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Do I have the correct diagnosis?
Hi, I am new to this forum in desperate needs of answers. I am a 24 year old female in healthy condition. I am not overweight (I weight about 125 with an 11% body fat percentage), I workout regularly, and I am generally healthy. However, at the age of 13 I began having stomach pains. I went to the doctor and he put me on a two week round of Prevacid. This did not cure the problem, although it did help.he diagnosed me with GERD and He then placed me on ranitidine to take twice daily. I was on this medication for years, and had my symptoms fairly under control. When I began birth control at the age of 18 I decided I didn't think I ended my stomach medicine anymore. A few weeks after starting BC I began to get nauseous occassioanlly. I was convinced this was a side effect of the birth control, and decided to ignore it for about six months. I packed up and moved to college and it got worse. I was hardly eating and lost a ton of weight, to where i became substantially underweight. I was nauseous daily, and living off of Gatorade and crackers. I had just broken up with my boyfriend and had moved away from home for the first time so I was also under a lot of stress at the time.
I finally went back to the doctor and he put me on 20 mg Protonix once a day. This solved my problems almost instantly. During this time I also began to start to settle in my new home and was starting to hang out with a new guy so my stress level was way down. Since then I lived pretty normally, with the occasional day of feeling somewhat nauseous every couple of months. I had an upper endoscopy done as well as a stomach emptying test and all results came back normal. Recently however, things have been beyond terrible.
About 15 months ago I began to get nauseous everyday pretty much all day. It was my last semester of college, so there was a lot of stress and anticipation there, so I attributed this to stress and anxiety. My doctor took me off the Protonix because it didn't seem to be working. He gave me an antidepressant to try since it was convinced it was just anxiety. I had constant nausea, and pretty frequent diarrhea. I took the antidepressant once and had a severe panic attack and vowed to never take it again. I began to work on relaxation techniques, different diets, I did a few months of counseling, and nothing helped. My symptoms were nausea, bloating, occassioanlly diarrhea, constipation. I began having severe pain in my left abdomen. I went back to the doctor, and he put me on twice a day omeprazol for two weeks. This helped with the pain and the nausea, however I was still getting bloated daily, and having bowel issues such as occasional constipation. I went to a GI specialist, who ordered another upper endoscopy. The results came back with mild inflammation, but all of the biopsies were normal. She switched me to 40 mg Protonix once a day. I tried that for about two weeks, and my symptoms were getting worse. One day in particular was really bad with pain in my upper right abdomen, nausea, and persistent constipation. I went to quick care where they told me I babe IBS and gave me bentyl. I have not tried the bentyl because I wanted to work on solving issues with diet first.
I called the specialist and she told me to try twice a day 40 mg Protonix. I have been on this for a week now. My stomach pain has greatly increased on the right side under my rib to the point where I cannot get out of bed I hurts to move and I cannot get a deep breathe without pain. I get pain above my belly button below my ribs where I cannot fully extend my abdomen and have to stay crunched in a ball and it hurts to fully exhale. I have been in almost constant pain, and with the pain usually comes nausea.
Does a GERD/IBS diagnosis sound like it could be my issue? Has anyone ever dealt with some of these same symptoms? If so, what should I request from my doctor, and what can I do to help feel normal again? I frequently miss work and I have not lived a normal life in over a year. I have another move and a wedding coming up in a few months and I am desperate!
I finally went back to the doctor and he put me on 20 mg Protonix once a day. This solved my problems almost instantly. During this time I also began to start to settle in my new home and was starting to hang out with a new guy so my stress level was way down. Since then I lived pretty normally, with the occasional day of feeling somewhat nauseous every couple of months. I had an upper endoscopy done as well as a stomach emptying test and all results came back normal. Recently however, things have been beyond terrible.
About 15 months ago I began to get nauseous everyday pretty much all day. It was my last semester of college, so there was a lot of stress and anticipation there, so I attributed this to stress and anxiety. My doctor took me off the Protonix because it didn't seem to be working. He gave me an antidepressant to try since it was convinced it was just anxiety. I had constant nausea, and pretty frequent diarrhea. I took the antidepressant once and had a severe panic attack and vowed to never take it again. I began to work on relaxation techniques, different diets, I did a few months of counseling, and nothing helped. My symptoms were nausea, bloating, occassioanlly diarrhea, constipation. I began having severe pain in my left abdomen. I went back to the doctor, and he put me on twice a day omeprazol for two weeks. This helped with the pain and the nausea, however I was still getting bloated daily, and having bowel issues such as occasional constipation. I went to a GI specialist, who ordered another upper endoscopy. The results came back with mild inflammation, but all of the biopsies were normal. She switched me to 40 mg Protonix once a day. I tried that for about two weeks, and my symptoms were getting worse. One day in particular was really bad with pain in my upper right abdomen, nausea, and persistent constipation. I went to quick care where they told me I babe IBS and gave me bentyl. I have not tried the bentyl because I wanted to work on solving issues with diet first.
I called the specialist and she told me to try twice a day 40 mg Protonix. I have been on this for a week now. My stomach pain has greatly increased on the right side under my rib to the point where I cannot get out of bed I hurts to move and I cannot get a deep breathe without pain. I get pain above my belly button below my ribs where I cannot fully extend my abdomen and have to stay crunched in a ball and it hurts to fully exhale. I have been in almost constant pain, and with the pain usually comes nausea.
Does a GERD/IBS diagnosis sound like it could be my issue? Has anyone ever dealt with some of these same symptoms? If so, what should I request from my doctor, and what can I do to help feel normal again? I frequently miss work and I have not lived a normal life in over a year. I have another move and a wedding coming up in a few months and I am desperate!
Im 14. I have ibs and this definalty sounds like iBS..I suggest your bring ibs up to your doctor and get checked for that..You might get medicine for it..try not to work out alot? But don't way spicy foods! That hurts the stomach alot!
I'm not a doctor, but from things I've been reading on here recently, you either really do have IBS (which by the way is like saying, "you have intestinal issues". IBS is a symptomatic diagnosis, not an identifiable disease with a particular pathology or cure) or it could be chronic appendicitis.
Have you gotten x-rays or fluoroscopy of your bowels done?
Also, have you had any ultrasounds done of your pelvis/transabdomen? It could always be gynecological.
Have you gotten x-rays or fluoroscopy of your bowels done?
Also, have you had any ultrasounds done of your pelvis/transabdomen? It could always be gynecological.
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