Pain and Nausea

I am 24. For the last year or so, I have been experiencing problems with my stomach. I wake up nauseous every day, to the point of vomiting twice a week on average. I occasionally have trouble eating because as soon as I have a bit, I begin to feel nauseous. I get a pain at some point in the day in my lower right quadrant, a sharp pain that goes in and out for about 5 minutes at a time, sometimes longer. At least once a day, often several times a day.

It doesn't seem to matter how healthy I have been eating, what time of day I've been eating, or how much I've eaten.  
Mornings are by far my least favorite part of the day, all I want to do is throw up and lay down. The heavy nausea lasts from about 6:30 am to 10:30 am on a normal day. Sometimes it lingers throughout the day (like today, haha!). Nausea is more of a problem when I'm on my period.

Though the nausea wasn't an issue at the time, I did have issues with the pain 3 or 4 years ago, got it checked out--blood tests, CT scans, etc--and nothing came up. They wouldn't even say I had IBS, which appeared to be the only possibility after my tests. Suggestion? Eat right, take fiber.

That didn't work. I did start skipping meals and some symptoms went away. Then some stuff happened in my personal life and I was too depressed to eat for about 9 months to a year, eating maybe a taco or a salad every day. I dropped about 30 pounds, but I had no nausea and no pain during this time.

Then I began eating again and things were fine at first, for like 6 months. I gained back 10 pounds. Slowly but surely, though, the pain came back, along with this new nausea and regular vomiting.

Other facts about me: I smoke about a half a pack a day, pot daily as well. Bad, I know. Most of this isn't great. I don't get enough food because I am constantly feeling like crap but up until I stopped eating, I ate fine, and for the first 6 months after stopping eating, I ate healthy. I probably take in about 1000 calories a day now. I don't diet, sometimes it's salad and sometimes it's french fries, you know? I'm not extreme one way or the other. haven't lost/gained weight. I probably don't get enough water some days, but mostly I think I get enough. I have a cup of coffee every weekday morning. I drink alcohol maybe 2-3 times a month, rarely heavily. I took psychiatric medication for a while and I don't now, nausea/vomiting was the same. I have no known allergies. I am not overweight--5'5, 135. I often feel tired but I usually get about 6 hours of sleep, 8-10 on the weekends.

And no, I haven't been pregnant. For a year.

I hope that's enough information for somebody to say something useful. I'm feeling really stressed about this and my insurance doesn't kick in until September. Lol. This was all very strange to say and probably completely pointless. But thanks for your time if you got through it. :) I really appreciate your advice if you have any.

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  It sounds like you should see a doctor about this.  You are doing a bunch of unhealthy things, but I think that trying to change any of those things now, might make things worse.  However you can try drinking at least 64 ounces of water.  In the mean time, before you are able to see a doctor, I would recommend trying to eliminate different things from your diet.  This could include lactose or gluten.

[Camiot]

You can see my post, I have a similar issue. It was a problem starting around 8 years ago when I was in high school and ended when I went to college. Came to Vietnam for study abroad and it flared up again. Does pot seem to help you in any way? I'm starting to think that it was controlling the issue for me.

[singwithkatie]

I would definitely go see a doctor again. You need a gastrointerologist to track all your symptoms. Just be honest about the pot and stuff. It is important to solving the mystery. Similar to what patient915 said, eliminating foods one by one might be good to see if anything helps and also eat small, more frequent meals since you tend to vomit. If you feel you can't hold down regular food, try some Ensure or Boost if you can stomach it. It is important to keep your protein levels up while they try to figure out what's wrong.

Ask for a full celiac panel, even if they said they did it before. Also, it will help your doctor a lot if you can keep a food journal, even if only for 48 hours. Record what you ate when and how you felt at what time following the food. Include as much detail as possible.

Hang in there!