PLEASE HELP ME!! Scared and have no idea what's going on.....

[Taara]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time on here and I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.  I'm a 35 year old female who has been healthy until now (not obese, but could afford to lose 10 pounds) and am scared about what's happening to me.  On February 25th, I started having severe cramping in the abdominal region between my navel and rib cage about 1-2 hours after I eat.  At first, I thought I had some sort of food poisoning and thought it would pass.  But it's been almost three weeks and it's still happening.  I had severely restricted my diet to just tea with skim milk, turkey, bananas, apples, McD milkshakes (sounds funny) and Dannon Activia, because until this past weekend, those were the only things that didn't set it off.  But this past weekend, on Saturday, I actually ended up in the ER after just eating a banana.  Today, I tried eating turkey, and my stomach is cramping.  The list of foods that I can eat is shrinking at an alarming rate.  I've already lost 10 pounds in the last 2 weeks due to this diet, and while this may sound great, this is not the way to do this.  

My symptoms are that any time I eat just about anything, about 1-2 hours later I'm doubled over with pain.  I feel like I should have to unload whatever is in me, but I do NOT have diarrhea, vomiting or constipation.  That is what is most frustrating - my symptoms don't seem to align with anything I've read on-line - all the other GI conditions always list diarrhea, constipation or vomiting and I don't have those, just the severe cramping.  All of my blood and urine tests have come back "normal."  In the ER, they were sure I had gall stones, so they did an ultrasound and a HIDA scan (with radioactive tracer through system) and those didn't show anything.  I thought about IBS, Celiac's, Crohn's, food allergy, ulcers, gall bladder, pancreatitis, etc., but none of those seem to align with whatever I have.  

I have an appointment with a GI specialist tomorrow morning and would appreciate any other suggestions that any of you can provide.  I just got married and would like to someday have a family, but am afraid that I won't be able to have children if this persists.  Thank you in advance for your help!

  

[jamiealex1569]

HAVE YOU HAD YOUR GALL BLADDER CHECKED? I WAS 22 AND HAD SAME SYMPTOMS. I HAD NO GALL STONES AND I WAS YOUNG AND SKINNY AND HEALTHY UNTILL PAIN OVER TOOK MY LIFE. I ENDED UP IN THE E.R. 8 TIMES IN 2 MONTHS. THEY FINALLY RAN A TEST CALLED A NUCLEAR MEDICINE TEST, AND FOUND OUT I WAS LEAKING BILE INTO MY SYSTEM AND IT WAS REAKING HAVOC ON MY PANCREAS AND LIVER. 15 MINS. AFTER THEY RAN THIS TEST THEY WERE PREPPING ME FOR EMERGENCY SURGERY!!!! WELL I GUESS THEY TOOK TO LONG AND MY GALL BLADDER BLEW UP IN MY STOMACH AND ALMOST KILLED ME!!! THIS PROBLEM WILL NOT SHOW UP ON NORMAL CT SCANS OR MRI OR ULTRASOUNDS!!! IF I WERE YOU I'D TELL YOUR DOCTOR YOU WANT THIS SPECIFIC TEST RAN!!! I NOW HAVE LIFE LONG PROBLEMS WITH MY PANCREAS AND LIVER BECAUSE THEY WAITED TO LONG TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS WRONG!!!! I WILL BE ON PAIN MEDS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE AND I'M ONLY 29 YRS OLD!!! I'VE HAD PANCREATITUS 3 TIMES SO FAR , AND MY LIVER ENZYMES SKY ROCKET TO OVER 6500 FOR NO REASON NOW!!! I'VE BEEN HOSPITALIZED SEVERAL TIMES FOR THESE PROBLEMS AND A COUPLE OF TIMES I ALMOST DIDNT MAKE IT!!! ALL BECAUSE I DIDNT INSIST ON MAKING THE DOCTORS DO THEIR JOB!!! GOOD LUCK TO YOU SWEETIE AND I WILL BE PRAYING FOR YOU AND A SPEEDY RECOVERY!!!!         JAMIEALEX1569

[Taara]

Hi Jamie,
It was so kind of you to take the time to respond - I greatly appreciate it.  I am so sorry to hear about all of the suffering you have gone through.  That is terrible - I will pray for you as well.  I had no idea that a gall bladder could rupture like that.......  You have no idea how much your information means to me.  I will definitely push my doctors to run the tests you recommended ASAP.  Thank you and God Bless You.