Comments on current medical status and how to cope

[milkbone1965]

9 weeks ago I hurt my heel, had been taken an old Naproxen prescription and Ibuprofen, but eventually went to the Dr  3 weeks later for a new Naproxen prescription. I have been on Naproxen many times for back pain with no side effects. A few days later, I started having episodes of feeling really bloated, with nausea. 2 episodes resolved, but the last one has continued now for 5 weeks.I saw my Dr and she was very sure I had a gastritis from the Naproxen, so I stopped it. She put me on Losec 20mg for 30 days, with no real improvement of my symptoms or I was just getting used to feeling this way. The symptoms then were lots of bloating/full feeling in upper abdomen, nausea, lots of burping, heartburn, feeling full quickly and not wanting to eat. Also, at times, crampy feeling throughtout abdomen, felt like bowels.In a month, I had lost about 16lbs, mostly from eating so little.
Saw my Dr again on June 9th. She said a simple gastritis should have been much improved by now and she was going to further investigate. She switched me to Nexium 40mg for another 30 days,.She still believes it is gastritis and maybe I just need more time to heal and the Losec wasn't enough. She also did bloodwork, Hemoglobin, H.pylori and antibodies for celiac disease because of the crampy feeling throughout my abdomen and gassy stools at times.
She assured me she does not think it is serious and still believes it is gastritis or perhaps an ulcer. She said she would not normally send a patient at this time to a GI specialist because she is not concerned, but because I am very anxious and that is not helping my stomach symptoms, she is sending me.
Currently, I'm still having some fullness after meals and in between, but I think the bloating has settled down,still burping, no heartburn for about a week and I am following a limited diet, kind of GERD, foods that don't cause gas,etc. I still get crampy feelings in my stomach or in my bowels? Sometimes a knotted feeling or just a really full feeling. I am able to eat a little bit more and actually am not grossed out by eating and sometimes even feel hungry.
I won't get the blood tests back until next week and don't have an appointment with the GI specialist as of today.

I welcome comments on what my Doctor has done and is doing. Does it sound appropriate? Would you suggest anyth
ing else? Has this happened to others and are you having similar symptoms?

Also, I am so stressed about many things right now including not knowing what is going on in my stomach. How do you cope waiting for test results, seeing a specialist, etc. Because of my heel pain(which I am seeing a podiatrist for) I can't even go for a walk to take my mind off of things.



Thank you so much for reading the long post,

Jodi

[milkbone1965]

Thanks !

I'll post an update when I hear about the results

Jodi

[boron]

Anyway, if it will be positive, you'll get antibiotics, if negative, you should have a breath test. Lab test should be more reliable than an "office" test. Your doc seems just OK, wait for results. Just a note: antibiotics can have some side effects, mostly nausea, so don't think that gastritis went worse after start of the treatment. You should finish the whole treatment course as it will be prescribed.

[milkbone1965]

Boron,

The lab did a h.pylori blood test last Monday and the lab tech told me because it needs to be done at the provincial lab, it takes at least 10 business days for results, so for me, that is next week. I did mention to her about the breath test, but she said she would start with the blood test first and go from there.

Jodi

[boron]

She did H. pylori test, and all other seems appropriate. But what was the result of H. pylori test? Did she take your blood and the test just there in her office? These tests are somewhat non-reliable, more reliable is a breath test for H. pylori, made by gastroenterologist.

While I started to raed your post, I was thinking this is the most typical H. pylori symptoms I'v heard of. It is true that H. pylori causes gastritis, acid secretion, and it seems this is hapening to you. H. pylori produces a lot of gas, from here probably bloating and burping.

I recommend you to have a breath test for H. pylori.