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Really bad heartburn and maybe ulcer??

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GERD & Acid Reflux
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Posted 2/8/2010 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
Hello,

For many many years ive had stomach pain when my stomach is empty. If I eat or drink it instantly goes away. This has been going on for 15+ years now as I remember having this pain in 6th grade. I used to get a lot of migrains 1+ a week and I was taking a lot of excedrin.

Now days I'm taking 4-9 aleve a day for bad arthritis. And the pain is still here, i'll open some water and drink some and it goes away. For the past few months ive had really bad heart burn which prilosec is barely helping. I've woken up 4-5AM choking, And a few weeks ago it was bad enough I have a feeling i enhailed it, I had trouble breathing for a day. now I sleep almost sitting up which has cured it.

At any rate, the pain symptoms from what I recently was told could be from an ulcer!? Is there ANY way I've had an ulcer for 15 years which was never bad enough to make me think something was wrong?

I'm not a doctor but that seems highly unlikely, altho I did look up duodenal ulcer and have more then half of the symptoms, dull stomach ache\nausea, gas\burping during it, bad heart burn, and eating or drinking instantly makes the pain go away. I've also had hiccups almost every day for awhile. Not bad ones but they come and go.

Is there any chance all of the asprin and excedrin 15 years ago caused this and its been with me since!?!? I know back when I was getting the migrain's id take 2 excedrin on an empty stomach, then 2 more hours later without eating several times a week, which is a big no no, but It never seemed to bother me, or did it?
Posted 2/8/2010 11:10 PM (GMT 0)
Pain medicines can cause ulcers if used too much or taken repeatedly without food. You could have a very small ulcer that recently started growing.

Joy
Posted 2/9/2010 5:40 PM (GMT 0)
Really?

So it is possible i've had one for 15 years??
Posted 2/9/2010 11:06 PM (GMT 0)
Very small ones are hard to feel. Most of the time you think it's just gas pains. It's very possible you could have it for 15 years. Have you talked with your G.I. yet?

Joy
Posted 2/10/2010 12:14 AM (GMT 0)
No I have not, Was not really sure what I should do?

I'm gonna assume if I have had it that long, its not just gonna go away its own ;)
Posted 2/10/2010 1:34 AM (GMT 0)
Hi thetube,
Sorry to hear you're having trouble. Your stomach symptoms could be more gastritis /reactive stomach related, rather than an ulcer. Of course they very well could be caused by an ulcer...you could have a sensitive, reactive stomach for 15 years without having an ulcer. My stomach also feels better with food in it. I don't think that's uncommon.

Aleve is terrible on your stomach. I ended up in the hospital with severe GERD which triggered asthma as a result of long term use of Aleve, then a dose of antibiotic. I no longer take Aleve, and try to stay away from anything for pain. I have taken Tylenol, but try not to take that either. Actually, I'd ask about taking the pain med via suppository to keep it far away from your stomach. I don't know if you can get anything that works for arthritis as suppositories...I do know that anti-inflammatory meds are harder on stomachs generally.

It's no fun having a sensitive, reactive stomach. You should go to your GI doc (or your family doc) and let him/her know what's going on and share your worries.
Good luck finding answers!
Take care,
Denise
Posted 2/16/2010 6:15 PM (GMT 0)

Hello everyone,

I'm new here to the group.  I have GERD, too.  I am on Protonix.  It helps the reflux, but I still get chest pain almost every day.  Although, I must admit that it has gotten "somewhat" better since I kicked my husband out of the house after serving him with divorce papers!!! LOL!   I found out he was cheating on me.   We were married for 30 years!  Anyway, now I'm looking to ways to ease and get rid of the pains in my upper body.  Does anyone get pain in the back between their shoulder blades?  I also had my gallbladder removed a year and a half ago, so don't know if that has anything to do with the pain.  Could it be from the GERD or the removal of my gallbladder?  I didn't get the pain in my back until after I had my gallbladder removed.  I had made an appointment to see a Gastroenterologist, but the weather got so bad here (snowstorm) that I had to cancel it.  Then, I came across HealingWell.com, and so  HERE I AM...Hope to enjoy our talks together and hope we can help each other here.  Have a great day.

Hugs,

linsuwin

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