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Need help, abdominal pain, constipation :(
Hello all, hope your holidays are going as planned! Ive been experiencing bloating, constipation and abdominal cramp-like pain. Ive been to my general care doctor, and we suspected a hiatal hernia, got a CT scan yesterday w/wo contrast, all came back normal. Ive been to her so many times with the same pain, and i am an anxious person so not finding anything on the CT scan kinda didnt help my cause. Ive also been to a cardiolgist because ive been experiencing occasional chest pain, all tests look great so far but need further evaluation. Ive also had an ultrasound of the abdomen everything looks great on that end too. Chest xrays, EKG's you name it, Hep. tests, the doctors office just seems part of my life nowadays, im only 18, a freshman in college this year hoping to be a doctor. Im really healthy, im also getting horrible shortness of breath along with these symptoms. Doctors seem to not know whats wrong, havent excercised in months. This all started with a traumatizing life event a few months ago also. I just dont know what to do. Is IBS possible?! Any advice would be great. God Bless you all! Happy Holidays!
Thank you so much! Im really gonna take this to heart! I know next month will bring some more happiness into your home. God Bless you, I hope you have a great New Year, and i wish you all the best in 2012!
A person can get constipated for a variety of reasons, with your traumatic life event as a certain possibility. In addition, since you are a freshman in college, changes in what you eat can also create constipation. On top of everything else, you say you haven't exercised in months. Sooooo, the main standard three things to prevent constipation are: Drink enough water daily, get enough exercise weekly, eat enough fiber foods (oat cereal, whole grain bread, vegies, fruit for a snack, and salads).
The pain and bloating you feel is gas. When a person gets constipated, air gets trapped in the intestines, and this can really hurt something fierce. Also, if your bowels won't move like they should and waste gets backed up and bloating is closer to the diaphram and chest, you'll have pain there and wind up with not being able to breathe deeply.
Look, get little box of BabyLax or PediaLax and squirt a couple of those ointment tubes back there, and some waste will come out in minutes, repeat as directed on the box. By getting some waste out, this will cause the backed-up stuff to move on down into that space, and this will sort of prime your digestive muscles to begin to work again. Also, get some packaged enema bottles and start some of those treatments, too, they'll chip away at the waste in there, and help it move along, too. Try to drink only liquids for a couple days whilst doing those assisted treatments, make part of that six glasses of water, some prune juice, and some Acidophilus milk or Kafir probiotic milk. When those couple days are up, hopefully your bowels will be moving a little. You can use vaseline or plain KY jell in the blue and white tube to ease passage. If you find yourself burping a lot or you still feel chest pressure, drink an ordinary Original Alka Seltzer to release some of the gas.
Then you can start to fix your lifestyle, you can introduce some of the fiber foods I mentioned, still drink plenty of water, and begin an exercise programme, with stretching and short walks as a starter, maybe three or four times a week. Continue along that route until it becomes a habit. Now, exercise will begin to help relieve stress and tension in the body. In addition, since being overly tensed up got you where you are, you will need to find an additional way of really getting completely relaxed once a week. Some people call this meditating.
Everyone has different ways of getting in a very peaceful, and still, and almost spiritual state. Here's three easy ways: I like to sit on the floor, stare at a shiny glass object in a windowsill, and deliberately empty my head of all thoughts, which can take some doing. Just focus on that object and think only of it. Once you head is empty, close your eyes and ask a question about anything that's bothering you. The answer will come to you almost instantly, this can be emotional and draining, but it relaxes the mind to do this. Another way is to light up a couple scented candles, maybe some incense, and lay flat on the floor with legs bent and arms out to the side, and listen to quiet music or listen to silence. Just think about what your nose and ears are picking up and follow those cues. Do some very deep breathing, breathe in deeply, blow it out slowly, breathe normal a couple times, repeat up to ten times. You should find yourself physically getting really relaxed. A last way is just get into taking long, hot, bubble baths, regular candles lit and turn off the overhead light, sometimes looking at a picture book or mag will help pass the time.
