Upper and pain and burping - flare?

[Jane]

Hi all -

I'm having a really rough week. For the past two weeks I've had pain in my upper abdomin accompanied by burping. The burping relieves the pressure stemporarily. The pain usually doesn't start until the afternoon although today it was on and off throughout the day.

I also have two mouth sores on my tongue.

Previously when I have described the Abdominal pain my gi doc has said it is reflux. And advised me not to eat spicy food, avoid carbonated drinks, and not swallow air. I'm frustrated with his advice because I'm NOT eating spicy food, drinking carbonated drinks, or swallowing air.

I'm not fatigued although i do find the heat to be a killer.

Other note my last endoscopy a year ago showed a small hiatal hernia.

Do you think the pain is reflux? Chrons related? Related to the hernia? Could it be bacterial overgrowth?

I'm on 6 mp but have been reducing my dosage - per my doc's instructions - because my white blood cells are getting to be too low.

I feel frustrated because since I was diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago I feel like my symptoms have improved but have never gone away.

Any suggestions for next steps or what to follow up on w doc would be appreciated

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Are you on any reflux meds, by chance? I have GERD (chronic acid reflux) and when it acts up I then in turn get attacks of gastritis, and I probably have a hiatal hernia as well. Reflux meds keep my GERD under control which in turn allows the gastritis to settle down, so if you're not taking anything for reflux, you might want to try something like Prilosec (Omeprazole is the generic version) and see if that helps - you can get it over the counter and your doctor can also prescribe stronger dosages. Where exactly is your pain located? When I get gastritis pains, it's about in the center and a couple inches above my belly button. I get the vurps (vomity burps) too when my GERD acts up - do your burps taste like vomit or like acid, or do they taste like the last thing you ate, even if you haven't eaten for hours? That's what my vurps are like. It's all related to GERD and gastritis in my case and sounds like that could be what you've got going on too. (For the record, I also avoid carbonated drinks & spicy food - and who on earth purposely swallows air?? )

I am finding this heat to be a killer too. Heat plus humidity cramps my guts up pretty terribly and it seems like this heat wave will never end! Hang in there, I hope you can get some good relief from your symptoms for awhile. I'm in remission, and while I'm not 100% symptom free, most days I do feel about 99% well. I hope you can hit remission too and get these newer symptoms figured out. Good luck!

 

[Jane]

Thanks for the advice. I haven't tried Rx for reflux. I'll try that. I have tried tums and gas-x. They don't seem to do anything.

I do think the avoid swallowing air suggestion was a bit goofy!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I sometimes take Tums when I get the vurps, but they don't do much for me either. I only notice a real difference if I take about 10 Tums at a time, but then I feel like I ate a mouthful of chalk and that's almost as gross as the vurps are. I take Nexium and Zantac now for reflux as Prilosec seemed to lose effectiveness (I think Nexium is losing effectiveness now too which is frustrating). Zantac doesn't do much either but my GI wanted me to try it (even though I had tried it before and it didn't do anything then either). Anyway, good luck, I hope you find something that works well for you and can get this under control. Feel better!

 

[Rebecca85]

Have you tried Gaviscon? I have a suspected hiatal hernia (I would pit money on your hernia being the cause of your symptoms!) and find Gaviscon is better than antacids, it forms a protective layer over your stomach contents and suppresses the vurps.