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Alcohol, stomach discomfort and long term health problems
I hope someone can help me with my strange permanent symptoms that i have had for the past 3 years.
I am a 33 year old male. From 18 to 30 years of age i would describe myself as a reasonably heavy social drinker, probably around 50 units a week. Despite this i always found that i rarely suffered from hangovers and it was not uncommon for me to go jogging the morning following a night on the booze to run off any slight hangover i may have had. I was actually quite fit, and when i was 30 ran two half marathons.
3 years ago i joined the police service. The training for this meant spending 15 weeks at a residential camp. There was little to do there, and everyone's routine was to spend the evening in the onsite bar. It was also extremely stressful. The food during the 15 weeks was terrible, poor quality canteen grub and not much of it. Every evening to relieve the boredom i would get fairly drunk, probably drinking around 6-7 pints of lager. Every morning was an early start, and i was frequently tired from spending so much time in the bar the night before that most days meant i drank around 5-6 cans of diet coke to keep me alert. Weekends we came home, but this meant seeing friends and socialising so i would go out drinking at weekends also. This meant over the 15 weeks, i probably did not miss an evening where i wasn't fairly drunk, ate rubbish food , drunk countless diet coke. Despite this i kept my fitness levels up and jogged every day.
This is where my problems started. Towards the end of this 15 weeks i woke up one morning and felt terrible. I was strangely out of breath doing simple things, just getting out of bed. I felt really rough, like i was really over exerted. It was the same sort of feeling i would get after a really long 2 hour jog or something, the same sense of exertion - but i hadn't done anything. I had a strange uncomfortable full fulling in my upper stomach. I was also having ectopic heart beats.
I went to a doctor that day i felt so bad, and he sent me for an immediate heart echo cardiogram at the hospital. This came back normal.
As i was leaving the camp a few days later to go home, my doctor recommended seeing my home gp.
Before i went home for good the last day of the training course meant a fitness test. I went to bed that evening and for the first time didn't go to the bar as i still felt rough. I thought in the morning i would feel ok. However, when i woke up i didn't. I felt exactly the same, easily out of breath, totally exerted and generally feeling under the weather.
I tried jogging this day, and it was bizarre. I just couldn't do it. I was out of breath bending down to put my trainers on.
Basically i returned home and over the course of the next year i must have been back to my GP around 20 times about the above problems. My ectopic beats settled down after a few weeks. My tests have involved an ultrasound on my stomach, ECG's, blood tests for everything as far as i know, i have been referred to the infectious diseases clinic, been put on Prozac (they thought it was all in my head).
I eventually gave up going to my GP, as he basically said there was nothing else they could test me for.
Three years on my symptoms are as follows:
1) I am not breathless anymore. I do jog now regularly but find it far more tiring than i ever did. Half an hour is my limit.
2) I have a permanent upper abdomen 'raw' feeling and always feel below par. I know this is vague but i find it difficult to be more specific.
3) if i drink alcohol now, i feel absolutely TERRIBLE for days after. Even if i drink small amounts i will feel rough for a couple of days, nauseous and totally drained of energy.
4) Some days my upper stomach pain feels much worse than offers. However it never seems to be related to hunger/no hunger, or what i have eaten.
My question is really, did my alcohol consumption cause permanent damage to some area of my body? Could it also have been related to my lifestyle at the time? Is it impossible to detect?
The reason i am posting this is because even 3 years on i remember that i used to feel a lot better than i do know in general day to day life. It's incredibly frustrating. I drink rarely now as i feel too ill when i do.
I have a very healthy diet with plenty of fruit and veg. I have tried vitamins, milk thistle, various supplements, all to seemingly no affect.
Can anyone shed any light or what i might have done to myself and how on earth i could go forward?
I am a 33 year old male. From 18 to 30 years of age i would describe myself as a reasonably heavy social drinker, probably around 50 units a week. Despite this i always found that i rarely suffered from hangovers and it was not uncommon for me to go jogging the morning following a night on the booze to run off any slight hangover i may have had. I was actually quite fit, and when i was 30 ran two half marathons.
3 years ago i joined the police service. The training for this meant spending 15 weeks at a residential camp. There was little to do there, and everyone's routine was to spend the evening in the onsite bar. It was also extremely stressful. The food during the 15 weeks was terrible, poor quality canteen grub and not much of it. Every evening to relieve the boredom i would get fairly drunk, probably drinking around 6-7 pints of lager. Every morning was an early start, and i was frequently tired from spending so much time in the bar the night before that most days meant i drank around 5-6 cans of diet coke to keep me alert. Weekends we came home, but this meant seeing friends and socialising so i would go out drinking at weekends also. This meant over the 15 weeks, i probably did not miss an evening where i wasn't fairly drunk, ate rubbish food , drunk countless diet coke. Despite this i kept my fitness levels up and jogged every day.
