feeling very gassy, burping a lot, mild back pain

[leoshelby]

Hello,

As the subject says, I'm been feeling very gassy for the past 12-18 hours or so and I am burping a lot (many times an hour).  I have some mild back pain, but not really abdominal pain other than a feeling of fullness and the bloaty feeling from the gas.  I can feel a lot of stomach gurgling going on.  

What can be the cause of this?  I'm worried, I've never felt like this before, and am reading horror stories about pancreatitis.  Does this sound like that?  

Thanks for any help!

leo

[LivingInHope]

Glad they discovered it early & hope you get even more improvement with the changes you're planning on making!  And you're welcome.

[leoshelby]

The diagnosis: erosive gastritis. It wasn't too bad yet.  I'm very glad I went in to the doc's-it could have gotten a good bit worse.  

Looking forward to changes in diet and a healthier lifestyle!  Thanks for your dialogue, Surgi!

leo

[LivingInHope]

Let me know what they find out?  Glad you are feeling some better.

[leoshelby]

Heading in for my ultrasound (is it a boy or a girl? ha!) in a bit.  I will keep you posted.

Thank you so much for your input-it is greatly appreciated.  I actually feel like I feel a little better this morning.  Hopefully that continues.

leo

[LivingInHope]

gastroenterologist- bloodwork- to check for h. pylori and perhaps check for cholecystitis (gallbladder flare-up)- maybe a complete blood count as well?  The doc likely ordered an abdominal ultrasound, which looks at the pancreas, gall bladder, liver, spleen and kidneys.  And the tube down the throat is called EGD for short, also known as an upper endoscopy, I believe.  Sounds like you may have gotten a good doctor then!  I believe Dexilant must be the latest GI drug they are pushing now, because I'm pretty sure that's what one near me recommended for my parent and me if I wanted to try.  I didn't find it helped (though I only took it one night), so I switched to something else.

Since you took immodium, I'm guessing you've had some trouble with diarrhea then?  It's quite possible the ibuprofen has irritated your stomach.  I've had to take that at times for arthritis in my jaws, etc..  I believe a lot of times alcohol mixed with medicine can increase potency- not sure about with ibuprofen.

Fried chicken wouldn't be good if you had acid reflux or gastritis going on.  Fried foods can aggravate it, as can a dairy product such as cheese and if there was any tomato sauce with the ravioli, that could aggravate too.  (I'm a GERD sufferer and recently was diagnosed once again with gastritis.)  The grape nuts I hear can get your bowels moving.  Milk really made my stomach burn last time I had any, so I don't put it on my cereal anymore.  I can't do soy milk either, so I had to get used to vanilla rice milk from a box.

I hope now you've graduated you can have a lower stress level and the GI doctor will likely tell you how to improve those GI symptoms you're suffering from.

[leoshelby]

Surgi-

Thanks for responding to me.  I luckily got an appointment a few hours ago at a gastro___ologist (sorry, the doctor's specialty name eludes me) which I'm back from.  I'm just back from the lab to get bloodwork done (no results yet), and will be getting an ultrasound and tube down my throat to look at my stomach tomorrow (also can't remember what that's called).  

The doctor, who kind of hinted (noncommittally) at it possibly being an ulcer, gave me samples of Dexilant, which I just took.  Earlier I took an Immodium and it was tough to tell whether or not that did much.  

I just graduated from grad school which has been very stressful.  I should mention that I've been taking a lot of ibuprofen recently, and have been drinking pretty regularly (school social scene and stress).  My eating habits have been very grad school-ish and since I just graduated am looking forward to improving.  

The burping has slowed a little (maybe) but still lots of gurgling.  The back pain is kind of tough to tack down-it almost feels muscular.  It's not in any place very strongly, it's kind of mild, and feels separate from whatever's going on in the front, which is mainly a feeling like gas pains but a little higher up.

I haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary-fried chicken for lunch yesterday (I made it at least!), cheese ravioli with zucchini and squash last night, bowl of Grape Nuts with milk this morning.  

[LivingInHope]

Have you tried simethicone for the problem without real relief?  What part of your back is hurting?  What did you eat prior to the onset of this gassy feeling?  Since you are worried, I recommend a trip to your family doctor.