can stress, anxiety and depression cause continuous abdominal pain?

[connie31]

I've been having upper abdominal pain for almost 3 months. The pain started after I took Naproxen 500mg (twice a day) for four days for the joint and muscle pain that I have in my hands and arms. My PCP thought that the pain was from taking the medicne ( =side effects )which probably casued acute gastritis. She prescribed me Ranitidin. By taking the medicine, the burning pain in my stomach was gone. However, I still had dull pain in the middle, left and right upper abdominal areas. So I went back to see her and she told me that I should go see a gastroenterologist.

The gastroenterologist told me that I might have ulcer and I needed to take endoscoy. So I took the test but the results came out negative.

Meanwhile the new symptoms have developed. now I have pain under my right and left shoulder blades and tips of right and left shoulders, and in my chest ( middle, right and left chest).

I told the gastroenterologist about the new symptoms and she told me to take CT scans immediately to check my abdominal and pelvis areas. Yesterday I took the tests and I got the results back today.

The results showed that I didn't have any problem in the pancreas but I have ovarian cyst which is not really related to the abdominal pain that I've been having for the last 3 months.

I'm getting another tests to see my gallbladder has a problem. But I don't really know if the tests can come out positive. And I just want to know if stress, anxiety and depression can cause dull abdominal pain continuously (meaning 24 hours) for 3 month.

The reason why I want to ask about this is because many people have told me that mental problems can cause physical problems. So I strated thinking that the pain I have might be from stress, anxiety or depression. I mean who doesn't get strees and anxiety? So it's possible that that is causing the abdominal pain. But when I asked my friends who have panic disorder about the physical problems they get when they are attacked by the panic diorder, the pain doesn't last for 24 hours. So I'm not sure if mental problems can cause continuous physical pain like mine.

I actually asked my gastroenterologist if it's possible to have the continuous abdominal pain from stress/anxiety. But she didn't respond to my question.....


Anyway, because of the pain, I've lost a lot of weight. I'm a 25 year old female, 5 feet tall and weigh 85 lb. When I eat some food, sometimes I get gripping pain. I can't really eat normal amount of food because of the pain. And when I eat or drink, my stomach starts gargling, and I get nauseated.  I actually puked four times in the last three months. And I get a lot of gas and belching. But after I finished taking antibiotics to get rid of  H. pylori, I don't get gas and belching as much. But still I get gas and belching more than normal which is very embarrasing....

And other than these symptoms, I have joint pain in hands and arms whose cause is still unknown and tingling in my face and neck whose cause is also still unknown and syrinx in my thoracic spin ( from T 3 to T9), and mild bulging disc at L4 (lumber spine), mild scoliosis, and mild osteoarthritis in my right ankle.

I would really appreciate it if anyone could respond to my question.

[SassyLassie]

You poor thing. YES, anxiety, depression and stress can cause pain 24/7. I speak from experience. I bet I have had every test in the books, they all come back normal, it makes me angry as I feel something must be wrong, but, my Naturopath assures me it is all emotional. I also had an MRI done, it showed numerous bulging disc's, I see a chiropractor, and we are working on those doing disc decompression, sometimes after that particular treatment, I feel worse than when I went in.

I have these two books by Dr Claire Weekes, one is called "Hope and Help for your Nerves" and the other is called, "Peace from Nervous suffering" they are awesome, I have gone through two of them, I read them all the time, they really do help, it is like she is sitting next to you talking.

You mentioned that your friends that have panic disorder do not hurt all the time, when symptoms vary from person to person, everyone's body reacts differently.

Have you tried a chiropractor for your pains, from your description, I really think one would be able to help you, mine sure does.

[crambone]

sounds like my messed up life in a nutshell....i too get all that and the messed up pain in y upper chest and into my back.
i have had thousands of dollars in tests done from my pancreas/gallbladder/liver/everything no ulcers no nothing,and yet i still get the pain!,,,i think its got to do with your back as you say you have mild scoliosis,,and when i was a kid remember those tests for scoliosis you get done in school...well,mine was always "incunclusive"...so i might have a mild case too!!!
i think there are nerves around the chest/back  and they flare up and cause us this pain once in a while,mine and yours more often!
but then we worry about stuff,and out pains and stuff and we stress out and it makes stuff worse!!!