Hello all, my name is Jinni and I am a 20-year-old college student. I have had stomach issues my entire life and went through extensive testing in 2017 during my senior year of high school. Everything came back normal and doctors only settled on the classic concepts of "stress," "GERD," "gastritis" or "IBS." I continue to have pain and discomfort when I eat, ranging from a tight, pressure-like feeling when I eat much or fast, then pain when it hits right under my ribcage, and then discomfort and nausea for hours afterward, and it's seeming to get worse over the last few weeks.

My uncle was just diagnosed with MALS, which is how I first heard of it. His symptoms seem much more severe than mine, but I can't get the idea of the possibility out of my head that I might have it too. I have seen no research on whether or not MALS could be hereditary, but I have seen that it is much more common in women. I'd like to talk to someone about this all, I am scared to move forward with testing. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks, but I am worried about bringing it up to my doctor because I don't want to hear anyone tell me that I am overthinking it or that I'm overreacting or that there are no more tests to be done. I am beyond frustrated that everything has come back normal because this much pain and discomfort just cannot be normal. I feel very alone in all of this because I feel like everyone is sick of hearing me complain when they all think I am fine.

I saw this connect group and hope I can get some thoughts/opinions on how to move forward if my symptoms even line up with what a MALS patient has, or just any other support going through this. I hope you all are doing well.

Best,
Jinni