Posted 4/17/2012 7:32 PM (GMT 0)
Brief background:
11 months ago, I had some difficulty breathing and pressure in my chest. I went to the ER and was released with no diagnosis. Went to the regular doctor the next day, who diagnosed me with GERD. A couple days later, the pain became markedly worse and breathing became near-impossible. I went to the ER again and after a few false diagnoses, an x-ray revealed I had a collapsed lung (officially 'pneumomediastinum/pneumomediathorax').
Over the next couple months, my lungs fully recover but I continue experiencing the following symptoms intermittently, seemingly at random, in different combinations, sometimes not at all present: extreme stomach distension (even with no eating), bloating/gas that won't subside, constipation, difficulty breathing, back pain (probably deriving from the bloating), occasional acid reflux but infrequent. I also potentially gained a good deal of weight according to the scale, although I am also still growing and don't look that different so I may have grown in height as well. I decide that these issues are probably gastrointestinal in nature, and that the collapsed lung is either a side effect of those or unrelated (though I still think that it possibly was.)
I finally get an endoscopy, about a month and a half ago, along with a biopsy (no results as of yet so i assume they are not very revealing.) I am diagnosed with gastritis and nothing else. I had suspected a hiatal hernia or gastroparesis but apparently neither of these were the cause. My endoscopy was pretty brusquely done and I wasn't debriefed after (since I was sedated), nor was my friend who drove me, so I am going to get a second opinion elsewhere soon. My GP insists that it is probably just gastritis that won't heal and has prescribed Omeprazole, which does help control the acid but doesn't help much else. I also take generic gas-x to help control gas but it is sporadic in its effectiveness.
But I continue to have varying symptoms -- constipation one week, extreme bloating the next, a combination the third, nothing the fourth -- seemingly without any direct cause. My diet has a small effect, in a predictable way (beans/rice seem to help, as do light pastries -- most other things seem to worsen bloating). Admittedly, I drink alcohol fairly regularly as well as coffee. However, for a month long period I quit both to see what effect it would have and the symptoms persisted. I now drink much less coffee but I find that drinking a cup a day doesn't give me much reflux, and if I drink plenty of water with it, it seems to actually alleviate the constipation to a moderate extent (though it does worsen the bloating quite a bit.) Finally, there seems to be some link with how stressed I am, and brief periods of taking antidepressants seemed to help with the breathing issues.
My question to everyone else is: any idea what this might be? It seems like it could fit so many different potential GI issues -- hiatal hernia and gastroparesis, if they hadn't been somewhat ruled out, still sound reasonable. Perhaps it's particularly nasty chronic gastritis. But I've always had a kind of weak stomach, so maybe it's just Crohn's or IBS that I've had for a long time but is flaring up/getting worse (my life has increased in stress with age so GI issues may be linked with that.) Maybe it's ulcerative colitis?
Any help is much appreciated!