Abdominal Pain, told it's "all in head"
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| Thu, 05-17-2007 - 2:34pm |
Hi, I am at my wits end and at a loss, because I have been having abdominal pain for over a year or more (quite a long time really I remember laying in bed at school in my dorm with abdominal pains), but only recently has it gotten worse. I don't have insurance and so hopping off to the ER and doctor is hard for me to want to do, since I'm also jobless and seeking work. Although, in reality, I'd rather be in debt and alive, then dead.
Anyway, I am having quite a lot of problems, but I am being told by my mother that it's "all in my head". She took me to the ER so that "this would all be over", but all they did was an ultra sound to look for gallstones, and found nothing. I am feeling belittled by people and as if my pain isn't real. I am too afraid to ask her to take me to the ER again, NOR do I want to go there, because the doctor was very cold, impersonable, and unfriendly. He only asked me what my pain was on a scale from 1-10, and didn't ask me anything else. I had expected a lot of questions, because that is what websites are telling me about abdominal pain. I don't know what to do. I don't think it's IBS, because a lot of my pain is in the upper left and right abdominal quadrants. I get sharp pains all over, but some of the pain is localized. I also worry about my right gland in my throat because it has been swollen for a really long time now, and I am reading if you don't have a cold or upper resporitatory infection, then a swollen gland can be indication of something else. I feel nauseous almost everyday, no matter what, it's sometimes not so bad, but sometimes like now it's just horrible. I feel like I have the flu without the fever (and nasal symptoms). I am experiencing a lot of stomach cramping. I get quick sharp pains in my stomach and right side of my abdomen. I don't have heartburn all too often, but it does happen. I do sometimes have a burning sensation in my right upper abdomen, which feels like heartburn almost, but it's definitely in the wrong spot.
I am getting sick of feeling sick all the time. I really want to get a GI X-Ray and an H. Pylori test for ulcers, but I need to find someone else or another way of getting somewhere .... somewhere that takes a person who is jobless and uninsured. I have been emailing ALL over the internet trying to find an ulcer test I can peform on myself, but I doubt my mom would take the results as being accurate since I'd be doing it myself. Despite they have self check tests for ulcers in the UK, and I've been emailing medical sites, and a woman said they are about to do business with a company where I may be able to order just 1 individual test. However, I almost don't think I bleed enough or when I prick myself I don't get much blood. I may need more than 1 test, because I'm bound to screw it up the first time.
Anyway, when they did the ultra sound, she went pretty low on my abdomen, and somewhat over to the left. I'm hoping it took x-rays of other areas, than just over the gallbladder. Does ANYONE know if an ultra sound will pick up appendicitis and or ulcers? If so those could be ruled out, despite the doctor never said anything at all to me about any of that. He seemed to have concluded NOTHING was wrong, and he immediately walked out of the room when he told me that. Well, before he did, he told me to get another scan with my doctor, WHY DO I NEED ANOTHER ONE IF YOU FOUND NOTHING? ... I wanted to scream at him so badly because I am uninsured too (he must have forgot) ... AND I DO NOT HAVE A DOCTOR ... I haven't for a year or more sine I turned 24 and graduated college, and my dad took me off his insurance. I made a scene in the waiting room as I was leaving and crying to my mom that "my pain is all for nothing then". She insists I need on depression medication or anxiety medication, because that is her answer to everything, but I don't believe that is all of the reason I am in so much pain.
I am experiencing a lot of weird pains too, like yesterday I was standing looking at items in a store with a friend, and I felt a sharp stabbing and cutting pain in and around my knee cap, to the point it hurt when I walk. I am hoping all of this isn't due to my weight, but I highly doubt 20 LBS overweight could be causing me so much agony. I sometimes have chest pains, almost feels like a heart attack (it's not as if I know what that feels like though, but it's the only way to describe it, but it's on the wrong side). I haven't had them recently, but my chest was feeling tight as I lay in bed last night, which may have been the caffeine I drank, which I am realizing I am sensitive to. Sometimes I get a shooting pain in my neck on the side of that swollen gland too, which scares me. I am constantly feeling weak, tired, and lacking energy. I have frequent urination also, to which the ER tested and I had gone to Urgent Care before the ER, and they both ruled out urinary tract infection. Also not fun is this sense of doom hanging over my head, which I know is also part of anxiety possibly, and panic attacks (which I have not had in years but I had one last night I think brought on by the caffeine). Otherwise my abdominal pains I don't think are 100% related to that. I think it could be possible I have IBS in conjunction with something else. I have had a popping sensation in my stomach a couple times, and a have had a popping sensation in my intestines as well. And, I do have cramping sometimes in my lower left and right abdominal quadrants. I have not ever vomitted coffee grounds or had black tarry stool, which I know is symptoms of a bleeding ulcer. I have however one time vomitted mucus, that was practically all it was and these pink chunks (who knows what it was), but this was back in December '05. I get to the point with all this pain that all I can do is lay in bed. I hate it, and wish it would all just go away.
Also, I guess I should also include that from about 2002-2006 I was abusing sleeping/allergy pills with:
Diphenhydramine
Chlorpheniramine Maleate
Which may possibly be partly due to all my problems, but you'd think my body would have time to recover, plus my abuse wasn't that bad, and wasn't everyday. I no longer take anything as such either. I also have many 'bouts of what feels like "stomach flu", which I feel occurs way to often than would occur for a healthy individual.
Edited 5/17/2007 3:02 pm ET by skye_gaze

in upper left stomach like sharp stabbing pains been to doctor loads of times
but it still not gone away any idea what i should do thanks