abdominal pain

[Biciclista]

Once upon a time, my DH had to work in New Orleans after the Katrina hurricane/flood, and my stomach started bothering me.
my dr put me on some antiacid stuff and it magically went away; so when he came home, I quit taking stuff.
I had a very obvious stressor going on at the time, him being in that horrible situation, working VERY long hours, including driving late at night, every night; so it all made sense, I was worried about him.
Now here I am having some of the same symptoms again. I WILL go to the dr and i'm sure she'll prescribe some of the same stuff again, but this time, I don't have a major stressor; and I'd like to know if anyone out there knows of anything else to do besides taking drugs.
it's a dull ache when my stomach is not real full (i ate 90 minutes ago and it's back) it's on the left side at navel height.
It doesn't keep me awake at night and i don't feel it when i'm riding.

anyone have any thoughts, remedies?

[Tuckervill]

I don't know. I had to stop doing jumping jacks this morning at boot camp because I think my gallbladder attacked me. I tried to run, had to go home. Took a couple of hours for the sharp pain below my ribs on the right to stop hurting. Doesn't sound like what you have.

I had a lot of stress when I was getting divorced and had stomach pain and I lived on antacids. Similar kind of pain. I just figured it was indigestion from the stress. I don't have indigestion much anymore.

Hope you find and elementary and easily repaired cause.

Karen

[ny biker]

Well, caffeine, nicotine, certain foods, and alcohol can all cause heartburn problems, if that's what's going on.

But I think if it's navel height, I don't think that's heartburn.

[Biciclista]

i drink a cup of green tea in the morning, no nicotine, and no alcohol. Pain is on and off all day.
It doesn't seem to matter what I eat; although I stuck some gum in my mouth
and guess what, as long as I'm chewing my stomach doesn't hurt!

(of course, my jaw will get tired and the gum will get old...)

[Grog]

That doesn't sound like a burning stomach to me, but I ain't no doctor (just married to one).

I'd get things checked out.

[Bruno28]

I had similar symptoms from a stomach ulcer - although the pain was more at the bottom of my ribcage where it separates rather than navel height. There are good meds to eradicate the bacteria that cause ulcers now.

Best get it checked, obviously.

[Aggie_Ama]

My thought was my dad had similar issues before his gallbladder went totally haywire and had to be removed. It went on for several years thinking heartburn/indigestion until it got worse and he thought it was too serious to be such. But I am not a doctor, good luck tummy aches are the pits.

[shootingstar]

Keep us posted, Mimi. Wierd as this may sound, you have had a number of exciting positive things happen for you which make you busy in different way at this time in life. Just observations, based on the postings to all of us at TE.

Can happiness cause stress????

[NbyNW]

Maybe just reading the news is stressful!

I had good results with Zantac, years ago when I had similar symptoms. I think it's even available over the counter now. No troublesome side effects that I remember, except that I felt better after taking it. It's different than an antacid -- I think a good Dr. should be able to explain in layman's terms the difference -- so that if you decide to take medicine that you're comfortable with it.

Good luck, hope you figure out what's going on!

[Aggie_Ama]

You are right, gallbladder is right side.

Spleen is upper quadrant, pretty close to the bottom of the rib cage but not super far fetched if you have a short torso. Had to know exactly where when mine was swollen with mono, it is huge rupture risk. Since it was 13 years ago I cannot remember if my stomach ached but I have the same pain you describe every couple years.

Is it possible you carry Epstein Barr like 95% of the world? That could trigger mono which triggers swollen lymph nodes, spleens. How are your glands feeling? I was not super fatigued with mono, oddly enough.

One weird thing my husband found before getting diagnosed with crohn's is you actually have lymph nodes in your stomach that can get inflammed with strep viruses. I don't know why but it sounded weird to me at the time. Do you eat probiotic (is that the term)? His gastroenterologist cannot sing the praises of yogurt and good cultures highly enough.

[Biciclista]

Aggie, i don't know about Epstein-barr; i'm 100% southern Italian, never heard of that in my family; however, I did have mono; and about 10 years ago when I was being tested for something completely diff; I was told that i still have mono in me and always will!
I didn't know we had lymph nodes in the stomach either.

addendum; i guess Epstein-barr IS mononucleosis. I already had it; from what i read, it only makes you sick once.

[Aggie_Ama]

Yeah, they are the same thing which makes me laugh when all the cyclists have "epstein-barr" I guess they don't want to say they have mono. Anyway, I seem to remember it effecting my throat more but my spleen was really swollen and tender. I don't remember the stomach aching or not. I thought you could relapse, good to know because I don't want it again.

Again only food DH eats and was recommended by his gastroenterologist and a nutritionist is the probiotic yogurt. The active cultures or whatever. That might help get you back on level? I am not sure.

[sgtiger]

For some people Epstein-barr can have lasting health effects though it's very rare. BIAK's friend who races occasionally has a flare-up due to it that kept her from racing. She mentions it occasionally in her blog. It's managed better now so the flare-ups are few and they don't last as long as they used to. But for a while there she was miserable, and trying every possible concoction.