive bloating and then the upper stomach pain starts. The abdominal cramping and an urgent feeling of a need to **** comes next. This is unbearable because I am usually constipated, which makes the back pain that accompanies these attacks, much, much worse. I am eventually doubled over in pain and unable to walk; just lying in bed moaning and praying I find a comfortable position for a while. It is literally disabling.
If I am fortunate enough to pass gas, there is mild and momentary relief as the gas makes it's way outof my body, but only then. No pain medicines, over-the-counter gas/acid reducers or laxatives relieve the pressure at all. I have tried nearly EVERYTHING and usually throw it all up anyway. Even an enema does nothing. I would LOVE to go to the hospital when I get like this just to be given morphine intravenously, or something to knock me out until it all passes. I just want the poison to come out...... out of my *** or my mouth, or both...I don't care which, I just want it OUT!
I often throw up slick yellow bile, and in November, during my last attack, blood came out, too! My upper belly swelled, of course, and I was in agonizing pain for about 18 hours. It passed, as usual, so I did not alert my doctor, even though the blood was NOT usual at all. That had never happened before.
I did tell my doc about the incident in January of this year, while visiting him to go over the results of routine bloodwork I'd had done. He was quite concerned about the blood, as one would expect a good doctor to be. My tests had showed low iron, as well as poor iron saturation, (binding capacity was fine), and low thyroid. It was not anemia, but an inability to absorb the iron, suggesting possible internal blood loss. My physician wondered if I was suffering from a bleeding ulcer. Since my urine test had been normal, he gave me a packet of Hemawipes. I took three consecutive (daily) stool samples and all tested normal. No blood in stool.
I returned for a follow-up (fasting) blood test a little over a month later which indicated that my thyroid was now within healthy, functioning range due to taking Levoxyl, which my doctor had started me on at the previous visit. Good. However, my iron level and saturation percentage were even lower than before! They had decreased dramatically (and rapidly).
The normal range for iron in blood is 25-170 mcg/DL. Mine had gone from 49 in late January, to 36 as of early March. Still within normal range, but at the low end and dropping.
The normal range for percentage of iron saturation is 12-57.
Mine had gone from 13 to 11 .
In late January my urea nitrogen (BUN) was 11. Between 7-25 mg/DL is normal so it was not noted. By early March it had gone down to 6.
Within two months, my iron level dropped 30%, and my iron saturation dropped by more than 15%, so SOMETHING is going on somewhere. My doctor wanted me to see a gastro-intestinologist and get 'scoped', but I do not have medical coverage or the money to pay for these tests, so he kindly put me on Aciphex for three weeks...
As it happened, that very day, a 'Hard-boiled Egg-Yolk Attack' just happened to be coming on during my visit. What a 'blessing'. The Doc pushed and pressed on my body and told me that my intestines were freaking out! I agreed and assured him that within hours I would be bedridden, unable to walk, and peuking up stomach acid, and there was nothing that would stop it. It was destined.
He immediately put me on 20mg of ACIPHEX (rabeprazole sodium) and had me take a dose then and there. I shook my head and said: "It's not gonna work! Nothing stops this!" But I'll be damned if it didn't work perfectly! The attack subsided and I took that stuff religiously and daily for three weeks and I have been fine since.....until tonight.
The last three weeks have been hell; a nonstop series of hard and unrelenting stresses (a cancer scare with Mom for one thing, a heart condition with dad, among other 'biggies') and I actually requested tranquilizers to help me handle it all. Well, maybe they made my head calmer and clearer, but my body wasn't fooled one bit! I awoke this evening from a much needed nap with another bout of this dastardly Hard-Boiled Egg-Yolk-Attack. Of course, it is now two in the morning, as is always the case. These attacks never happen during the day and/or when my doctor is available. They happen on weekends, or Wednesdays after doctor's hours, or late at night on Tuesdays! LOL! They ALWAYS comes on at night and then ruin the entire next day!
So here I am, bent over the keyboard, holding my gut, burping up the vile, offensive taste of sulfur, and surfing the net for some relief. Suddenly; a miracle..... I am astounded and grateful to find this site. It's like an oasis in the middle of a vast gastrointestinal disorder desert! I am now devouring the information on it, hoping for some answers, and hoping maybe even to help someone as well!
