Dry Heaves, Stomach Cramping, Belching, etc .. what is wrong w/ me?

[sick_of_hurting]

I am a Caucasian female, age 33, overweight.  For the past couple of months, I have had a very annoying problem but have not really thought much of it medically until it started getting worse today.

Sometimes when my stomach is empty, I get dry heaves.  Sometimes when I am tired, I get dry heaves.
If I take Excedrin on am empty stomach, I get abdominal cramps and dry heaves.  Anytime my stomach cramps, I get dry heaves.  Tonight, I have started getting a burning sensation in the left chest area.  The dry heaves and cramping are getting closer together and more common/often and more painful and aggravating.  From time to time, I will belch while the other symptoms are happening.  Lately, I have not been eating breakfast.  Eat a light lunch and a "normal" sized dinner.  I do drink caffeinated beverages regularly and smoke about a half a pack of cigarettes a day, don't drink alcoholic beverages.

Tired of hurting/cramping and wondering what is happening w/ me.  Please help.

[sick_of_hurting]

Oh, I do get diarrhea periodically when I have the cramping in my stomach area.  To be more specific, the cramping happens right under my breast area and sort of in the middle between my breasts.

[sick_of_hurting]

Thought of some more things to add to hopefully help you all help me.

Drinking something usually helps the cramping stop briefly.  Eating sometimes does and sometimes does not help the cramping.

[utahmomma]

Just off the top of my head your symptoms are consistent with what I had with gallbladder problems *and* with my acid reflux problems.  Many things can lead to the dry heaves but where you have described your pain would make me lean towards gallbladder or acid reflux (or, if you are lucky like me, both).

Do you have a good general physician who can refer you to a gastroenterologist or can you make an appointment directly with one?  They will probably want to do an endoscope (scope into your stomach while you are under anesthetic) and check your gallbladder for stones.

Good luck, I know this isn't fun.  Oh, and yes, they told me to quit smoking too (it aggravates the reflux and any ulcer) which I didn't do but I did cut out the caffeine which really made things worse (your Excedrin has TONS of caffeine)

[sick_of_hurting]

Thanks for the post.  I know the excedrin is something I should not be taking .. because of the caffeine and the aspirin in it.  I have not talked to my primary care dr. yet about this but I can make an appt directly w/ a specialist which I have been contemplating doing.