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]

its usually a couple hrs after i eat when it is really painful. it happened suddenly about 3 weeks ago and has progressively gotten worse. last night it lasted about 4 hrs and i was dry heaving because my stomach had nothing left to get rid of. all i have eaten today is bread and pasta with nothing on it and my stomach still feels like it is bubbling. monday i have an endoscopy and bloodwork scheduled but if theres anything that can be done to relieve the stomach pain let me know because when it happens its almost unbearable.

[geminigirl1963]

I'm no expert, just speaking from personal experience with stomach problems.  the symptoms you're having could be from an ulcer.  They could also be from a bad case of GERD (reflux).  I have/had both and get the same symptoms as you are having.  Either way, I would definitely recommend you see a gastroenterologist.  Depending on your insurance, you may need to see your primary physician first and ask him/her for a referral to the gastro doc.  If you do, in fact, have h pylori, you need to be on both the antibiotic and the acid reducer - without both and without taking them for the FULL prescribed time, you will not get rid of the problem - you may feel better, but the problem hasn't been elminated and may come back.

An upper GI series could show either an ulcer or even the reflux, if that is the case.  In my case, they actually stopped the GI test when they saw how severely the drink that they had made me drink was coming back into my esophagus.  I've had quite good luck with the medication Prevacid.  It used to be only available with a prescription but is now available over the counter.  I had had some reactions to some of the other medications, such as Zantac, but with that one I haven't had any trouble.  Actually, unfortunately, my insurance company had stopped paying for Prevacid a while back so I was having to use Prilosec OTC (that's what the insurance company recommended using) and it wasn't helping as much.  But now that the prevacid is available without a prescription, I'll definiltey be goign back to it.

Do you notice your pain/nausea more when your stomach is empty or more when you have eaten?  Do you have any diarrhea or constipation?

[jon309]

brioschi is just an antacid/indigestion drink that u mix with water to settle the stomach...do those symtpoms seem consistent with an ulcer? thanks

[geminigirl1963]

I'm not familiar with brioschi - what type of medication is that?  If, in fact, you have h pylori, the treatment is a combination of an acid reducer (like the zantac or prilosec) and an antibiotic.  If the brioschi is not an antibiotic, then you haven't been taking the entire treatment for h pylori and that could be why it hasn't seemed to help.  I would definitely ask the doctor to check for h pylori and maybe even request an upper GI series.