what can it be?

[karm]

When I was pregnant with my last child five years ago, I began to develope stomach problems. I thought it was heartburn, but now I am not so sure. When it started, I was moving my bowels once a month, I figured that is what started it. I have been to five different hospitals,9 different tests, and every heartburn medication known to man. My symptoms are a gnawing pain in my upper left side, sore joints, a bad taste in my mouth, I have a hard time swallowing,loss of appetite, it wakes me up in the night, so I get no sleep, and the current doctor I am seeing says that I have spasms. The spasms are my worst problem, I can feel it when I move, it bothers me so much,that I have to push on my stomach to try and bring it out from one side, and it just moves to the other side. I push so much that I have a huge bruise on the upper left side of my stomach. I am on levsin right now, and it does not seem to be helping. I was wondering if it could be my intestines, because it is my upper left side,and not my right. My doctor did say that there is the start of kidney stones in my gallbladder. Could that cause the spasms? Could problems with my intestines cause the spasms? What are spasms, because the problem I am having is a lot of noise, sort of sounds like water, and when I push the spot that bothers me, it moves to the other side. Is that spasms, or something else. It's been five years , and it is effecting my life tremendously,can you help me try and figure out what it could be?
KARM.

[reb]

I just wanted to say that I had pain in my upper left hand side, which my doctor concluded was due to my intestines (this diagnosis was due to exclusion of other things rather than through showing something eg through an endoscopy). So yes, it is possible that intestinal problems san cause pain in the upper left hand side, but I would also make sure your doctor makes sure it isn't anything else. Also, I have read that hormonal changes can cause a disruption to gi ecology and perhaps that could cause you pain but I don't know if it would relate to your other symptoms. Maybe you can check out how hormonal changes through pregnancy can affect you. All the best.

[Lynn28]

Have you been seeing a gastroenterologist and have you had the "Standard" tests? (E.g) Endoscopy to check for Gastritis, esophagitis, ulcers, reflux, H-Pylori bacteria, or GERD? Upper and lower GI's, PH testing to rule out GERD, colonoscopy? Your upper left side is your stomach. The stomach lies just under your left breast and towards the middle of your sternum. So the left upper pain is your stomach. The bad taste in your mouth sounds like myself, but I have gastritis which explains the bad taste. It's a gassy dry sort of taste. As far as the intestinal rumbling, a colonoscopy would definitely be advised to rule out certain causes. What testing HAVE you had done and again, are you seeing a gastroenterologist and have you had ALL of the above? I hope you're not just seeing a GP. Let me know, perhaps I could help. Take care ;)

-Jenifer