This is where my problems started. Towards the end of this 15 weeks i woke up one morning and felt terrible. I was strangely out of breath doing simple things, just getting out of bed. I felt really rough, like i was really over exerted. It was the same sort of feeling i would get after a really long 2 hour jog or something, the same sense of exertion - but i hadn't done anything. I had a strange uncomfortable full fulling in my upper stomach. I was also having ectopic heart beats.
I went to a doctor that day i felt so bad, and he sent me for an immediate heart echo cardiogram at the hospital. This came back normal.
As i was leaving the camp a few days later to go home, my doctor recommended seeing my home gp.
Before i went home for good the last day of the training course meant a fitness test. I went to bed that evening and for the first time didn't go to the bar as i still felt rough. I thought in the morning i would feel ok. However, when i woke up i didn't. I felt exactly the same, easily out of breath, totally exerted and generally feeling under the weather.
I tried jogging this day, and it was bizarre. I just couldn't do it. I was out of breath bending down to put my trainers on.
Basically i returned home and over the course of the next year i must have been back to my GP around 20 times about the above problems. My ectopic beats settled down after a few weeks. My tests have involved an ultrasound on my stomach, ECG's, blood tests for everything as far as i know, i have been referred to the infectious diseases clinic, been put on Prozac (they thought it was all in my head).
I eventually gave up going to my GP, as he basically said there was nothing else they could test me for.
Three years on my symptoms are as follows:
1) I am not breathless anymore. I do jog now regularly but find it far more tiring than i ever did. Half an hour is my limit.
2) I have a permanent upper abdomen 'raw' feeling and always feel below par. I know this is vague but i find it difficult to be more specific.
3) if i drink alcohol now, i feel absolutely TERRIBLE for days after. Even if i drink small amounts i will feel rough for a couple of days, nauseous and totally drained of energy.
4) Some days my upper stomach pain feels much worse than offers. However it never seems to be related to hunger/no hunger, or what i have eaten.
My question is really, did my alcohol consumption cause permanent damage to some area of my body? Could it also have been related to my lifestyle at the time? Is it impossible to detect?
The reason i am posting this is because even 3 years on i remember that i used to feel a lot better than i do know in general day to day life. It's incredibly frustrating. I drink rarely now as i feel too ill when i do.
I have a very healthy diet with plenty of fruit and veg. I have tried vitamins, milk thistle, various supplements, all to seemingly no affect.
Can anyone shed any light or what i might have done to myself and how on earth i could go forward?
• increase the chance of developing high blood pressure, which is the second leading cause of kidney disease
• Interfere with medicines making it harder to control high blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure is more likely to damage kidneys.
• cause more frequent urination, which can lead to dehydration
• prevent the kidneys from maintaining a proper balance of body fluids and minerals
• damage kidney cells changing the structure and function of the kidneys
• Interfere with medicines making it harder to control high blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure is more likely to damage kidneys.
• cause more frequent urination, which can lead to dehydration
• prevent the kidneys from maintaining a proper balance of body fluids and minerals
• damage kidney cells changing the structure and function of the kidneys
Im desperate for help and totally relate to this, i am 29 and guess you could say iv been a heavy social drinker although more now than ever.
ive always suffered with the odd bout of indegestion and trapped wind but NEVER like this it started 12 months ago when i returned from holiday and the docs thought ide got gastrenteritis (sorry about the spelling), i was vomitting and diarreah constant fullness and severe bloating.
Anyway as time has gone on the vomitting and diarreah subsides and returns mainly when im so frustrated over the other symptoms now on a daily basis
1 my stomach bloats the that of a six month pregnant woman and its very uncomfortable and niggles away at you
2 my stomach aches im not in agony but more like i feel like im about the burst at any minute and there is a storm going on in there i mean you can actually hear it,
3 these together make me feel very tired and achey like i dont have the energy to do anything and twtichy and vague sometimes like im not really here.
ive had every test going you name it ive had it more recently an endoscopy which showed esophogitis but only mild and probably caused by me vomitting but everything else proves negative, docs are baffled and im at my wits end , im a logical person and dont want to be like this i just want an answer if ANYONE could help me.
Docs also thought i may have panic disorder i refused meds but did try the therapy but it sure didnt help my stomach! funny thing is now i am having panic attacks because im worrying about my stomach and resulting to drinking to calm me down this is jus a vicious circle and no one seems to be able to help me i feel so low!
ive always suffered with the odd bout of indegestion and trapped wind but NEVER like this it started 12 months ago when i returned from holiday and the docs thought ide got gastrenteritis (sorry about the spelling), i was vomitting and diarreah constant fullness and severe bloating.
