Anxiety / IBS - I was wrong!!! STOMACH ULCERS!

coinxoperated

Hi all!

A few weeks back I posted about my suffering with IBS type symptoms and what felt like anxiety related stomach issues. I was having a pretty stressful time with work and home life and it was getting to the point that each time I was leaving the house my stomach felt like it would just 'drop' and I'd need to rush home to the toilet (or to the nearest toilet where I was, depending on how far away I was from home).

This has plagued me for since the age of 16. I'm now 23.

I had cut out the majority of bad foods in my diet, was eating smaller portions and drinking lots of water... And it would calm down and then flare up shortly after.

Last Wednesday, I had a real gnawing feeling in between my ribs at the front of my body. I shrugged it off as wind.

Then followed two more nights of not ring able to lie down comfortably.

Visited the GP and she's shared that she thinks I have stomach ulcers and I produce too much stomach acid. She also felt I may have H. pylori bacteria in my gut which also creates too much stomach acid along with upsetting the stomachs me causing ulcers.

It's all started to add up now. I know that it's not a 'mental' thing. Yes stress and anxiety doesn't help, but I KNEW there was more to this.

For 8 years I have had parts of my life ruined by my stomach issues. I've missed parties, dates, a funeral, a wedding, concerts, cinema trips etc.

I'm now on Omeprazole (anti acid) at 20mg once a day. I'm on day 3 and I would say it's solved many of the problems straight away (apart from bloating, but I believe that's supposed to subside after taking them for a while.)

In being tested for the bacteria at if it's positive, it's a course of a couple of antibiotics and it's cureable. Overall, we are all pretty convinced that this is the root cause of all of my stomach problems.

I've also done my own bit by cutting out all fizzy drinks, keeping junk food to small treats rather than gorging on crisps and chocolates while watching a film etc. also I found not eating after 7:30pm has helped considerably.

I wanted to post as I've suffered for so long being brushed off with Buscopan and various anti-spasmodics which have done nothing but maybe given a placebo affect occasionally.

Best of luck to anyone else suffering with stomach issues, and if you wish to share your experiences / problems feel free to do so. Also don't be scared to see different doctors if you lose trust in those that don't listen to you!

belfastgirl23

Wow that's quite a turnaround. I had stomach ulcers myself a while back so I know how uncomfortable they can be. Just two things I thought I'd mention. Firstly, when I phoned my docs surgery to get my h-pylori rest results they said it was negative. Six months later when I was in with the doc about something unrelated she asked why I hadn't been back to be treated! Turns out it was positive but they gave me the wrong result. Just wrth double checking if yours comes back negative!

The other thing is that the antibiotics you get for it are STRONG. Luckily before I took mine a friend warned me that they can really affect you. One day from the end I was feeling awful - depressed and anxious and really bleak - luckily DH remembered the warning and realised it was connected to the antibiotics! But it was well well worth it in the end. Just thought I'd pass the warning on in case you found anything similar - be sure and tell it to someone close if you have to take the antibiotics as you might not be in a condition to remember

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

coinxoperated

Thanks! I've read a few things about natural remedies to combat thrush if I do end up on the strong antibiotics but wouldn't have even thought about depression and the other things you mentioned! Thanks!

Either way, I am pretty down and depressed after spending 8 years fighting something doctors didnt care about, so hopefully it can only get better!

What were your symptoms of H. pylori? Did you have a 'fragile' feeling stomach?

McKneff

That's great news, you can have a life again. Good luck to you and keep to your healthy diet.

My poor daughter in law has IBD (diagnosed) and I can sometimes see her suffering. It would be wonderful if someone could come along and set her right.

KxMx

Yes, this is why GP's should never diagnose IBS, they are simply not qualified.

Any stomach problems should be sent to a Gastro Dr who is better able to judge if further tests are needed. And then like me have more than one since one normal test isn't enough to rule it as IBS!

You have no idea how many times, as a forum monitor on a health forum, I hear stories of "well it turns out it wasn't IBS". It truly is shocking.

ladylouise62

I've just been to the doctors with stomach acid. It was uncomfortable but not terrible, albeit seeming to be all day for the previous 2 days and she started me off on 20mg of Omeprazole 2 times a day.
Needless to say, after 6 tablets in 3 days I had no stomach acid and the food was just sitting there for over 24 hours and in fact didn't clear out of the system for 4 days, and the stomach didn't start overproducing again until the 5th day .
When I returned on that 5th day I had to argue with her that this was not the 'full' feeling you can apparently get with stomach acid, but the food really wasn't moving, so I needed something different. I am now on Ranitidine which at a lower dose can be bought over the counter, and it seems to have improved things.
Of course, all she is doing is treating the symptoms rather than caring what the cause is - from reading up it seems that that is mostly what GPs do.
Next step - try and find out what the cause is!