Eventually you will also want to consider learning a new pasttime, like taking guitar glasses (you can buy a cheap guitar at WalMart), or taking salsa dancing classes, or sign up for a beginner's martial arts class, or take a class in painting, even if you cannot draw a straight line. SOMEthing to do in your spare time that you find you enjoy a lot and will take your mind off all the rigors of medical studies, and also to take your mind off life stressors. We all go thru periods of everything is perfect, and then followed by periods of unbelievable difficulty, and so it helps a lot to get thru sudden life changes by having something you like to do to fall back on. I like art and guitar and I also like walking with my dogs somewhere. Right now we have just lost our dog, and I cannot tell you how empty my life feels. We are going thru tough times right now, too, and that's how much I know my dogs help me. We are going to get a new pup next month, after we clean up our house (it's a disaster area). I can hardly wait. So, I hope you too will find things you enjoy and need to stay balanced when the hard times come along. And give yourself a break, do your best but don't expect too much from yourself. It's okay to put the car in park and just "smell the roses."
The pain and bloating you feel is gas. When a person gets constipated, air gets trapped in the intestines, and this can really hurt something fierce. Also, if your bowels won't move like they should and waste gets backed up and bloating is closer to the diaphram and chest, you'll have pain there and wind up with not being able to breathe deeply.
Look, get little box of BabyLax or PediaLax and squirt a couple of those ointment tubes back there, and some waste will come out in minutes, repeat as directed on the box. By getting some waste out, this will cause the backed-up stuff to move on down into that space, and this will sort of prime your digestive muscles to begin to work again. Also, get some packaged enema bottles and start some of those treatments, too, they'll chip away at the waste in there, and help it move along, too. Try to drink only liquids for a couple days whilst doing those assisted treatments, make part of that six glasses of water, some prune juice, and some Acidophilus milk or Kafir probiotic milk. When those couple days are up, hopefully your bowels will be moving a little. You can use vaseline or plain KY jell in the blue and white tube to ease passage. If you find yourself burping a lot or you still feel chest pressure, drink an ordinary Original Alka Seltzer to release some of the gas.
Then you can start to fix your lifestyle, you can introduce some of the fiber foods I mentioned, still drink plenty of water, and begin an exercise programme, with stretching and short walks as a starter, maybe three or four times a week. Continue along that route until it becomes a habit. Now, exercise will begin to help relieve stress and tension in the body. In addition, since being overly tensed up got you where you are, you will need to find an additional way of really getting completely relaxed once a week. Some people call this meditating.
Everyone has different ways of getting in a very peaceful, and still, and almost spiritual state. Here's three easy ways: I like to sit on the floor, stare at a shiny glass object in a windowsill, and deliberately empty my head of all thoughts, which can take some doing. Just focus on that object and think only of it. Once you head is empty, close your eyes and ask a question about anything that's bothering you. The answer will come to you almost instantly, this can be emotional and draining, but it relaxes the mind to do this. Another way is to light up a couple scented candles, maybe some incense, and lay flat on the floor with legs bent and arms out to the side, and listen to quiet music or listen to silence. Just think about what your nose and ears are picking up and follow those cues. Do some very deep breathing, breathe in deeply, blow it out slowly, breathe normal a couple times, repeat up to ten times. You should find yourself physically getting really relaxed. A last way is just get into taking long, hot, bubble baths, regular candles lit and turn off the overhead light, sometimes looking at a picture book or mag will help pass the time.
Eventually you will also want to consider learning a new pasttime, like taking guitar glasses (you can buy a cheap guitar at WalMart), or taking salsa dancing classes, or sign up for a beginner's martial arts class, or take a class in painting, even if you cannot draw a straight line. SOMEthing to do in your spare time that you find you enjoy a lot and will take your mind off all the rigors of medical studies, and also to take your mind off life stressors. We all go thru periods of everything is perfect, and then followed by periods of unbelievable difficulty, and so it helps a lot to get thru sudden life changes by having something you like to do to fall back on. I like art and guitar and I also like walking with my dogs somewhere. Right now we have just lost our dog, and I cannot tell you how empty my life feels. We are going thru tough times right now, too, and that's how much I know my dogs help me. We are going to get a new pup next month, after we clean up our house (it's a disaster area). I can hardly wait. So, I hope you too will find things you enjoy and need to stay balanced when the hard times come along. And give yourself a break, do your best but don't expect too much from yourself. It's okay to put the car in park and just "smell the roses."
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