Need some ideas as to what could cause this!

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AgB621

AgB621

Joined
Jun 8, 2008
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202
I can't tell if these are two separate but related problems, but I will describe them as clearly as I can.

Problem 1: Every time I eat, I get huge amounts of air/gas movement back up through my esophagus. It flat out does not matter what I eat, nor to some extent how much. Obviously, certain foods are worse than others, and larger meals are worse than small ones, but there is absolutely no such thing as a food that does not cause this problem for me. I don't exactly burp, at least not in the way most people do. I think it's the basically the same mechanism, but a different valve. Specifically, I really think it's my lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Even though I don't burp, the release of air pressure has the same relief, at least temporarily. But this valve action can happen 10-20 times a minute for upwards of 3 hours after a meal.

Problem 2: Bloating extraordinaire!!! Sometimes it is just my stomach, other times it seems to include my entire digestive tract. This also happens with every single meal, though it's worse at night (maybe I eat more at dinner, maybe food is moving through my digestive tract the way it should and it's built up by the evening, I don't know). Regardless, the bloating is so intense I have nightmares of my stomach literally rupturing under the pressure. My stomach swells up so much I look pregnant; my belly button will start protruding, veins pop out, it's honestly terrifying.

Lying on my left side will help force the air out. Sometimes the air movement and bloating is accompanied by acid reflux, despite being on Kapidex. Sometimes I get nauseated as well, and there are times when I can do nothing but lie on my left side (has to be the left for some reason), tuck my knees into my chest, and hope that forcing the air out doesn't force food up with it. (That hasn't happened yet, but it always feels like it's going to.) No amount of Gas-Ex, Tums, Gaviscon, Pepto Bismol, or any other over the counter medication has been at all helpful.

My docs are stumped. I do have Crohn's, but it's not really active at the moment and it's very mild anyway. I'm being treated for a systemic yeast infection (a somewhat controversial idea my somewhat controversial psychiatrist had as to the cause of the problem) but so far I don't think it's helping. My GI wants me to get an X-ray while the bloating is happening, but again it's tricky because the problem is most severe at night. However, I am going to try this Friday (when my schedule is a little more open) to make it happen by eating a rich meal in the morning and then trying to get the X-ray. If anything interesting comes of that, I will post it here.

I have pictures of my abdomen when it's normal and distended (that I've shown my doctor) but they're too big to upload onto the site. (If anyone wants to see them, I'm happy to email them or find some other way of communicating them to you.)

Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas as to what in the world is causing this? It's so frustrating and it's making eating so unpleasant. I just don't get a break from it, at all. Like I said, it'll keep up for 3 hours after a meal, by which point I'm getting hungry again and the cycle continues all over again.

Sorry this is so long! I tried to be as concise as possible but I wanted to make sure I described the problem as well as I could. Thanks in advance for any suggestions as to what I should do next.

Edit: It might be worth mentioning that while I'm not technically constipated, I do feel really "backed up", and I don't get the kind of relief I should when I use the bathroom.
 
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hi Agb... has anyone talked to you about IBS? i know you have a Crohn's diagnosis, but it's possible to have IBS too.. and it's also possible to have just occasional attacks of IBS-type symptoms.. some of what you say reminds me of what my mum goes through regularly, and she has IBS.

you could try a couple of things & see if they make any difference... sip a full cup of hot boiled water, preferably before you eat or drink anything else in the morning, and a couple of times in the day, and last thing before bed. also, when you do eat, chew slowly, try not to bolt your food and swallow excess air.

the relief you feel while lying on your left side is common... i also do this when i feel my tummy is uncomfortable, and it helps.

i hope you get some answers soon! and i hope you feel better soon.
 
