Trigger point injections

@charliegirl that my problems - since I was 12 - was do to an intolerance to lactose! I haven't gotten a single cavity since I gave up lactose finding through this horrible process. I did a DNA test. My gums were in bad shape, and I always had cavities! The lactose and SIBO RUINED my intestines! It took 5 years to heal them. I suffered from malabsorption problems because of it. Anemia and vitamin deficiencies. The biggest thing was that I could no longer digest INULIN (garlic, onions, and more) nor insoluble fiber (think celery strings). I used to get stomach issues from the time I was a teen. It was horrible! All of that stopped. Ironically, they put chemicals in the "Gas-X" which made my stomach aches WORSE! The bloat from the trapped gas sent me to the hospital TWICE with paramedics suspecting a heart attack! It was simply trapped gas pain. I couldn't expel it. I can't digest anything ending in "-ol" like mannitol. (Oligosaccharides. So a scrap of paper fell out of my folder where I had written FODMAP and I couldn't remember why. The doctor said it was a diet and I should look it up. I did and it solved my problems. It took 3 years to figure it all out but it solved the abdominal pain.
Periodically, the SIBO returns, and I take a targeted antibiotic called Xifaxin. I only need to take a couple, and I'm good to go. Once we receive a diagnosis of IBS, we must change our diets so our bodies heal. It's free - don't follow Dr. Gundry or any of those profiteers. Go to the original university-designed program. I went to all these hoighty-toighty integrated doctors and they made the pain worse! This totally fixed it. I had relief in the first 48 hours after years of struggling! You start out thinking it's going to be tough if you are a foodie, but it was a welcome change to narrow the wide variety in my diet. I found substitutes for EVERYTHING and I am healthier for it: https://www.monashfodmap.com/

@loriesco
I am so sorry for your struggle!! I am going to look into the FODMAP diet. I have a very limited diet myself, because I have celiac disease. I feel horrible all over and cannot have a bm for days if I swallow anything with gluten. So I am 98% gluten free. It was a royal pain in the butt for the first 18 months, but I settled into it, about 5 years ago. I also avoid anything with tomatoe because it makes me sick and my mouth develops sores, inside and out.. Which sucked because my fav foods were anything Italian and Mexican. Also, I dislike garlic and onion so blah blah blah diet. Thanks so much for sharing your story.

Going to see a different pain doctor in about 2 weeks to see if he can figure out how to help me with my constant upper abdominal pain. Life is getting harder to live with this constant abdominal pain. I don't have much family support for my health issues.

@tjanet You should ask about radio frequency ablations of the nerves causing you the chronic pain. Using injections of cortisone (epidurals) for pain relief are worth trying for a while but doomed to failure after a period of time that varies widely from patient to patient. You need a nerve pain blocker to do the job properly, and the doctors will not often offer you the alternative because they want you coming back into the office time and time again.

Hangs your doctor !

Do you have diverticulitis? Try eating a soluble diet and see if that helps. All veggies must be cooked. Don’t eat anything that won’t melt in your stomach. No hard foods like chips, nuts, etc. look up soluble diet. I’ve been on it after having the same pain. Soluable has helped. I do eat lots of cottage cheese and yogurt mixed at night. It gives you colon a rest. Let me know if this helps. DH

@tjanet You should ask about radio frequency ablations of the nerves causing you the chronic pain. Using injections of cortisone (epidurals) for pain relief are worth trying for a while but doomed to failure after a period of time that varies widely from patient to patient. You need a nerve pain blocker to do the job properly, and the doctors will not often offer you the alternative because they want you coming back into the office time and time again.