Occasional pain in upper abdomen

Hello, I am a 28 year old male, overweight (5' 10' and 210 lbs.) , have high blood pressure, non smoker, very rarely drink alcohol. I was a huge caffeine addict, but I quit that cold turkey just days before all this started.

Over the last month I have had a strange list of incidents I have never experienced. It started out with gagging in the morning before I ate. That went away.

Then I had a cough, which also went away. Then I got acid reflux, which I always got a worse case of while at work (I am a machinist, so therefore do a lot of lifting, bending, stooping, etc.). It would make me have to clear my throat a lot.

After a good week and a half of reflux every day, I went to the doctor and he didn't seem very concerned about it. He said because I recently gave up caffeine, my reflux could be related to that. He also suggested I do the 14 day treatment of Prilosec OTC and see how I fare after that.

My throat cleared up on the medication, but a few days into the treatment I started to feel a low, dull ache in my ribs just under my left breast. The pain could also be crampy. It would come and go, and sometimes radiate to my right side in the same location. It was also exacerbated at work.

I finished the 14 day treatment, and have yet to have reflux, but the pain in my ribs has went from dull and low to a mild burning sensation. I also belch a lot. I get gas pains in my lower abdomen, but that is nothing new to me since I believe myself to have IBS.

I have no loss of appetite, no bloody/tarry stools, no nausea/vomiting. Eating does seem to make the pain go away. I have had some weight loss, but I chalked that up to a recent change in diet (less fast foods, more vegetable and fruit, lower sodium intake, more grains).

My stomach also makes loud gurgling noises from time to time. They usually are the worst at night. This is very depressing to me, as I wonder if there is something seriously wrong with me. Does this sound like something to be concerned about?


This discussion is related to stomach feels ill - for over 2 weeks.