Sounds miserable Agb! Well, I may not be very helpful, but I can only give an example here. My husband (who is healthy as a horse) gets something similar to your air thing on number 1. He only gets it when we mixes fish with alcohol - typically beer. And if you make that shellfish instead of fish - he will almost always start burping and sometimes it is so bad he burps every 30 seconds for like 2 or 3 hours. it is WEIRD!! But we have figured out he is allergic to the combo in some way. He also tends to feel really bad after drinking beer, even only 2 or 3 - the next morning. More so than a normal person. So - I think it has something to do with what is in the beer - and then combine it with the shellfish and it is much much worse. Why am I telling you this? Because you may want to make a scale for your symptoms - then keep a food diary and rate your responses to what you eat. You *may* have an allergy or at least sensitivity to something you are eating. If it is all the time - see if you can figure out if removing common allergens like dairy, eggs and wheat help at all. Just a shot - but might help you.

Same thing for the bloating - just happening further down the pike so to speak. Many of us on here have the bloating thing, but for me it is pretty intermittent. I too have to lay on my side because it can get pretty painful at times until I get everything passed.

Let us know what that test shows on Friday - I hope you can figure it out!
 
Sounds like a possible stricture to me. I laid on my left side also to help move my food along, but I was almost completely closed off at that time.

My burps were so bad I had to open the Car window if someone was in it with me. If you get the bad smelling burps, you need to check for a stricture. Gas should mostly move out the other end, especially an hour or so after you eat. Bad smelling burps means you are getting food backed up, and that is not good.

Dan
 
Lots of advice here, I have a Hiatus hernia and that hurts the stomach and chest, or acid reflux.. many options there. Hope you get some relief soon.
 
dingbat - Yes, I was diagnosed with IBS years before Crohn's. I had some docs tell me that my Crohn's symptoms were just IBS (but when my diarrhea turned bloody, they couldn't make such claims anymore!) I do chew very slowly and am very careful not to swallow air. I often take a half hour to eat a rather small meal. When I eat dinner with my boyfriend, I'm usually halfway done when he's on seconds, and I start him off with twice as much as I typically start with. I'm sure I swallow some air when I eat, but not nearly enough to account for the extent of the bloating I experience. I will try the hot water thing, though honestly hot beverages have at times only made things worse (since slurping something hot causes you to swallow more air). Does it have to be plain water or can it be herbal tea? (I never touch caffeine.)

Peaches - I was gluten-free for several months last year and didn't feel any better. I've actually often had gluten-free meals lately (though I haven't been on a strictly gluten-free diet). I know in order for GF to work, you need to stick to it for more than a meal at a time, but since the irritation seems immediate, and GF didn't work for me in the past, I'm inclined to think it isn't the case. I am mostly dairy-free, though I do have yogurt and cottage cheese. But again, the problem happens even when I have a dairy-free meal. Some foods are worse offenders than others, as I mentioned, for example I'll have slightly better luck with steamed rather than raw veggies (which sucks because I LOVE raw veggies!), but it will happen either way. And there's nothing I can think of that I get in every single meal that would explain it. Heck, the air movement is happening now after drinking a glass of water with Special K Pink Lemonade Protein Powder, no solid foods at all! And I didn't swallow any noticeable air in the process, I was very careful about that. So as far as diet goes, I'm inclined to think it's either not a diet problem or something so subtle I'm somehow consuming it constantly despite the diversity of my diet.

Dan - There's no smell to my burps, but like I said, they don't seem to make it all the way up. It's very strange. There's just a lot of movement with that particular valve, the one between my stomach and esophagus. But there's so much backward movement that if it's happening a lot and I drink some water, the "burps" turn wet...I can feel liquid sloshing around that valve. I'm almost inclined to say the bloating and upper wind are two separate problems. I feel this way because the upper wind feels to me like quite simply an overactive valve and nothing more; it just so happens that I often get bloating at the same time. But I may have a meal without much bloating (typically only breakfast doesn't result in a substantial amount of bloating), but I always always always get this valve action. It will happen even from drinking water, whereas the bloating doesn't typically happen from a glass of water. Do you still think a stricture could be the problem or does it sound too different?

Sometimes it really does feel like there's air that just can't make it up. When I try and swallow, I sometimes feel like there's air in the way that I'm swallowing because it's in the back of my throat and I literally cannot swallow without swallowing the air too. This only happens once that valve is pretty active; I don't feel like I'm swallowing air when it's not.

