severe abdominal pain and vomiting

[jon309]

for the past 3 weeks i have had severe stomach pains which progress to nausea and vomiting. my dad is a doctor and suggested zantac. i used that with brioschi for a couple days and it was not very helpful. he then said to use prilosec. i am on my 8th day and it helped for a few days but has stopped working. the severe stomach pain continues to evolve into vomiting. i am not eating foods that should trigger problems. my dad suspects an ulcer from h pylori, but the treatment has not helped. i am going to the doctor next week. what should i ask him to look for or check? any help is appreciated. thanks

[jon309]

thanks for replying. they did check my spleen on the ultrasound and from feeling it and didnt think that was it. today i still vomited because i took the zofran too late, and im sure it didnt work because it didnt have enough time to get in my system. im going to try a couple days of fasting, and then a couple days of easier foods. this initially helped me this week, and im guessing i tried to go back to my normal diet too fast, which caused problems today. regarding what caused this in the 1st place, i still have no idea. the gastro guy said sometimes mono can do this, but i dont know if thats true. the internal medicine said stress gastritis from college exams, but it got worse and worse once i was home for break, so im not sure of that diagnosis. is there any other bloodwork i should have done, for viruses or bacteria that could cause gastritis or these symptoms in general (other than hyplori which was negative)? id like to be certain of the underlying cause and not just hope it was from stress or something else

[geminigirl1963]

Have they checked your spleen since your bout with mono?  One of the side effects of mono can be an enlarged spleen and that itself can cause abdominal pain and nausea (mine was HORRIBLE when I had mono about 20 years ago).  They can check to see if your spleen is enlarged by a physical exam (the doc will push on your stomach area) or an ultrasound.  i know you've already an ultrasound, but double check if they looked at your spleen area.

if, in fact, it is the gastritis that they say, going a day or two with only liquids (wich can include jello and popsicles/ice pops - nothing dairy) may help.  After that, I would start with small, soft, easy to digest foods such as applesauce, eggs and toast (limit the butter if you use any at all)  Definitely avoid any caffeine, spicy foods (including too much black pepper) and even carbonated drinks (the carbonation can cause gas bubbles which may cause pain).  If you're then able to tolerate the softer foods you can gradually increase the amount and variety that you are eating - I would leave beef or lamb for last as they are harder to digest than poultry or fish or even pork.

You may want to consider adding only one food back at a time - that way you can kind of keep track if your symptoms reappear what you've eaten recently in case it's a matter of a food sensitivity or something like that.  If you're "allergic" or sensitive to a food, it can cause symptoms of a gastritis - dairy is a big culprit for this.

I'm sorry the zofran didn't help with the nausea today.  Do you think maybe you waited too long to take it?  You may also want to ask your doctor about a suppositorie type medication for the nausea (not sure if zofran comes in that form or not - phenergan does and usually works pretty well).  I, personally, cannot understand why doctors usually insist on giving you a pill type of medication when you're already nauseated and/or vomiting - doesn't make sense to me - if you're already having trouble keeping things down, then how can they expect you to swallow and keep down a pill?  LOL  A lot of these types of medicines also can be injected, but I don't believe any of that type can just be purchased with a prescription - I believe they have to be injected either at a doctor's office or a hospital setting - all about the needles I guess.  Again, this mode would bypass the stomach so not only would work faster, but also less risk of vomiting it back up.

I hope you start feeling better real soon - it's definitely no fun being sick - if you're like me, when you're nauseated you simplly cannot function - any type of movement makes it worse.

Keep me posted.

[jon309]

well, i was gettingbetter all week but today i got really bad pains in my stomach, and felt nausea coming so i took a zofran. it did not help and i ended up vomiting still. if this is gastritis like they say, what do i do to prevent and relieve symptoms? would fasting a couple days and easing back into eating help? because nothing came back not normal on the tests they didn't really tell me any ways to deal with this (if it is in fact gastritis)

[jon309]

i recently had mono and was using acetaminophen codeine for pain, but that was around thanksgiving time (i dont know if that could still cause elevated levels of bilirubin since it is now january). it was only elevated .1 above the normal level, which they said was very slightly high and according to them everything else was normal so i should not worry about it. they tested for hepatitis c also but that was negative. they really didnt have a diagnosis for me. the internal medicine guy thought stress gastritis because it started around exam time, but it became very severe over a 2-3 week span once i was home for winter break. i dont know if mono could cause gastritis or not either. the biopsy showing nonactive chronic gastritis does not make sense because i really have never had stomach pain before. im confused because they really had no explanation

[geminigirl1963]

An elevated bilirubin means that something is going on with the liver.  I never did think to ask you where your stomach pains were - are they more in the upper right side?  Liver problems definitely can cause stomach pains and nausea/vomiting.

If you drink alcohol, I would suggest staying away from it as alcohol can definitely cause liver problems.  Also, if you happen to be on any of the statin drugs for high cholesterol, that may cause a rise in liver enzymes.  Also, try to limit your intake of anything containing acetaminophen if you take anything like that - it's found in things such as Tylenol and some cold/allergy medicines.

I believe, but am not sure, that elevated bilirubin levels can be caused by infections.  Again, I'm not sure about that, but I thought I had read or heard that somewhere

More than likely, unless your levels are very elevated, they will simply keep an eye one them to make sure they don't continue to rise.  If you start with any signs of jaundice, definitely contact your doctor immediately.

Sorry, I can't help with anything about the igg - I've never heard of that.  Do you know what that tests for?

[jon309]

the burping eases stomach pain. the biopsy showed chronic gastritis, but i have never had stomach issues in the past or used medicines for anything like this before. i thought they had all the bloodwork back, but apparently not. of the bloodwork completed, they said there was slightly elevated bilirubin levels.im not sure whatthat means. no hpylori was found. they said i was waiting for an igg test also and some other ones