Severe abdominal pain everyday

Posted by rfg003 @rfg003, Oct 3 12:20pm

Looking for any help. My wife age 60 has had severe abdominal pain for a couple of years. It has increased to everyday. It lasts from several hours to all day. Been working with GI Doctor with no diagnosis as of yet. She bloats & vomits quite a lot. Mostly yellowish which indicates bile. Seems to be a lot of gas in stomach also. Constantly working out burps which seems to ease pain. Will also mention that bowel movements are infrequent & painful. Cycle of ER visits have increased to couple times a week. But that only helps temporarily. All prescribed medicines don’t seem to help. Tests are always negative. Did both upper & lower GI scopes with no findings. She has been through ringer with still no diagnosis. She is tired & has no quality of life. Any help is most appreciated.

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laura1970 | @laura1970 | Oct 3 7:59pm

Has she had a gastric emptying study?

rfg003 | @rfg003 | Oct 4 10:53am

No. First I’ve heard of this. Sounds like I should investigate this. Thank you. Amazing how patients are more informative than Drs.

beebo | @beebo | Oct 4 11:32pm

Have you looked into trying a proton pump inhibitor?
That helped me a lot when I had symptoms similar to what you described.

rfg003 | @rfg003 | Oct 5 3:17pm

Yes. She has a prescription but it does not work. Although she has tons of gas nothing seems to break it loose. We use a massage gun to beat around affected areas. That actually helps to break gas loose.

rosiet1976 | @rosiet1976 | Oct 6 10:02am

I agree with @laura1970 . You should get a gastric emptying test. I had all the same symptoms as your wife and I did the gastric emptying test. I was diagnosed with a disease called Gastroparesis. It’s a condition that affects the stomach muscles and prevents proper stomach emptying. It’s very painful so I understand. It also causes nausea and vomiting. There is medication for it so don’t lose hope. I hope this was a little helpful.

anniesezu812 | @anniesezu812 | Oct 6 3:37pm

Hello,
I did a gastric emptying test also. Like others I have delayed emptying. Did anyone suggest the pill camera. I did this test , unfortunately the computer went down during my test so the results weren't any good. You swallow a small computerized pill and then poop it out sometime later in BM. I have severe abdominal pain which has reulted in many spine issues. I have poor quality of life also. Good luck. Keep us posted.

rfg003 | @rfg003 | Oct 6 4:19pm

Thanks very much. We will see GI doctor this week & will voice that option.

rfg003 | @rfg003 | Oct 11 2:56pm

Ok. Got GI to schedule the gastric emptying test. We will see what results show. Earlier CT scan with contrast did show narrowing of vein around kidney. GI said may contribute to some of pain. But is not root cause.

laura1970 | @laura1970 | Oct 12 3:11pm

Also wanted to talk a bit more about gastroparesis. It can occur by itself or a contributing factor could be the constipation you mentioned. Many time keeping the bowels moving will help somewhat with the gastroparesis. A good place to start is colace (docusate) 3 times a day. Remember “foods that start with a P make you poop” pears, pineapple, peas. Only counts for fruits and vegetables. If she is still not having an easy poop daily could add 1 capful of miralax daily and gradually increase until she is having daily easy BMs. It’s easy to overshoot and have a bit of diarrhea. Just be aware and scale back if it happens. Please run this by her doc before implementing.