epigastric discomfort/pressure, feeling of fullnes in esophagus, throat,

[missid]

I am 35 yo. mother of 4 children. I had a lap chole. during my last pregnancy in March 2004. This did alleviate problems at that time. However, now, 15 months later, I am experiencing the same symptoms, with a few new ones to boot: epigastric pain/pressure/fullness, the sensation of food or something being stuck in the esophagus/throat, belching, the sensation of being squeezed tightly by a rope or belt beneath the ribs/diaphragm, the inability at times to obtain a full breath, coughing. This has been going on for nearly 2-3 months and they are worsening. These are nearly the same symptoms I experienced while having gallbladder problems, except now there is no gallbladder! I do have an appt. to see my family physician, however, I am completely frustrated and miserable!! Does this sound like a hiatal/hiatus hernia with reflux possibly? Could it have something to do with the gallbladder removal itself? Am I crazy? I know one thing, I am miserable, and I need advice from a professional. Should I question my MD about tests such as upper endoscopy, Hyda scan, etc? Any help/ advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[fedupwiththis]

Hi all

I have taken the time to read some of your comments, and i thought i was suffereing my heart goes out to you all.

This all started end of last year i was experiencing lots of belching, heart burn and discomfort in the diaphram area.

I visited my doctor who put me on zoton (Lansoprazole 30mg) i havent found this to be of much help other than to cure the heartburn.  He also stated that i need to lose weight yes i have a spare tyre around my waist but who doesnt these days especially after 2 children.

My symptoms have now changed i am now experiencing my food/fluids returning to my throat (possible reflux ?) and sometimes even a lump in my throat.  I also have of late been experiencing a dullness,sometimes numbing feeling in the back of my throat, especially on the left side this can also cause discomfort in my ear.

I have seen a ENT specialist,nothing to find, and also a gastroentologist ( hope that is spelt right ) who feels that as my symptoms of belching have reduced there is no need to take further tests, ( he did explain to me about Globus ??)

I have visited my doctor on many occasions to try and get to the bottom of this, and all i get from him is you need to loose weight, and that the feeling in my throat is possibly coming from my stomach. I am not in anyway trying to find fault in my doctor but telling me i need to lose wait everytime i see him does not make me feel better about myself when i know i need to lose some weight.

can anyone help me, is anyone experiencing the feeling in the throat i am having, i must add i dont have this throat discomfort first this in the morning or whilst i am eating.

HELP...NEEDED

[astros18]

I use Nature's Sunshine and Garden of Life products. They both can be found on the internet. I use a hi lipase enzyme for fat digestion and Food enzymes for everything else. Papaya is not strong enough on its own. They are soothing, though and taste good, so they won't hurt you to take. I also take Primal Defense probiotic from Garden of Life. It is also possible you have stones in your liver(doctors say it is impossible). You can check out curezone.com for the liver/gallbladder flush information. It is essential that your bowels move frequently. A normal bowel movement should be the consistency of soft serve ice cream and the "ideal" is for your bowels to move at least 30 minutes to 2 hours after you eat. Nature's Sunshine has a lower bowel stimulant to help you regulate your bowels and they also have many colon cleanses. I am not a doctor, so I cannot comment on drug interactions but you can ask your doctor or check on the internet. I have taken all of the above supplements while on meds and while being med free. Digestive food enzymes are enzymes your body is supposed to produce naturally and probiotics are harmless as well. I hope my info helps you. It is always a good thing to become proactive with your health. Keep me posted.

[babbles]

Also I might add after having my endoscopy the doctor told me to minimize caffeine which I completely quit drinking anything that contained caffeine until I went to refill my medications and the pharmacist was telling me about the metoclopramide and how it tightens down the LES to prevent food and acids from splashing back up into the esophagus and I said oh really well I have problems with my stomach emptying and he said really well alot of people drink caffeine for that he said that is why alot of people drink coffee after or with a meal and so I questioned him as to why and he said because it helps empty your stomach as well as helps you urinate and gets your bowels moving. So I came home and started having a little coffee once in a while and it seems to be helping me some. Not saying it will help everyone but it is worth a try. For a little more then two weeks I would drink and drink water and still couldn't urinate and my doctor of course says well your not drinking enough, I wanted to laugh in his face and tell him how stupid he was because I got up that morning and drank four 16ounce glasses of water and still couldn't go to the bathroom and he tells me that I am not drinking enough. It may be worth a try.

