Why do I look pregnant after I eat?

[brandinicole24]

I'm a 24 y/o female who has had severe stomach swelling and pain after I eat. A little about me.. I'm 24, healthy, excercise regularly and I'm very active. Almost a year and a half ago one day I ate at one of my usual restaurants and went to work as a waitress. Where I work we wore tight tops. About an hour into my shift I started having  an unbarable stomach pain. One of my customers asked me if I was expecting. I then realized I looked almost 3 months pregnant. Now keep in my mind I have a board flat stomach usually. Then pain kept on for the next 2-3 hours and slowly went away along with the pregnant belly. Ever since then every time I eat I get the same problem. The pain level has tripled and makes it hard to breathe or move. I have tried eating smaller amounts of food which isn't helping any. I can drink a glass of water and my stomach will swell. I can look anywhere from 3-5 months pregnant. I can't handle this pain any longer.
To add, around 2 weeks after this all started I ended up having to rush to the hospital because I had massive amount of blood in my stool for two days. The hospitals I went to neither could find out what was causing it. They both gave me pain meds and sent me home.
More on my medical history... As an infant I was diagnosed with reflux disorder and malabsorbtion disorders. At age 15 I was diagnosed with anemia also. Two weeks before I turned 21 I was rushed to the hospital due to severe lower abdominal pain that kept me up through the night and kept me from walking. Upon a CAT scan they discovered I had internal bleeding that was eqivaliant to being in a head on car crash at 75mph. I was immediatly put in ICU do to my low blood count. They were 30 min from emergency surgery when my count went up just enough. I spent over a week in the hospital but they never determined the real cause. I do have ovarian cyste and have since I was 15, they do occasionaly burst (and I know when!).
If you have any idea what could be wrong with me please give me suggestions. I've attempted removing gluten from my diet and that didnt help either.
I do get my insurance back after Jan 1st (a few days). But I'd love to go in to the doctor with some suggestions.
Thanks in advance.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
You could be suffering from an inflammatory bowel condition such as Celiac Disease/Ulcerative Colitis/Irritable Bowel Syndrome/ Crohn’s disease. Other than that it could be due to H pylori infection. It can also be food intolerance. Diabetes can cause slowing of gut and can cause bloating and hence get your blood sugar tested. It can also be due to excess consumption of food rich in sulfites like juices, molasses, yellow dye in ready made food stuffs, and red wine. Sulfites are present in lesser amounts in mashed potatoes made from dry powder, pickles, tinned shrimp, cookies, crackers, and readymade pie dough. Constipation can also cause bloating.
I would strongly recommend you to see a gastroenterologist (a specialist who looks after the diseases of our digestive system). It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage.  
Take care!

[brandinicole24]

I am going to the doctor as soon as possible. I have had a GL since i was 2 months old but havent been to him since about 16 y/o.My cystes can be controlled with birth control which I am not currently on.
I have thought about it being a dairy thing seeing as I have been allergic to dairy since I was an infant also. Needless to say I've had stomach issues since I was born. I do not eat much dairy other than cheese on a sandwhich here and there.
The main reason I question celiac disease is because I get "pregnant" when I so much as drink a glass of water. Yet, I haven't ruled that out.
When I go to the doctor I plan to ask about IBS, Chrons, and celiac all.
I've ruled each out with my own test but I could be wrong about them. IBS I've taken an over the counter medicine for and it didn't help. Celiac, I ruled out all gluten products from my diet.
I do have a lot of symptoms of all three of these problems including miscarriages and depression. Along with those I've fatigue, weakness, shaking when I haven't ate, insomnia and the list goes on.
Thanks for all the suggestions I can't wait to get in to the doctor hopefully be the end of next week. I will keep everyone posted.

[della770]

I would definitely get a check up and see a gyn also,maybe a abdominal and see
how much those cysts may play a role.I also get very pregnant looking sometimes
after eating but I do have a milk intolerance and IBS,other than trace amounts of blood
the blood you speak of doesn't sound normal or something to let slide.Chrones Disease
comes to mind but I am not a Dr........I hope you feel better

[geminigirl1963]

In addition to removing gluten from your diet, have you tried removing dairy products?  I had a pretty bad milk allergy as a child and the stomach bloating and pain after eating were a couple of my symptoms.  Fortunately, I've pretty much outgrown the allergy and can handle some milk products, but I still have to be careful about how much dairy I consume.  Sometimes  if I have cereal with milk and say and ice cream in the same day I'll end up having stomach troubles.

Have you tried anything such as GasX or Beano to see if either of these helps?  I don't believe a gas problem would explain your other symptoms such as the blood in the stool, etc., but it might - if you've got very sensitive blood vessels in your digestive tract, and you eat and then get a BAD case of gas, of course, your stomach and intestines are bloating and stretching and could possibly (I"m just guessing here as I'm no doctor) irritate the blood vessels enough to make them bleed, causing the blood in the stool and other internal bleeding, leading to anemia.  Just an idea - as I said, i'm definitely no doctor.

I hope as soon as you get your insurance you can get in to see a GI specialist - I believe that's the type of doctor that you need to see.  Best of luck and keep us posted!

[Andijane]

I am in culinary school and my partner and very good friend has a very severe case of celiacs disease and her flare ups can be caused from things you wouldn't think could make a person so violently ill, such as  simply breathing in flour or even certain lotions and shampoos are known to contain traces of gluten. My friend thinks there is some evil gluten fairy who goes around sprinkling it into things that make no sense just to f with sick people. Even certain brands of french fries have flour mixed in as a binder, so i wouldn't dismiss celiacs yet because it does sound very easily possible. Anemia is very common with that disease as it is also presented as a malabsorbtion issue. I hope this helps.