So far, Aciphex was the best thing I've found for these attacks. It is a prescription drug and well worth a try if nothing else has worked for you thus far. Here's a link to some info on it: Aciphex, A New Proton Pump Inhibitor
I just took my "break glass in case of emergency" dose of Aciphex; immediately upon tasting the horrid, rancid sulfuric acid. The magic pill came out of a sample bottle my good Doc compassionately supplied me with, just in case an attack happens at odd hours. So far, nothing, but it's early yet. We'll see.
In the meantime, I will peruse this site and go back and forth to the bathroom in hopes than something will expel itself. I have been trying to poop with no success. The pain is increasing and I dread the next 15 or so hours. I'll be up all night, waterbottle in one hand, TV remote in the other --if I can even bear to watch television. My tomorrow is ruined. I was to attend and work a lovely and exciting art & craft fair in Hoboken and was really looking forward to it. Now I get to enjoy the sickening taste of rotten eggs, over and over again...
Again, I have no medical insurance and am already thousands of dollars in debt from this nasty condition, but money means nothing when you're miserable and in pain, so I will take whatever tests are required of me. Stick a tube up my ***, or down my throat. I don't care. Just get this to STOP! This is seriously the worst pain I have ever experienced. Excruciating!
One more thing..... Oddly, the more I go through this (and as I said, I have been having these attacks on and off for over ten years), the more I am beginning to think/realize/ suspect that good old-fashioned living is the way to go. Eat pure food, drink pure water, breathe pure air, etc. It is ridiculous to suffer this way and there MUST be a cure! What doctors are giving us, and doing to us, as Band-Aids aren't working...
Any suggestions or commiserations are appreciated.
My e-mail is ***@****
Thanks!
JODY
Dear Nesea2,
From time to time everyone will have the problem of abdominal discomfort with foul tasing burping. Because of the intermittent nature of the symptom, I have attributed the problem to a viral problem ( although I admit that there is no evidence to support this conclusion). The possibility that the problem is the result of food that was recently eaten must also be considered. Esophageal reflux is another possibility. I doubt that the symptoms are related to your pylorus or lactose intolerance.
From time to time everyone will have the problem of abdominal discomfort with foul tasing burping. Because of the intermittent nature of the symptom, I have attributed the problem to a viral problem ( although I admit that there is no evidence to support this conclusion). The possibility that the problem is the result of food that was recently eaten must also be considered. Esophageal reflux is another possibility. I doubt that the symptoms are related to your pylorus or lactose intolerance.
A related discussion, foul smelling sulfur purps was started.
A related discussion, rotten egg / sulfuric burps! was started.
To ALL, Jody and Kim,
Everyone,
My 11-year-old child has been getting these eggy burps since she was an infant. She has a complicated medical history. She has had numerous intestinal surgeries, a kidney transplant (at age 1), hernia surgery, and a liver transplant (at age 9). The medication she takes has left her stomach lining prone to ulcers. And she has always had problems with her C02 and Acidity level.
I have always suspected that stress, food, medicine and abdominal problems have created this "eggy burp" side effect. The numbers of her episodes have increased since she began eating normally. My child tries to actively stay away from eggs. She claimed that she was allergic to them. (I thought the hospital eggs had just traumatized her.) Last Friday, it was confirmed that she is highly allergic to eggs, especially the whites. In the past 2 years these horrible episodes were ALWAYS followed by SEVERE itching and hives. I always suspected that if your body can
Everyone,
My 11-year-old child has been getting these eggy burps since she was an infant. She has a complicated medical history. She has had numerous intestinal surgeries, a kidney transplant (at age 1), hernia surgery, and a liver transplant (at age 9). The medication she takes has left her stomach lining prone to ulcers. And she has always had problems with her C02 and Acidity level.
I have always suspected that stress, food, medicine and abdominal problems have created this "eggy burp" side effect. The numbers of her episodes have increased since she began eating normally. My child tries to actively stay away from eggs. She claimed that she was allergic to them. (I thought the hospital eggs had just traumatized her.) Last Friday, it was confirmed that she is highly allergic to eggs, especially the whites. In the past 2 years these horrible episodes were ALWAYS followed by SEVERE itching and hives. I always suspected that if your body can
Have any of you tried Alka-Selzer or Bromo-selzer? I know this sounds simplistic...but I've had these same symptoms along with debilitating projectile vomiting. (It's HORRIBLE) Anyway...first rotton eggy burp I have. I hit the Alka-Selzer and within a couple of hours...I feel much better.