I just need to eat a super rich or high fiber meal right before seeing my GI...the irony is that while this happens nearly all day, every day, my last THREE appointments with my GI specialist, IT HASN'T HAPPENED! So frustrating! But I'll make an appointment with him as soon as my semester's schedule is straightened out and make sure that it's happening when I get there so he can really hear it. Maybe he'll have some thoughts if he can hear it as it happens.
 
As long as everything moves down the way it should, you do not have a blockage, but if you ever get the backed up feeling with nasty burps, you do need to have it checked out.

I do not know what it is, but it could be just slow movement which could be caused by any number of things, but a narrowing is one possibility.

Keep an eye on it for changes. I hope your doctors can figure it out.

Dan
 
Hi hun

I think I might suffer something similar to what you described at point 2.

One of my main problems pre and post diagnosis has always been extremely bad bloating (maybe not as bad as yours - I dont have veins showing or anything!). When I was really bad I would eat something and would feel full from eating it for about 2-4 days! This would happen no matter what I would eat - obviously it would be worse if I had a large meal but there were times I would just a yoghurt or an apple and would feel ridiculously full for days!!

I always described it to my doctor as saying that I felt completely full up (but sometimes would also feel hungry?!?!) and backed up all the way up through my stomach. My doctor didnt really have answers unfortunately but said it was just something I could experience with Crohns. Since I started my medication at Christmas I have been feeling better - the bloating is nowhere near as bad. But I do have to avoid eating large meals cos if I do the feeling comes back! I have found eating small meals constantly throughout the day has helped (but its hard to change eating habits). I have had the odd occasion since starting my medication where I have only eaten something small and had that horrible bloated feeling so I am considering doing some kind of exclusion diet - want to cut out gluten and dairy as i sometimes think they make me feel worse!!


Sorry I dont have any answers - just thought Id let you know that I experience the same kind of thing. I Know how awful it is and can sympathise with you. I always think its such a stupid symptom as well. Whenever people ask me about my Crohns and tell them that that is one of my symptoms I think they think I am just moaning about being a bit full!! But it is so much worse than just when someone overeats slightly at a meal and feels a bit sick! I went out for tea with a friend of mine tonight and now im suffering a bit!!

I hope you get some answers and start to feel better hun. And if you do get any answers from your x-ray please let me know - Id be grateful for any information!!

Take care hun and I really do hope you start to feel better - ill be thinking of you!

Take care

xx
 
Hi AG.....

Sometimes infection/ gastritis of the stomach can cause excessive belching. Also, if you have H. Pylori infection (the bacteria that causes ulcers) it can cause belching. Any over growth of bacteria can lead to gassiness. (I can see why the psychiatrists suspects yeast)

Have you had an endoscopy of your stomach, or a breath test to rule out H. Pylori?....

Extreme bloating can also be a sign of an obstruction. Have you had a Barium swallow with small bowel follow thru???

Just throwing out suggestions....I hope you can get the x-ray done. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.:)
 
I too have experienced this the past few months, off and on almost a year. I was tested for H.Pylori and it was negative. However, my GI tried me on Cipro and Flagyl and had instant relief of bad heartburn, burping and gas. Prior I could wake up the next morning where my last meal was many hours ago and still have heartburn and burping. But the antibiotics seemed to help so I can only conclude I had some sort of intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

If you don't mind me asking, how were you treated for yeast?
 
Vickie - That sounds horrible! My bloating doesn't last for days, rather it's just extreme bouts lasting a few hours. Sometimes, when the upper air movement finally stops, I suddenly realize I'm hungry...like my stomach went from over-full to the point of nausea, to completely empty in the course of a few minutes. We recently increased my dose of Imuran and strangely, it's been worse since then. My GI says my last round of bloodwork showed my liver was a little irritated from the Imuran, so I may need to decrease the dose anyway. Maybe it's not the right drug for me, he also said he thinks things will improve if I get the Crohn's under better control.

imisspopcorn - I had an upper endoscopy two weeks ago, everything looked normal. (Not sure if it's worth mentioning, but the upper air movement was happening when I woke up. I also woke up during the endoscopy, that was really unpleasant!) I haven't been tested for H. Pylori recently, as far as I know. Thanks for the suggestion though, I will bring it up with my doc.

