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ongoing abdominal pain, chest pain and back pain
Hello there,
I am 40 year male and have multiple health issues happening to me now, but in the beginning of my discussion I will mainly focus on explainning abdominal pain and chest pain then I will mention about back and joints pain.
Around late July, middle of night, I had discomfort around where gallbladder is located.
The following week, the discomfort turned into minor but clearly noticeable pain and I thought my liver was failing. I also had multiple nauseas at that time.
A week later, around 2 am, I had chest pain radiating from center of my chest, so I rushed to E.R.
The E.R doctor told me my chest was fine after checking EKG and other things.
He also told me my liver was fine after running blood test.
He advise me to see my primary physician for getting ultra sound imaging for my gallbladder although the blood test did not show inflamed gallbladder issue.
Few days after that, I went to see my physician, but he refused to get me ultra sound imaging for gallbladder because I had it last year and the test came out normal for both of my gallbladder and liver. I also finished Hep B vaccine January this year.
He then had me do stool sample because I had H.pylori last year and treated for it but they never checked to see if I was clear of H.pylori after the treatment.
The stool sample test returned and I was told that I was clear of H.pylori.
Afterward, the physician had me to get multiple blood test but everything came out normal. He then referred me to gastroenterologist.
After listening to me about pains and symptoms I was dealing with, the gastroenterologist diagnosed me with neuromuscular issue and told me all my digestive organs were fine.
But he agreed to get me endoscopy and it turned out to be I have chronic gastritis.
I began taking Omeprazole (a type of proton pump inhibitor) and I had been on it for 3 months.
My chest pain is still there. The pain mostly occur around center but it moves to side to side or below or up.
The pain feels like burning sensation mostly. Sometimes it feels like I have sore muscle or bruise on chest.
I also have pain around right side abdominal area. Usually it feels like something is squeezing my gallbladder.
I sometimes have very light electrical shooting pain or needle poking sensation.
The abdominal pain mostly stays around gallbladder but it would move to appendix area time to time.
What is interesting about my abdominal pain is that whenever I drive car, I could feel the pain is clearly noticeable in comparison to other occasion like walking or sitting.
While taking the Omeprazole, for a short period, I had had headache, mind fog and sometimes fatigues. However, I no longer have those possible side effects. (according my research about proton pump inhibitor, the side effects extremely rare)
Both abdominal and chest pain are less noticeable when I am walking or exercising or even focused on something seriously like studying.
Everyday is different but typically, I feel much better in the morning, then it starts getting worse.
My only clues about my symptoms are my diets, eating habit, and stress level.
About 3 month prior to the symptoms occurred, I would daily eat heavy meal late night (10 pm) then go to bed right away.
I used to be under extreme stress from work and school between April and May.
In June, for the whole month, I used not eat anything until 1 pm and I often felt pain in my stomach.
I used also drink several cans of coke in empty stomach
I quit drinking alcohol 7 years ago and do not smoke
Up until here, it was about my chest and abdominal pain.
About my back pain, it constantly move arounds but pain near right shoulder blade side is always there.
I do not remember if the right shoulder blade pain began after I went to the E.R or before because I have had my back pain for over 4 years.
So, it is possible I already had the shoulder blade pain before.
I have learned that troubles in gallbladder could cause pain in right shoulder blade and also chest pain.
I know I have chronic gastritis but I am wondering if I also have issue in the gallbladder.
Could they all (gastritis, gallbladder and back pain) be related?
Anyone has idea what I should do next? I am planning to get ultra sound imaging in January to check my gallbladder.
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@moosoon10
Two things - do you know why a blood test wasn't ordered instead for h-pylori?
Also, I didn't have gallstones so nothing was seen on any scan until I had a HIDA scan. Two chemicals are put into your system; one is radioactive and the other triggers a mild gallbladder attack if you have gallbladder disease. For 5 years, a gastroenterologist prescribed Prilosec for reflux. I wound up in the ER with horrendous pain. A nurse came over and told me to see a surgeon. I did and he ordered the HIDA scan. My gallbladder was functioning at 40%. Once it was removed, the surgeon noted in his report that the walls were thickened from acute attacks. It took years for my gallbladder pain to appear more 'textbook' and my gastroenterologist failed to note my family history of gallbladder disease.
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1 Reaction@msb18 According to my physician, once a person has positive to blood test for H.pylori, that person will always have positive sign to every blood test for H.pylori. So, although my doctor was sure that my H.pylori is fully treated, he knew my blood test will show sign of H.pylori again. That is why he ordered stool sample test instead blood test for the H.pylori.
Since you did not have gallstone, I do not think you had pain around right shoulder blade? did you?
I read multiple stories of people who suffered from gallbladder infection but their symptoms were not consistent or clear enough to convince their doctors to remove gallbladder. It seems very difficult for doctors to determine whether gallbladder infection is causing such symptoms or something else is causing.
Even my own case, I am half sure about my gallbladder infection because my bowel movement is fine and I do not have nausea as much as I used to have.
My doctor kept asking me if I ever had light colored stool since my abdominal pain began, but I don't think I had any light colored stool.
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1 ReactionI didn't have an infection in my gallbladder. Instead, the gallbladder was failing. There can be a genetic component to gallbladder problems (my dad and 3 of my grandparents had their gallbladder removed). For women, pregnancy or being on hormone birth control can be a cause of gallbladder attacks. Rapid or substantial weight loss can also be a cause of gallbladder attacks. My family history and being on hormone birth control should have been a clue to my gastroenterologist. The GERD diagnosis didn't make sense because I could, at times, eat GERD trigger foods and have no reaction. I was given the h-pylori test and the result was negative. As the vast majority of reflux is caused by that bacteria, a negative test result should have been an additional clue to my doctor that it was an incorrect diagnosis.
As the years went by, my pain stopped being diffuse and, instead, hurt in my upper right abdominal quadrant and directly behind that in my back. It also sometimes radiated into my shoulder blade. I had a nightmare gallbladder attack one night at a wedding when I ate shrimp scampi. My attacks involved intense nausea and a loose stomach. Some attacks also caused vomitting.
@msb18 , I am sorry to hear that you have to endure that intense pain and complications. Comparing to yours, mine has not caused serious complication yet. However, considering that I was very healthy individual except for back pain before my abdominal began, I want to make the best effort to take care of myself. And that is why I am on this forum. It has been very interesting journey to learn about abdominal pains and how people deal with them. It is also so interesting how there are so many cases where doctors are powerless to help patients or misdiagnose patient like you.
Since last month I have been written health journal to collect my health data to see if there is any distinguishing pattern related to my abdominal pain and back pain. Eventually, I am going to write a program to more easily collect the data (I am currently using excel to keep the health journal).
I am gonna use this data to help my doctor to navigate to find cause of my health issue. My doctor has already gave up on me because he think I am physically healthy except for gastritis according to all the test he had done on me. However, I found that doctors do need more clear and accurate answers from patients (such as what time exactly pain occurred and they ate) in order for the doctors to diagnose better. Since I learned about the facts from my friend (she is a pharmacist), I decided to help myself and doctors to diagnose me better.
Have you changed your diets since you found the cause of the pains?
I recently started to change my diet. First I am cutting sugar out then meats, greasy food and eventually want to try elimination diet to see if food is making the pain worse. Since gallbladder pain is often caused by certain food, I am trying to self diagnose myself by changing diets. I know cutting sugar out makes non sense to my current pain but I am doing it just to enhance my overall health condition.
Eventually I am going to see a doctor with data i collected. Thank you for sharing about the gallbladder failure. I didn't know about it until you mentioned.