[astros18]

I responded to your previous post, but I didn't know you were without your gallbladder. You should be taking digestive food enzymes especially a hi lipase to help you digest fats and things like cucumbers, apples, and nuts. While you can live without your gallbladder it definitely changes your digestion, despite what the doctors say.(I think they all still have their gallbladders, so they don't know!) The feelings on your left side sounds like possible gas to me, but I don't know. If you work on detoxing your colon and the feeling goes away, it probably was gas.

[babbles]

I saw you responded to the previous post but I can't find it anywhere. But thank you for responding. I plan on keeping people updated on my condition because what I don't see any of is if people who are suffering with these symptoms improve after time or not. Anyway yes I had my gall bladder out, which seems odd to me because I was on protonix taking it for a couple months when my gall bladder went bad, and then this time they put me on protonix originally and I started having all these weird pains in arms, hands, bilary pain,urinary tract, kidney stones, trouble urinating, there were too many to list but anyway I went and looked at the adverse effects on the hand out I was given for protonix and all the problems I was having were listed so immediately quit taking the protonix and within a week all these new problems cleared up,all except the problems urinating which I think is actually due to my stomach not emptying correctly. I am actually getting to where a feel pretty good until I try to eat and then I have difficulties for 1 to 2 hours. I do have some reflux still but from what I can tell it is reflux of not everything I eat but the fatty foods like meat,I have pretty much eliminated all meat and dairy everything fatty no oils butter etc.  so I am going to try the enzymes.Which do you suggest? I read papaya enzymes were good, have you heard that? Also can I take them with the medicines I am taking like methoclopramide and cimedidine? Yesterday I tried to go without the methoclopramide and made it actually 29 hours before I took it again. Do you know anything about how that medicine works, does it make it so the LES or stomach muscles eventually work well on their own again or does it only treat the problem? Thank you any input would be great. Have a good one.

[babbles]

I too have been having many problems, it started out with a feeling of something being stuck in my throat, then stuff backing up into my esophagus and then vomitting it up, I have been to the ER three times, and have seen 4 different doctors as well as have been seeing a Gast doc. I had a EGD done and everything was good, the biopsies came back good, the doctor did say I had acid irritation, and signs of sluggish emptying. Over 5 weeks I have lost 30lbs,went from bad to worse. I am taking Cimedidine 800mg twice daily and Methoclopramide(REGLAN), I check back weekly with my gastro doc and give him a progress report, and when I tell him I have seen really no changes he ups my medicine, I feel like I am getting no help, I asked him what is causing this he told me the acid irritation. I am pretty much dianosing myself he told me I showed signs of sluggish emptying on the EGD and I am sure that is what this is my stomach doesn't emtpy correctly and this is what causes me to have the acid problem, besides the fact I am having alot of problems digesting meat, dairy, etc what I can eat today and digest tomorrow it doesn't. Very hard thing to deal with. With no help from doctors, I started out taking protonix and that caused me to have various other problems once I quit taking that after about 4 days the pains I was having in other areas of my body quit. I went over 2 weeks urinating very little which in turn caused a urinary tract infection and then kidney stones. I had my gall bladder out 2 years ago and am wondering if that isn't causing me problems now. All this was brought on all of a sudden. Does anyone know if acid irritation could cause delayed emptying or if it is vice versa? And does anyone have any movement they can feel in the left side of their stomach, I can always feel slight movements in my left side, kind of like when someone has a chest cold and has wheezing in their chest. Hard to describe, that started 2 weeks into all this and the doctor has never given me an answer on that one either. And does anyone know if the metoclopramide stregthens the muscles so they can eventually work well on their own again or if they just treat the problem? I read on a couple sites on here they make them work correctly again,but haven't seen that written on many of the sites. Any help or input would be appreciated. Hope we all get better soon or at least get some answers from our docs.