Anyway as time has gone on the vomitting and diarreah subsides and returns mainly when im so frustrated over the other symptoms now on a daily basis
1 my stomach bloats the that of a six month pregnant woman and its very uncomfortable and niggles away at you
2 my stomach aches im not in agony but more like i feel like im about the burst at any minute and there is a storm going on in there i mean you can actually hear it,
3 these together make me feel very tired and achey like i dont have the energy to do anything and twtichy and vague sometimes like im not really here.
ive had every test going you name it ive had it more recently an endoscopy which showed esophogitis but only mild and probably caused by me vomitting but everything else proves negative, docs are baffled and im at my wits end , im a logical person and dont want to be like this i just want an answer if ANYONE could help me.
Docs also thought i may have panic disorder i refused meds but did try the therapy but it sure didnt help my stomach! funny thing is now i am having panic attacks because im worrying about my stomach and resulting to drinking to calm me down this is jus a vicious circle and no one seems to be able to help me i feel so low!
3) if i drink alcohol now, i feel absolutely TERRIBLE for days after. Even if i drink small amounts i will feel rough for a couple of days, nauseous and totally drained of energy.
I know that feeling. I can't touch a drop now. I was so out of it on one pint I ended up being called an ambulance and when i refused that arrested!
I'm not sure if something may have come of the food you ate at the camp, a common bacterial or other infection H Pylori, Camplyobacteria, Listeria, Salmonella?
I presume liver function test and kidney fucntion test were done?
Were you given a Hep panel or endocrine panel in your series of tests?
I think stress may have a role in all this. because
1 it sounds like the experience on that day has had a significant effect
2 you started a stressful occupation (presumably also with shift work?)
3 SSRIs can cause anxiety particularly if the patient doesn't need them in the first place.
Were you cleared for ulcerative illness after the scan?
Ay other symtoms, change in urine, stools? Unexplained muscle or joint aches?
Wouldn't an Internal medicine specialist be the first point of call rather than an ID specialist?
I know that feeling. I can't touch a drop now. I was so out of it on one pint I ended up being called an ambulance and when i refused that arrested!
I'm not sure if something may have come of the food you ate at the camp, a common bacterial or other infection H Pylori, Camplyobacteria, Listeria, Salmonella?
I presume liver function test and kidney fucntion test were done?
Were you given a Hep panel or endocrine panel in your series of tests?
I think stress may have a role in all this. because
1 it sounds like the experience on that day has had a significant effect
2 you started a stressful occupation (presumably also with shift work?)
3 SSRIs can cause anxiety particularly if the patient doesn't need them in the first place.
Were you cleared for ulcerative illness after the scan?
Ay other symtoms, change in urine, stools? Unexplained muscle or joint aches?
Wouldn't an Internal medicine specialist be the first point of call rather than an ID specialist?
I too am suffering the weak stomach very similar in story to original. I am White 32 male, probably a bit of an overeater, but exercised to make up for that in ways. My stomach got very weak almost 2 years ago.
It seems now when I rest for a week at a time and reduce my diet, always keeping milk on hand as a buffer, my stomach slowly improves a little bit. But when I start exercising more (like running?) the left side of my stomach gets tight and weak and starts to drain me of more energy than normal. It feels like it gets dry and cold there. I try to drink plenty of water to make my pee run clear to light yellow, and when I get fitfull kicks while trying to sleep (sign of dehydration), I put a heat pack on my stomach and that seems to temporarily settle it down.
These practices feel more like temporary solutions than long term especially for trying to get back into weightlifting. I don't get it, but it seems exercise makes my stomach worse, however, when I don't exercise I feel sluggish on another end. It is a hard balance that I can't figure out how to improve. We could be suffering from lifestyles of excess, but isn't it cureable?
The stomach is a muscle and I wonder if there is any kind of exercise a person can do to improve its condition? All I know so far is that Chiropractors can stretch the stomach. What else is there?
***@****
It seems now when I rest for a week at a time and reduce my diet, always keeping milk on hand as a buffer, my stomach slowly improves a little bit. But when I start exercising more (like running?) the left side of my stomach gets tight and weak and starts to drain me of more energy than normal. It feels like it gets dry and cold there. I try to drink plenty of water to make my pee run clear to light yellow, and when I get fitfull kicks while trying to sleep (sign of dehydration), I put a heat pack on my stomach and that seems to temporarily settle it down.
These practices feel more like temporary solutions than long term especially for trying to get back into weightlifting. I don't get it, but it seems exercise makes my stomach worse, however, when I don't exercise I feel sluggish on another end. It is a hard balance that I can't figure out how to improve. We could be suffering from lifestyles of excess, but isn't it cureable?
The stomach is a muscle and I wonder if there is any kind of exercise a person can do to improve its condition? All I know so far is that Chiropractors can stretch the stomach. What else is there?
***@****
I have the same symptoms as you. I have a thyroid problem and often it is diagnosed more in women than men. They ran MILLIONS of tests on me about 5 years ago and diagnosed me with nervous stomach. Alkazelter helps me and Prevacid does sometimes to..............Hang in!
You are a genius sintonic thanx alot for the info!
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