Can anyone give me some advice?

[Mbnichols]

Hi. I am at my wit's end. I have been having severe bloating for about a year, but a stomach ache of some degree for over two years. I had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy and had 2 plops and my endoscopy was fine. I had a ct of my pelvis and abdomen and I had a cyst on my kidney and nothing else showed.
Fast forward to eight months ago. I was so tired of a stomach ache constantly and a lot of awful bloating, I went to a new gi dr. Two others that I had been to both concluded that my stomach distress must be from my pain meds that I need to take for nerve damage. The new dr. Did an endoscopy and I had a little erosion and took medium. Stomach still hurt after eight weeks. Then the dr. Said that I must have an infection and gave me antibiotics to take. After that he did his own colonoscopy and removed one polyp. Then I had Prometheus testing done for Crohn's and it came back negative. Meanwhile I can not stand to have anything putting any pressure on my stomach and had to go to Kmart and get some cheap elastic XL jean shorts to wear.i can't stand my clothes pushing on me. I have no appetite, but I do eat be cuz I don't want the ultramodern and hydro condone to bother my stomach. I have horrible, horrible gas and can really rip um. I drink honey water with cinnamon in it and it seems to make me fart about ten times and I get some relief. My dr has me scheduled for a ct scan on Monday because the other one is two years old and he's having it done at the same place so they can compare. I went on the celiac diet about two years ago and felt wonderful for about three months and even though I stayed on it for over a year, the pain came back. He said that I don't have celiac. If the ct doesn't show anything he is going to see if my heart is giving my stomach enough blood. That doesn't sound like a fun test. I still think it's Crohn's, because the blood work has a one in five chance of being wrong. My whole life has changed. I don't want to eat, never want anyone over, we don't go out to eat anymore. My stomach feels like it is going to explode five minutes after I eat. I am 61 and retired. I can have days when I feel pretty good, but I don't want to eat. I hope there is someone out there that can give me any suggestions or hope.

 

[mickey]

try to drink ginger tea throughout the day and that may help. Boil water, drop in a small piece of peeled ginger. Very soothing for belly. Avoid drinking carbonated beverages and basically anything else besides water. Begin belly rubs of going from right side up and around belly button and down around the left side (this is helping digestion from ascending colon to descending) and round back to right side. Do whenever you can (in car, sitting at desk, couch, wherever). It will not only be relaxing, but you will find eases gas, reduces bloating....

Antibiotics will probably flare up the inflammation a little so perhaps try a probiotic as well, on a daily basis. Another easy exercise to eliminate bloating is to sit upright, knees together, then blow...blow as if you are blowing out a candle and do it in sets of ten. Snap in the belly as much as possible. Do a few times a day and you will see some results within 24 hours....

feel better!

 

[Tuff]

Lactose and fructose intolerance can cause symptoms like that. You could try and leave dairy products out of your diet completely for a week or two and see if there is any improvement. Keep a food diary. Have you ever seen an allergist?

 

[lizbeth]

Hello there and welcome to the forum, thank you for sharing your story with us, I'm just so sorry that you are having such a rough time . My suggestion won't make the problem go away but it might help to soothe your tummy, I use heat pads or a hot water bottle daily and find that when nothing else helps the heat is gently soothing, or a hot bath (Discovered that one by accident trying to ease a sore back ). I was wondering what sort of diet you followed at he minute? Mine is quite a bland diet with emphasis on low-residue foods, I can't eat lamb, pork or beef and dried fruit is a big no no for me. I also have to avoid at all costs spicy foods, nuts and sweetcorn . I know everyone is different in what we can and can't eat but I hope you get some relief from your symptoms very soon. The symptoms you describe would be very similar to how I feel and when I changed my diet I did have some ease.

I can also relate to you when you say about not going out and not wanting people over, I prefer to be at home more so these days than before I had Crohns (6 months now) I'm too sore to want to be out and about, but I hope that when my symptoms go away I will feel more like I used to and I hope you do too? Best wishes and big hugs, take care.

 

[mccindy]

Lizbeth is right, a hot bath can do wonders for the irritated belly! I discovered by accident the same way, taking a bath to ease back pain and noticed that my belly felt better as well. I'm also doing low-residue right now, as everything seems to irritate my belly. It is intensely frustrating but worth it because I do have much less bloating and gas. Now if the pain would just let up..... !