Confused re blood tests

[princess01]

Basically, I went to my GP a few months ago because I got really bad recurrent indigestion when on holiday; stupidly looked it up on 'Dr Google' and then panicked. She gave me a prescription for Peptac-tried to take it but it was just so yuck it made me gag. She also did a range of blood tests in a hope of trying to reassure me I guess and felt my tummy.

Not sure exactly what ones she did in total, but do know they included full blood count, liver function, kidney function, and thyroid function. Anyway, these came back and were reported as 'normal'; she did say that my white blood cell count was slightly raised but that she wasn't concerned and didn't need to repeat/see me again. She offered me a course of Citalopram which I declined and got me to see a CBT counsellor.

Since then I began to pick up but went on holiday last week and my indigestion returned; this time pretty much constant and worse than ever. I am also experiencing pain underneath my left rib on and off. Every pain freaks me out!

My biggest question is what exactly would a FBC show anyway? She said to me that 'we could rule out any major underlying problem' with the results of my blood tests but I am simply not convinced.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated x

[janicecarrington]

it could be a number of things it could just be cuased by anxiety & being away from home. to offer you citalopram i find silly 1 of the side affects of taking it is indegestion, my doctors reducing mine because i have stomach problems & take 30mgs of lansoprazole in the morning & 300mgs of ranitidine at night. for heart burn & reflux. hope this as helped a bit.xx

[rouri]

hello love, your GP is good for doing all these tests, any one of them if abnormal can cause stress/anxiety. my GP only did Thyroid test. thx God they came back normal. you are little anemic, when white cells are higher than normal. I am very anemic and cannot take normal tablets for it as it causes me the most horrible heartburn ever.

the pain under your ribs are gas, this come from anxiety/stress, I used to have pain in my ribs not moved to my breast cage and the middle of my chest, nothing much i can do about that, it seems whatever i eat my body doesn't like it. anxiety caused me IBS and Gas is one of IBS symptoms. you can have some fennel tea or ginger tea, I am new on ginger after my gas/stomach started causing me heart palps and fluttering. i need to give it some time.

be careful to what you eat, no alcohol/caffeine/sugar/fried fatty food

for your anemia eat spinach salad/lentils/nuts

[milo1]

DONT WORRY PRINCESS f b c will pick up anything that is seriously wrong this sounds like a build up of gas watch what your eating and get some peppermint tea x

[hollow]

Hi FBC are routine and can show up lots of things but it looks for aneamia and depending on the results in particular this gives an indicator of what may be wrong so I would stick with the fact that they have come back normal as good. Blood tests are a good way to pick things up and even if you have a poor GP the results generally speak for themselves. Raised WBC's could be as simple as an infection at the time of giving bloods or even stress, they clearly weren't significantly raised for your GP or in fact the labs to request a repeat. I suffer with acid and it is definitely related to what and when I eat, I swear by Gaviscon double action tablets. I never leave home without them. (no I don't work for gaviscon)

[anxiousrecoverer]

I have constant indigestion also. Did your GP check for H pylori? She probably did in the blood tests. H pylori is a simple infection that is very, very common and causes indigestion. It is totally harmless but a bit uncomfortable. If it turned out to be that, you would take a course of antibiotics and it would go away. Your doctor would also give you a proton pump inhibitor like omeprezole to reduce your stomach acid.

But since she has done a lot of blood tests, I would be extremely surprised if she had not tested for h pylori. I get a huge amount of indigestion from anxiety alone and I also get the pain beneath my left rib. I didn't think of it being gas before, I just connected it to the acid, but I guess acid produces a lot of gas.

Ranitidine is extremely good. It sorts out everything for me, including nausea (which I often get really bad and for long periods). I think you can get it without a prescription now, but if the indigestion really bothers you and you can't get it OTC then maybe ask your doctor about it.

Otherwise, if you get nausea with your acid, motilium is brilliant and is cheapish over the counter.

But one of the most effective things I've ever tried for acid is fennel tea. Peppermint tea is also good, but fennel is brilliant for acid.

Avoid milk, dried fruit, caffeine, fizzy drinks, alcohol, anything spicy, anything citric and anything with tomatoes in it.

Your higher white blood count could be for any reason and if it was not significantly raised, like your doctor said, it will because of something simple. WBCs react to little things, so it could be a bit of inflammation somewhere, or a mild infection, or like a poster said above, it could even just be stress.

I don't think you have anything to worry about

[princess01]

Just wanted to say a HUGE, HUGE thank you for all of you for taking the time to reply. just knowing there are people out there that understand and care is so lovely Am really trying to reduce my caffeine intake as I am a coffeeaholic; have found a camomile, honey, and vanilla tea which is lovely. Again, thank you and I hope I can also be of help to you guys if ever needed in the future Anxiety is such an awful thing to suffer with and it's great that there is a place like this where we can all go and share our thoughts and concerns xx