Brad - I was treated for the yeast with a drug called Nystatin. I developed stomach pains, though, and so my doctor told me to stop taking it, at least temporarily; we haven't completely ruled out yeast (though like I said, it's a controversial diagnosis).

I got the X-ray on Wednesday. I called my GI on Thursday and he didn't call back; I called him back today and he was out of the office :mad: So frustrating! This is horrible, I can't live like this every single day.

Yesterday, I tried eating reeeeeally slowly and chewing until my food completely lost its flavor; I spent 40 minutes eating a small meal. The initial bloating was not as terrible as when I've eaten larger meals, but two hours later, I again looked like I'd swallowed a basketball. I feel like it gets worse every day. I don't know how much longer I can put up with this, nothing seems to make it better.

Does it seem interesting to anyone that I've noticed, at times, an increase in the bloating approximately 2 hours after a meal? Does anyone have any thoughts on that?
 
You cannot rely on the h-Pylori test. I had three of them and one was a biopsy. None indicated I had the infection. I finally treated for H-pylori myself, and resolved my burning Stomach pain immediately.

I think of most of these type tests as only capable of proving you do have an infection. I do not think they are accurate enough to prove you do not have an infection.

Dan
 
Ok I'm really desperate. This is getting worse every day. I'm updating from my phone because I'm in so much pain I can't move. My abdomen is swollen from my ribs to my pelvis and the pain is radiating into my back. I had to ask my boyfriend to help me out of the shower and get dressed because it hurt too much to do on my own. It got so bad I started crying. I don't know what else to do. I'm afraid to eat. Literally everything I put in my stomach causes this. I didn't even eat very much, and it was over an hour ago that I had my last snack. It hurts so much I can't stand it!
 
This sounds like me when i had my first stricture (no relief from gas, bloating, lyin g on my left side, burping constantly but getting no relief, feeling like i was constipated). it was awful! for some reason it only showed up on a Barium xray (maybe because the backlog of barium shows up on the xray). Endoscopes can only go so far either way. It go to the point where I had to decide that if my current doctor couldnt figure it out i needed to get a second opinion. I really hope you get some help soon. Keep us posted.
 
Apparently the X-ray showed "gas". How useful is that! I'm so frustrated with this. For the first time since it started, I woke up feeling crappy. My stomach has that achey, went through a hard time feeling. I'm gonna stick with soft foods today and see if it makes any difference whatsoever.
 
Boy oh boy - the more you describe it, the more it sort of sounds like an ileus or a stricture somewhere causing you to get backed up and not letting the gas pass through as easily as well. I'd really push your GI doc - keep a log of everything you eat and exactly what happens within the hour or so after and pain levels - that may help them.

I came back to this thread because I was going to mention that maybe you might ask for a radiological swallow test. They have you swallow bread or other food that has barium on it and watch as you swallow to see if they can see any irregularities with your sphincters in your esophagus. Just the way you are describing what you are feeling - you are even saying that the valve feels funny - might be worth specifically asking if they could perform the test.

I hope you figure things out soon!
 
Do you have anything for pain? It sounds like Peaches is correct, you could have a stricture, and you have to be care of that. A barium follow through helps to detect that. If you get into to much pain and vomiting I would go to the hospital. What meds are you taking now? I hope you feel better!
 
Peaches - GREAT idea, I will call my GI on Monday and beg him to see me. The x-ray didn't show any blockage, but it wasn't a barium x-ray. Could a regular one really miss a stricture?

Jettalady - For the Crohn's I'm only on Imuran. I don't know if this is a Crohn's thing or not. The pain is pretty bad and I've been getting nausea too, and now I have a low fever as well...only 99, but it's a new symptom. I hate the ER though! I know when I need to go though, and I will if I need to...not there quite yet.
 
