Too many symptoms. Help, please.

23 male here...
Been driven nuts by a variable collection of GI/nervous problems that have set up shop for about 6 weeks now.

1) Around mid-march, had brief fever-like symptoms (chills, malaise) for a few days. Symptoms resolved. Can't remember if during or after, but I became constipated with minimal, loose BMs at some point around this time.

2) Went to the ER on 3/17 for abdominal spasms, throat swelling, and dry heaving with involuntary regurgitation movements in my mouth and esophagus spasms (might have been triggered by smoking that day). Doc said CT scan showed no constipation, gave me an IV promethezine an and antiemetic. Prescribed me Zofran. Have not filled.

3) After, developed GERD like symptoms: chest pain and chest/abd. spasms after eating esp. spicy food. Stomach was extremely loud after I ate food. Coughed up blood tinged spit on a single occasion. No heartburn.

4) Later developed sinusitis symptoms: clicking noises in nose, facial discomfort, headaches when looking up quickly or to extremes of vision, teeth pain, dull neck pain. Treated with saline rinse. Eyes were red for about two weeks. Developed consistent burping with the "object stuck in throat" feeling during this time.

5) During all this I had alternated BM patterns between constipation and diarrhea until about a week ago. Constipation episodes were longer in length. Stool was always loose, and during diarrhea bouts BMs felt very urgent. BMs were usually dark green or tan and floated.

6) Had bloody BMs for less than a week during my irregular bowel pattern period (possibly due to hemorrhoids from straining). Onset was gradual. Ended after I fasted for two days (see below).

7) Concurrent to this I developed all sorts of muscle twitching, minor shooting pains (hands, feet, thighs) and tingling/prickling/itching (scalp, face, lower legs). I also get very brief headache "tinges". The top of my genitals tingles from time to time.  

8) My clinical BP went as high as 150/80 and sys. was steadily in the 140 range for about a week. Went back down to 127/74 on 4/21 after juice fasting for two days.


PC DIAGNOSIS
Had an EKG performed a few weeks ago with no abnormal activity. Thyroid test on 3/10 was normal. Blood glucose tests back on 2/21 were normal.

My PC is my college campus health clinic, whose personnel have tended toward telling me I have anxiety. I received diagnoses of gastroenteritis by an MD who prescribed me Zofran and GERD by a CRNP. I have not filled the prescription. The anti-emetics did help with my esophagus spasms/regurgitation feeling, but the episodes appear to only have been triggered by smoking, which I have ceased.

Got a referral to a GI specialist 2 weeks ago upon an X-Ray showing prior constipation. Will be seeing in a week.

CURRENT SYMPTOMS
BMs are normal in consistency. The main symptoms that appear to have remained are the parethesia-like tingling, itching, and shooting pain sensations, and also a tightness under my left ribcage that lessens if I change positions. Spasms still occasionally occur in lower abdomen....also have become more frequent in limbs. Sometimes if feel quick minor sensations of my scalp is tingling 'hot' and sometimes 'cold'. Recently developed have a sour acid taste in my mouth. Split second dizziness occurs from time to time. Quick, intermittent burning/shooting chest pains occur intermittently even while not eating. No vomiting as of yet. Appetite is OK. I only ever came down with a fever prior to the ER trip on 3/17. None of these symptoms is disabling, save for the anxiety issues that I have sought counseling for.

All of this was most likely predicated by about a month of very poor diet combined with heavy smoking, during which I started feeling precursor symptoms (I have since stopped smoking). I tend to believe I either have a hiatal hernia due to the left side abdominal tightness and/or a vagus nerve problem...

QUESTIONS:
1) Is it possible that this range of symptoms is consistent with basic GERD/IBS?
2) Could an H. Pylori infection be a possible cause?
3) Would an ENT visit be of any use in the situation?


Thank you so much for your time!

Nick

[ggreg]

I think you had some very wild and long-lasting digestive upset, and yes, it could be caused by not only h. pylori but any number of gastric type bacteria, including food poisoning, which the doc you are going to see soon can do a repeat stool sample and blood draw, just to be sure you don't have any of those intestinal tract type things.  I think ALL of your symptoms, including the shooting pain, spasms, and bad taste, come from indigestion.  Now, as for causes other than a bacteria, I can give you a few ideas to run through, just see if any fit.

Some people get this from a medication they may have begun about the time they started getting indigestion, and it will continue as long as they take it, and this can include vitamins, so if you recall beginning some sort of pills then, have your doc review anything you are taking in pill form.  Also, a round of antibiotics can really do a number on somebody's digestion, especially causing constipation, and the solution is to get some "probiotics" in you by drinking Acidophilus milk or Activia yogurt from the grocery store for a couple weeks.  The fasting helped you, so perhaps EVEN if you did not have antibiotics, the probiotics may also help you.  In addition, if your pH gets goofed up for some reason (like the smoking can disturb it), just taking ordinary alka seltzer anytime your tummy goofs up, will really make you feel worlds better.  Now, there are ordinary grocery products that can do exactly this awful indigestion to you, and a very common example is store-brand colas, they are SO acidic that as long as your guzzling them, you are going to have a huge pain in your gut, so only drink brand-name colas.

Your heartrate, when it increased, that most assuredly is where the docs felt like perhaps you had anxiety causing all this, because a fast pulse can make a person extremely nervous.  Fortunately it has settled down, so as long as you have less than 100 beats per minute, you're okay.  If you will check your pulse regularly, and you notice it's climbing (it will naturally anyway), do some very deep breathing for a couple minutes, it'll knock it back a little.  You need to be eating nothing but soft bland foods for a while, no caffeine except maybe one cup of coffee a day, and daily drink some extra water.  Anytime that stomach gets to churning, take an alka seltzer, do some deep breathing.  Consume some probiotics for a couple weeks.  Any pills at all need to be checked for side effects and changed.

I kinda think you still got some kinda bug in you that made you sick back in March, or any of the items I listed off as "natural" causes, so I hope something of this helps you.

[NadiMasalha]

H. Pylori  is one of possibilities, but you can figure it out by negative histological findings in gastric biopsy, or negative H. Pylori antigen test. for lower GI, i think you have to start with the easiest do stool analysis/culture and also do giardia antigen test.
hope for you good health