I hope this helps. It's a shame to replace an engine when all you needed was a new spark plug. ;-)
I hope this helps. It's a shame to replace an engine when all you needed was a new spark plug. ;-)
My husband has had the "egg burps" mentioned by everyone here for many years. As someone else said, it also seems as if his stomach has "shut down" as a digestive organ. Instead, it seems to just secrete acid, which in turn makes vomit, burp, and have horrible smelling diarrhea. This is my first time here, but as I read, nobody seems to really have an answer as to the cause of this condition. Does anyone know? My husband is always worried
about cancer of some kind. Has anyone been found to have stomach cancer, as a reason for these symptoms? He can only eat plain meat that is not greasy, and mashed potatoes with nothing on them. Is there a remedy?
about cancer of some kind. Has anyone been found to have stomach cancer, as a reason for these symptoms? He can only eat plain meat that is not greasy, and mashed potatoes with nothing on them. Is there a remedy?
I, also, have had eggy-bad tasting and smelling burps. Followed by severe vomiting. Until all of the 'eggy' stuff is all out of my stomach. I will throw up for about 3 to 4 hours -- 7 to 10 times -- I, also, have diareha until this whole bout is gone. I do not eat because I am so queasy, usually until the next day. I am usually bedridden. I start out by drinking warm chicken broth. No milk products for a couple of days following. Why is my body getting rid of this 'extra sulphur'? Is it caused by my gallbladder? Do I need to clense my gallbladder? I will drink natural applejuice when I am feeling better..I have a 'concocktion' to use with this too. Is it from an ulcer? What causes the smell? Someone has mentioned something about their liver...clense the liver? I will start using Nutri Biotic drops for this. I have had this several times now and I do not want to go through it again. I am glad to see that other people have had the same ( I'm not really GLAD )thing. I do try to take ginger root pills when I feel I am all done vomiting...it settles my stomach. I then take alot of acidophilus pills to get some good bacteria back in there. If any one can answer any of my questions or has any information please feel free to type me @ rex.***@**** Thank you!!!!
I don't think there is a doctor out there that knows what goes on with your body after gall bladder surgery. Look at all the people with the same symptons and no answers. I am at my doctors office all the time trying to find an answer. All test show nothing is wrong. Sure nothing is wrong , that is why I am there. I am single and since my surgery in April of 1998, my life has change for the worse. I can't even date any more. The stomach pain , the burps, the diarhea, all make for a lovely date. I have decided I will spend the rest of my life by myself, unless some brillant doctor can come up with an answer to the question "Why did gall bladder surgery ruin my life?" I look at the doctors in all the forums I have went to and they all say the same thing .....NOTHING ! They won't admit they don't know what the problem is or what to do for it. I am sick of doctors and I am sick of test. If nothing is wrong, then why is my life ruined from gall bladder surgery? And if it not from the surgery , why are we all experiencing the same thing? And then they say it is from something else...please . I am sick of my medicine cabinet looking like my grandmothers.
My family had a stomach bug about 3 weeks ago and me and my husband also had those eggy burps, they were awful! Last night, I started having the eggy burps again but with no other symptoms other than that. I felt fine everywhere except for the horrid tasting and smelling burps. I was getting really concerned about it and have fretted about it all night wondering what is wrong with me since I have never had gastric problems in my life, not even heartburn. If anyone would care to email me about this, I would really appreciate it it. My email address is [email protected]
Hi Nesea:
I have the same problem with those foul, egg tasting and smelling belches. I don't notice cramping with it, but I do have a low grade of nausea and bloating.
I currently am taking Zantac 75 mgs, once a day at bedtime for GERD. It sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I recently switched doctors and am awaiting an appointment until my records are trasnfered.
I've been treated on and off for GERD for the past few years with either Zantac or Prilosec. I also recently discovered that my liver functions are elevated. We think the cause is that I've tried a number of different anti-depressant medications during the last four or five years. I don't drink, and a viral profile came back negative for hepatitis.
I somehow wonder if all these things are connected, but I just don't know enough about it.
I haven't had an upper GI or any ultrasounds, so I guess that is the next step. Meantime, I've read about helicobacter bacteria and it causing similar symptoms.
Anyway, just thought I would let you know that I have similar symtpoms re: that awful belching (probably between 5-10 a month). If you find anything out about your situation, please post here as I would be interested in reading.
Thanks, and good luck.
Brian (aka writer)
I have the same problem with those foul, egg tasting and smelling belches. I don't notice cramping with it, but I do have a low grade of nausea and bloating.
