Pain

[Lakraziemo]

I feel Cramping on both left and right ribs which runs 2 my chest, also loss of appetite and alot of loud bulging?

[Bealive]

Oh my, I went through years of drs and chiro. and acupunc. and gastro, and heart, and I don't know how many others.  I had this terrible pain in my left side, right under the rib cage., and if it went long enough, would go up into my back and shoulders down my arm. This started in 1977.

I could count on it every day around 1-2:00.  It actually would make me leave work and then try to catch up on the hours on Sat. and Sun.  I found that I had to go home and lay on my left dside with my right leg drawn to my check.  Then I would pass tons of gas and that would take away most of the pain, but the damage from the spasm, made me sick enough to not want to eat.  I put myself in the hospital for a week's worth of tests, and many years of drs guessing and doing tests with no explaination.

Then, years later, I was precribed valium for depression.  Go figure right?  But, the most IMPORTANT thing valium did was it stopped those dern spasms.  What I have come to believe is that my intestines were spasming from my IBS/constipation, and the valium stopped the spasms.
That was in end of 2007.  Thirty years of not being able to do anything in the evening because every day I was in misery.

I hope you don't put yourself through some disastrous tests and think that you have the worse case scenario, but, that you try the easist things first.  I would try valium first.  I'm just saying it worked for me when 30 years of tests and procedures and pills with no luck.  

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi!

The symptoms could be exacerbation of the GERD or gastric reflux.  It could also be hiatal hernia. Treatment is a combination of drugs to reduce the acid and lifestyle changes. You will need to take a combination of medications (under medical supervision) like a proton pump inhibitor such as omeprazole, lansoprazole or pantoprazole empty stomach in the morning and an antacid gel after meals for complete relief. Possibility of H pylori infection too should be looked into by a carbon urea breath test and a combination antibiotic tried. Many a times a persisting H pylori infection can be the cause behind acidity not responding to treatment.

Life style changes that will help include: Drink cold milk. Avoid heavy meals and eat frequent small meals. Avoid too much of caffeine, tea, smoking, fried food and drinks both alcoholic and non alcoholic fuzzy ones. Avoid heavy exercises within 4 hours of a heavy meal. Raise the head end of the bed by pillows to 30 degrees. Avoid lying down for least 2 hours after food. Maybe these tips will help you.
If these tips do not help, then liver function test, pancreatic enzymes, and HIDA scan for gall bladder should be done. Food intolerance and inflammatory bowel conditions such as IBS, Crohn’s, celiac etc should be considered.

Log in what you eat and see if there is a correlation between a certain food type and the symptoms. You should consult a gastroenterologist (a specialist who looks after the diseases of our digestive system) or a physician for this. Hope this helps. Take care!