Well, I'm not talking about an x-ray - more like a fluoroscopy where you sit in front of a screen thingy and they watching the structures of your throat (soft tissue) through the fluoroscope WHILE you are swallowing the barium covered stuff so they can watch and see if there are any irregularities in the functioning of your swallowing down to your stomach. My daughter had this done (she chokes on her food periodically). I sat and watched on the screen - it was pretty cool as you could see her "insides". I think this might be helpful for you especially with what you are describing. Who knows - doc may dismiss it, but it seems like the perfect diagnostic tool for what you are describing.

As for the bloating - yes - like Jetta said - a small bowel follow through (SBFT) might be what you are needing to see if you have a narrowed area that you are dealing with. Honestly - the doc should clearly see to order these types of tests from what you describe IMO - but what the heck do I know??? ;)
 
I'm not sure rolaids would offer me anything that Tums, Gaviscon, and Gas-Ex haven't. And they do hardly anything for me at all :(
 
Even if you don't have the bacterium helicobacter pylori you could still have a peptic ulcer, the bacteria is only found in half of most cases... anti-inflammatory drugs cause peptic ulcers sometimes because they stop the chain of events that help make protective mucus your body needs. Although they are usually in the duodenum you can get them in your esophagus too... They don't always show up on x-rays, you need an endoscopy or upper gi barium swallow (always a yummy treat!). Anyways, this is just a suggestion, taking a BN degree so was just studying peptic ulcers and your symptoms seemed to fit. I know sometimes doctors are always so intent on linking symptoms to crohn's that they overlook some obvious things. Keep pushing for an answer, you know your body better than anyone and can tell the difference between 'gas' and pain. Hope you are feeling better soon!
 
I just had an upper endoscopy that showed nothing. I'm getting a CAT scan w/ contrast on Tuesday, but I'm sure that won't show anything either. I will let you guys know though. I'll keep working on it. My doctor has been pretty responsive about it, so I know he's taking it seriously. It's just absolutely miserable and so frustrating when I think of how much time of my day is wasted waiting for my stomach to feel better so that I can feel functional.
 
AgB621 said:
I just had an upper endoscopy that showed nothing. I'm getting a CAT scan w/ contrast on Tuesday, but I'm sure that won't show anything either. I will let you guys know though. I'll keep working on it. My doctor has been pretty responsive about it, so I know he's taking it seriously. It's just absolutely miserable and so frustrating when I think of how much time of my day is wasted waiting for my stomach to feel better so that I can feel functional.
Click to expand...

Did they take any biopsies with the endoscopy?
 
Yes they did and they were negative.

Amazingly, the CAT scan showed something relatively useful. It showed that I am backed up so significantly that my colon is completely distended. How and why that happened, we obviously still don't know, but at least we know what to do to relieve the symptoms...which, unfortunately, is a round of GoLytely. Ugh. But at least it gives us some idea of where to look if there's an underlying problem.
 
So I did the cleanse yesterday.

Today...I FEEL EXACTLY THE SAME. At least as far as the bloating/valve action is concerned...I no longer feel so backed up, obviously, but the bloating is just as bad. This is ridiculous, I really can't live like this! Nothing I do seems to make any difference, and I just have no idea what else to do.
 
Only healthy stuff really. Fruits, veggies, lean proteins. Yes, the problem is exacerbated by certain foods (eating my veggies raw can be more problematic than cooking them) but it truly doesn't matter in the slightest what I eat. I can get the same reaction from a healthy, gluten-free, dairy-free, well-cooked, gentle foods meal as I can get from a pepperoni pizza and chocolate cake. Just drinking water causes my lower esophageal valve to start acting up.

I feel just as bad tonight after dinner as I would have prior to the GoLytely cleanse I did yesterday.

Earlier today I called my mother and burst into tears that this is still such a problem. I mean, the cleanse did NOTHING to relieve my symptoms. I'm already starting to feel backed up again, and I'm so bloated and swollen, I'm not sure I can even stand up straight without a lot of pain. And my gastroenterologist is out of town for 2 weeks.
 
I'm getting a gastric emptying study done on Tuesday. Hopefully that will be enlightening as to what my problem is. I will report the findings!
 

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