Nausea, undigested food, pancreas.

[Beabun]

Could a problem with the pancreas cause discomfort behind the right ribs and the sensation of a ball behind the ribs.  There is also discomfort at the tip of the sternum and the area of the left ribs as well, not constant though, not always associated with food.  Recent EGD was normal except for mild inflammation.  Symptom is nausea.  I know that lots of people cannot digest certain foods, such as peas, beans, etc.  But as we get older, is it common for more foods to not be digested?  I've always never digested corn which I know is quite common, however within the past few years, peas and beans have started, and now within the past month, lettuce is starting to not digest.  Could this indicate a problem?  Thank you.

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Typically, pancreatic pain presents with left sided pain.  Pain on the right side can be indicative of liver, gallbladder disease or diseases of the upper digestive tract - such as GERD, an ulcer, or inflammation of the upper digestive tract.

I am not aware of age solely being a factor to disrupt digestion.  If the symptoms continue, you can consider various malabsorption syndromes, as well as irritable bowel disease.  A colonoscopy can be considered as an initial evaluation.

Followup with your personal physician is essential.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Kevin, M.D.
http://www.straightfromthedoc.com

[muckman_1999]

Please have your doctor check you for Celiac disease, or gluten intolerance.  I have almost the exact same symtpoms as you for the past 6 months, and I just tested postive for Celiac.  Solution for this is a life long gluten free diet.  It is worth a shot to be tested.

[Beabun]

Thanks muckman.  I am going to ask my doc if having the EGD last week ruled out celiac and will ask for blood test for it.  From what I've read about it so far, it fits how I feel.  I want to ask about passing the undigested food but just don't know if I can.

[nickodemus]

listen dont waste your time like i did for 6 years i sufferd with abdominal pain,seeing doctor after doctor and each damn doctor gave me a different diagnoses and the funny thing is none of them are right because nothing they gave me in the way of medicines helped me .the only relif i got was from the pain killers which i dont want to take for the rest of my life.what the hell are they teaching these jerks in med school ,first of all every doctor i have seen is rude,arrogant,assholes,none of them are able to help me,let me tell you if you have something wrong with you and it is not something that shows up in the tests they give you,make out your will or try to stock up on pain meds cause your screwd. doctors are first of all over paid for what they do any body can look up in a book and tell you oh yeah for these types of symptoms try this or if that doesnt work we have plenty more meds for you to try and maybe sooner or later we will find a drug that helps.or the problem may just go away on its own,people we have to do something about the medical field racket going on,over paid over rated thats what they are and we the people are stupid enough to buy the whole rip off that the medical field feeds us how many of these quakes are making big bucks and treating people like ****,i am sure there are plenty of people who will read this that will understand what i am saying but for those that are healthy,watch it .

[Sparrows]

I know this might be a shot in the dark, but a number of years back, most of what I ate passed undigested -lettuce, broccoli, peas, you name it - ANY fruit or vegetable.  It looked like a freshly made salad in the toilet bowl.  After having all the "normal" tests done (colonoscopy, blood tests, etc), my doctor finally did a stool test for clostridum difficile, which came out positive.  I did have this for quite a long time before it was finally diagnosed.  They just never really thought of doing the test.

C. difficile is a spore forming bacteria which can be part of the normal intestinal flora.  C. difficile is confirmed by the presence of a toxin in a stool specimen.

I found the following symptoms listed on the internet (NONE OF WHICH I HAD, BTW, the main symptom I had was salad in the toilet bowl - I did NOT have "diarrhea" - just undigested food - and undigested food is not even listed as a symptom):

General Symptoms included:

watery diarrhea (at least three bowel movements per day for two or more days)
fever
loss of appetite
nausea
abdominal pain/tenderness

I did not have pain, loss of appetite, or fever.  I did feel slightly nauseated sometimes.  I did not have any of the common reasons for which a person might contract this bacteria either:

How do people get C. difficile disease?  (THIS WAS NOT TRUE IN MY CASE)

"People in good health usually don’t get C. difficile disease. People who have other illnesses or conditions requiring prolonged use of ANTIBIOTICS and the elderly are at greater risk of acquiring this disease. The bacteria are found in the feces. People can become infected if they touch items or surfaces that are contaminated with feces and then touch their mouth or mucous membranes. Healthcare workers can spread the bacteria to other patients or contaminate surfaces through hand contact."

I know that diagnosing symptoms that have plagued us for a long time can be really frustrating.  I also know that my experience may not be related to your problem either - but you never know.  Good luck to you.

[kellicuddle]

I am twenty eight weeks pregnant. My daughter gave me a Stomach Virus with vomited and Diarrhea. Then it got better for a day I started eating again and Sour stomach started, which lead to much vomiting and Diarrhea. I did research and found out that excess stomach acid can cause this so I ask my OB/GYN  if I could take Zantac. She said yes. It got somewhat better, but was still having problems. When I went for my appointment yesterday she had me try Protonix. I had acid reflux all night and vomited 3 times to day. To date I have lost around 11 lbs. I need to get better, but I don't feel like I can eat a real meal. Please help!

[KFI]

I too was prescribed protonix for stomach nausea.  It took about 3 days for it to really make a difference (my doctor told me it would).  It has helped with some of the symptoms but not eliminated my problem.  I suggest you keep taking it for a few days and see if you can eat something.

[jnb222]

A related discussion, Should I see a doctor? was started.

[austen71]

A related discussion, Salad was started.

[annwal]

A related discussion, pain  in tummy pancreas was started.