upper stomach pain

I'm a 39 year female. I had my gallblatter removed almost 2 years ago. Ever since then almost 24 hours later I had severe pain in my stomach. The only way to describe it is where my stearnam ends. It kind of feels like its my diapharm.
I have been to the doctor many times and she tells me that its nerves. I thought that she was crazy. I have always had bad nerves but no pain like this until I had my gallblatter removed.
So I was put on Lexapro. Didn't help. Just made me sleeppy. So I stopped talking it, but I kind of do beleive now thats its my nerves. When ever I think about things that I don't want to I can feel it starting to come on. It feels like a knot where my diaparm is then I can't breath and have a sharp pain in my left shoulder.
I have ended up in the emergancy room and no one knows what the problem is or cares.
I have been taking levsin for the pain and sometimes it works and sometimes it does't. I also have thyroid condition. Can u please give some help. I have to stop my car when this happens and never know when it's going to happen.
Thanks,
    Tonya

[Banned1]

I'm really sorry that you are suffering.  I absolutely understand.  I'm not a doctor and I know nothing about this stuff but I'm learning through my own illness.  Your symptoms could be SO many things including Post-Cholecystectomy Syndrome, Small Bowel Bacteria Overgrowth, Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction, pancreatitis, etc.  I've found that physical and mental stress make my symptoms worse but stress is NOT the cause of my pain.  I apologize in advance for the length of this post but I really want to help you.

Doing your own research can only help.  Check out the "First Principles of Gastroenterology", http://gastroresource.com/GITextbook/en/Default.htm.  I would take special note of the biliary system, Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction and pancreatitis.

There are less invasive tests such as the Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) and MRCP-S (Secretin) that can image the whole area including pancreas and ductal system.  If you like the GI you are seeing, s/he might be willing to try an EUS or MRCP-S so you can get a diagnosis.  The earlier you have a diagnosis, the easier it is to get a treatment program for pain/nausea.

Are you taking Metamucil or a similar daily fibre product?  This is a great help for MANY people and might help your symptoms.   It does not make you go, it makes you regular by adding fibre to the watery stools, making them firm.  

Many people have great success with digestive enzymes and pancreatic enzymes.  This is something you can talk to your Doc about.  I'm told that they won't do any harm so really - unless you have side effects - there's not a downside to trying them.  Your Doc might even have samples.  This is something you can do now and it allows the pancreas to work less.

A low-fat, high fibre diet is a really great idea.  A lot of the time, changes in diet alone make a huge difference.

It helps to keep a journal or a blog and your welcome to read mine if you want but I write a lot (can you tell).  :)  It's a great way to review your situation objectively and identify patterns in your foods, symptoms, medications, bowel habits and pain level.  Hindsight is 20/20 and keeping a log might help you look at things more objectively over the longer term.  Also, when you do go into Emergency, you can say, this has been the pattern...

You are not alone!  Try to stay positive and reach out for support when you need it.  Talk to your Doctor, family, friends, co-workers, church or social service volunteers or anyone you feel safe with.  

I belong to a support group [SODP] that is wonderful.  To find it, search the web for Yahoo! groups.  Once you have the page where you can search the Yahoo! groups, search or "sphincter".  There are about five of them.  Only two of them are really worth joining.  Michele's [Sphincterofoddi_pancreatitis] is by far the best as she is a registered nurse and an uncommonly kind, empathetic and supportive woman.  Maddi's [sphincterofoddi-pancreatitis1] is wonderful, too.  Just put in a request to join and within a day or two, they'll let you know that you've been accepted.  Hopefully, if you join, you'll say "Hi" to me there?

When you do find answers, it would be wonderful if you could let us know the root cause(s) and how you got rid of your pain.  It gives people on this site hope to hear success stories.

Take care of yourself.  Good luck and Godspeed.  All the best,

Sam