I currently am taking Zantac 75 mgs, once a day at bedtime for GERD. It sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I recently switched doctors and am awaiting an appointment until my records are trasnfered.
I've been treated on and off for GERD for the past few years with either Zantac or Prilosec. I also recently discovered that my liver functions are elevated. We think the cause is that I've tried a number of different anti-depressant medications during the last four or five years. I don't drink, and a viral profile came back negative for hepatitis.
I somehow wonder if all these things are connected, but I just don't know enough about it.
I haven't had an upper GI or any ultrasounds, so I guess that is the next step. Meantime, I've read about helicobacter bacteria and it causing similar symptoms.
Anyway, just thought I would let you know that I have similar symtpoms re: that awful belching (probably between 5-10 a month). If you find anything out about your situation, please post here as I would be interested in reading.
Thanks, and good luck.
Brian (aka writer)
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT LOOKING IN ANOTHER DIRECTION?
THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL FEMALES IN MY FAMILY (FEMALES ONLY),THAT HAVE HAD THOSE NASTY SMELLING BURBS. GOOD LUCK FINDING OUT SOMETHING.
THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL FEMALES IN MY FAMILY (FEMALES ONLY),THAT HAVE HAD THOSE NASTY SMELLING BURBS. GOOD LUCK FINDING OUT SOMETHING.
A related discussion, Nasty, foul, egg-smelling burp Condition... was started.
Hello everyone x. Thank you all for making me see I'm not alone with the eggy burps! last year I had a liver transplant and when you have one of these they always put the new liver in minus the gall bladder. At least two of you have had gall bladder issues or even operations which is why I'm saying hi now. I will contact my doctors and try to get an answer for us all. If they don't know right away they won't get back to me until they dofind out something x x.
A related discussion, I agree with Jody was started.
I'm not a docter but I do have the Sam semptiomes and this is what I have to offer in way of help. If you in agamising pain go to the ER and get a full work up. If its just the burps drink mint tea or lots of water don't eat before you go to. Sleep and if you need to vomit do so but after drink water. It could be a lot of things that code this.a few that I have found are infection. Witch I went through. Food poisaning. Or something simaler. And in what I think is most cases. Undigested food in your stoumic. If I recall some Heath and sciences when your body is at rest I'd digests slower in oder to save energy? Sorry guessing there. But anyway I woulsdent use rumba or antacids it may just be undigesed food. So water or mint tea and don't sleep after eating any big meals.
I'm not a docter but I do have the Sam semptiomes and this is what I have to offer in way of help. If you in agamising pain go to the ER and get a full work up. If its just the burps drink mint tea or lots of water don't eat before you go to. Sleep and if you need to vomit do so but after drink water. It could be a lot of things that code this.a few that I have found are infection. Witch I went through. Food poisaning. Or something simaler. And in what I think is most cases. Undigested food in your stoumic. If I recall some Heath and sciences when your body is at rest I'd digests slower in oder to save energy? Sorry guessing there. But anyway I woulsdent use rumba or antacids it may just be undigesed food. So water or mint tea and don't sleep after eating any big meals.
A related discussion, why the nasty burbs and pain? was started.
Sorry to keep posting but there just has to be an answer! On another forum, someone suggested cillantro as the problem. As this is found in most salsa (what I think either makes or breaks a salsa) and when I was first pregnant, first found my taste for salsa, could be it. When I was pregnant (and the first time this ever happened to me) I craved salsa and milk. I ate Mexican almost every day and drank a gallon of milk EVERY day. I now cook with fresh cilantro as it is addictive to me. I will deffinately cut out cillantro. When I say I eat Mexican, I usually do just eat a lot of chips and salsa and just a few bites of my meal.
Just should be have to, butler should be burps. My phone auto corrects, sorry.
I also want to state the nausea has to come from the smell/taste that we just endure for so long. I don't normally have a lot of butler but when this is going on, they are almost constant it seems. (again probally bc of the cokes I drink) Another thing. I only have either vomiting or diarrhea the day after the burps and this is always the end of that bout. The diarrhea looks like it is boiling or something with foam. I have no idea the cause, but do know I would do anything to stop them!
You are reading content posted in the Digestive Disorders / Gastroenterology Forum
Learn which OTC medications can help relieve your digestive troubles.
Is a gluten-free diet right for you?
Discover common causes of and remedies for heartburn.
This common yet mysterious bowel condition plagues millions of Americans
Don't get burned again. Banish nighttime heartburn with these quick tips
Get answers to your top questions about this pervasive digestive problem
