Bad stomach!

[danaeris]

Sunday, Tuesday, and today I have had stomach pain.

Except when it is at it's most intense, there's no nausea.

The pain is in the very upper centre of my stomach, right beneath my ribs.

If Zantac does help at all, it takes the max dose to make a noticeable difference, and even then, it hurts a little.

Eating food hurts too. I'm getting really frustrated. I'm starving but eating hurts. I can try to eat some chicken soup, but it has so little caloric content it hardly has an impact. I'm experimenting with toast right now. The first slice with just a little margarine hurt a little. It was a small slice, though. I'm going to try margarine and jam, and eat it slow, and see how it goes. I can't not eat -- I'm too hungry.

Anyone have any bright ideas what might be wrong with me?

Comments

[secretsoflife.livejournal.com]

i have no idea what it could be, but that seems definitely well into "seeing a doctor" territory to me :/

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

Doesn't sound that different from what I get, but more... advanced. Omeprazole (sold in the US as Prilosec OTC--dunno what it'd be sold as in Ontario) taken about 1/3 as often as recommended controls the bubbling acid enough that healing can happen.

[stiltwalker.livejournal.com]

If Zantac isn't helping, try a regimen of Prilosec. I spent years using Zantac et al (before they became OTC), and finally my doctor prescribed Prilosec (Omeprazole). I still use it to this day (I have a chronic reflux problem) and as long as I take it every day I have no problems.

Prilosec is a totally different animal from Zantac - which as I understand it attempts to slow down the production of stomach acid by your body. For some people their body just says "Huh, I don't seem to be making enough acid... I'll just work overtime at it!" and they're back at square one. Prilosec chemically inhibits the transport of acid into your stomach, and for some people (myself included) this method of acid control is what works.

I'd stay away from the margarine and any other oily things for now, also citrus-ey and and carbonated stuff will probably give you pain. Plain white bread - toasted or not - is pretty safe. Saltines and other simple crackers are good, and generally plain water until the majority of the pain goes away. After that, flat or almost-flat ginger ale is good for soothing your stomach. Alka-seltzer as well, though not at the reccomended full-strength, can also be helpful. Yogurt for reestablishing the flora in your system that all the extra acid may have killed off.

Anyway, those are my suggestions from experience. A doctor would have better reccomendations still.

I hope this gets better soon!

[phoenix-keika.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it might be either an ulcer or really bad heartburn. I'd run it by a doctor, or Telehealth Ontario on the outside. Zantac or Omeprazole may do the trick in large doses, but you want to make sure you're dealing with the underlying cause, and not just treating the symptoms. Might be stress related too. Hope you feel better soon!