“I had my gallbladder removed in 2008 because of stones. I had no problems after the surgery but once a month I started to feel tightness in my stomach like gas pains and the gas wouldn’t come up real fast, some nausea that would be relieved with belching. I didn’t pay any attention to it because I thought it came with the territory of having no gallbladder (like maybe I ate something bad) – I was not given a special diet to follow nor any other instruction as to what to follow. So I noticed acids would keep coming up in my throat so it was March 2009 I saw my regular doctor and asked what to do and she referred me to a gastro doctor and said it might be acid reflux. It runs in both sides of my family. Now before I had my gallbladder taken out I could eat anything NO STOMACH PROBLEMS WHAT SO EVER.
So I went to the Gastro doc and he ran all kinds of test but I noticed my symptoms got worse because I was so nervous taking those test and my mind was racing thinking the worse. I figured stress was doing this to me because before it was once a month now it is everyday. I had a MRCP to check for stones maybe left behind – None, Hployria – neg, pancritits test – neg, Endoscopy – found mild non specific gastritis. So I did my own research and found that when the bile keeps hitting the stomach wall it can cause gastritis so I found by taking welchol it absorbs the bile and stops the diarrehea so I took it. Gastritis can cause nausea so I thought that was the problem. I also kept getting a pain in the upper right area under the rib and was only relieved if I sat down. It was like a back ache pain. The nausea or gas pain was livable I could stand it and I didn’t have the pain like others have posted. So my gastro kept saying it was stress or your anxiety is acting up. I gave up on him and said to myself I can live with this pain. I did go ahead and have a colonoscopy to check for IBS. That test as well came back perfect. That doctor who performed it told me to check for SODS – I did all kinds of research and found that it not a good success rate for the ercp. So I basically gave up and said I can live with this. I recently got a checkup and my liver enzymes were slightly elevated for ALT but I thought I just got over a UTI and was injected with antiobiotic which will make your liver enzymes go up. So my doctor said we will keep an eye on that because maybe you have a autoimmune disease.
So several months past and I was feeling good and I would have occassional gas but it would pass so fast. I was doing acupuncture, eating right and lost some weight. If I ever got a headache or my menstrual cycle came is when my stomach would get upset but I basically felt there is a reason for that because a headeache and menstrual cycle will do that. I don’t want to believe I have SODS because of all the stories I heard. Plus I have really bad anxiety and panic attacks which came on strong because of all this. Sometimes the gas would make me dizzy – I was just full of it and it came out both ends belching and the other. Again, I always had an excuse for it.
Well, I had to the doctor on Monday because the gas has gotten worse and the acid keeps going in my throat plus whatever I ate made me feel a little nausea. So she prescribed me Zantac to see if it is acid reflux. Her twin had sods and she said that could be it. So I made an appointment to see a specialist at John Hopkins. I feel so depressed because I homeschool my kids and I don’t want to put them through this again of testing like I did last year. I feel there is no hope and my life is ruined because I won’t get relief from the pain I go through once in awhile. How can I get through this – you sound so brave!!! “