Pain in Upper Mid Stomach

I have pain in about ten minutes after I eat that causes severe pain.  I keep a food journal to try to avoid different foods that causes the trigger.  But the pain is so severe that is debilates me for the remainder of the day and causes severe back pain on the left side of my back near my spine.

If I take whatever stomach medicine I am trying at the time, my enzymes to break the food down, and pain medicine then I can usually function pretty well without going into that severe pain.  I have been doing this since Jan of this year, and I have had every test under the sun except an MRI that my doctors don't seem to want to give to me.

Has anyone experienced this type of episode and/or have any suggestions?  I just can't keep taking pain medicine to be able to eat and function normally.  I would appreciate any comments/suggestions from people who know of any helpful advice.

Thanks,

Karen in severe pain

[Banned1]

Hi Karen:

I'm so sorry you are suffering.  I'm not a doctor and know nothing about medicine but I've learned over the past two+ years of my own illness.  The enzymes are said to take about 30 days to be fully effective and they should definitely be working fo ryou at this point.  A mix of time release and immediate action enzymes are supposed to be best.  If yours aren't doing it for you, try another brand.  The name brands include Creon, Pancrease, Pancron, Protilase, Ultrase and Zymase.

Does every test under the sun include an endoscopic ultrasound?  This is a relatively new procedure and is mildly invasive, kind of like an upper endoscopy.  They use twilight sedation.  The benefit of this procedure is that it can identify problems at the microscopic level.  The other one that might help you, as you stated, is the MRI-S (with Secretin).   Your symptoms could be SO many things including microscopic sludge/stones in the common bile duct, gallbladder problems, Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction, Small Bowel Bacterial Overgrowth, acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, autoimmune pancreatitis, mininal change chronic pancreatitis, etc., etc., etc.   Pancreatic and ductal pain is among the most horrendous pain there is.  If you cannot manage your pain, talk to your primary care physician and ask for some medication!  

Start a low-fat diet immediately.  Also, start a journal and write down everything that goes into or comes out of your body including medications, foods, etc. as well as how you feel, your mood and activities/exercise.  Avoid everything fried, everything with a high fat content and alcohol.  If you can try that for a month or so, see how your symptoms are.  This also gives you the benefit of hindsight and you can identify patterns or cause/effect relationships.

Search yahoo! groups for "pancreatitis" or "digestive" and you will find quite a few groups.  Michele's (Sphincterofoddi_pancreatitis), Cheri's (Pancreatitis_sphincterofoddi) and Maddi's (Digestive-Support-and-Information) are well worth joining.  There is a lot of great information there that might help you.  Since many of us are relatively house-bound or bedridden, this also provides a much-needed social outlet.

Feel free to email me or post again.  I'm happy to share anything I've learned over the past two years.  I'm not on very often, so if you need me quickly, email.

All the best,

Sam

[DGracie]

Sorry to hear that you are ill and I certainly understand stomach issues. To me it sounds like you may have a Hiatal Hernia and/or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. Have you had an EGD done? I would see a gastroenterologist and request this be done. Hope this helps. Dgracie