Pain and anxiety!

[Connorsw95]

Hi all. I'm a 28 year old male. I've been suffering with pain in my upper right abdomen on and off for a few months now. I used to drink heavily for about 6 years but quit completely in May this year. The pain started in July. It is making me extremely anxious, to the point I've been off work, having panic attacks and unable to live my normal life. My GP sent me for LFT blood tests which he said were all completely normal. He also referred me for an ultrasound which there is a long waiting list for. The anxiety waiting for the scan got so bad that I decided to pay for a private ultrasound last week. The report from the sonographer reads that all organs are unremarkable, no structural abnormalities detected. The pain is still there and I am so beside myself with anxiety that I am not eating, not sleeping well etc. GP says if clear ultrasound and bloods I can be assured that it isn't cirrhosis. I know anxiety can cause physical symptoms but I feel like there is something wrong - I have lost half a stone in a week through not eating as I feel nauseous all the time. Has anyone had similar experience?

[BritishLiverTrust1 Partner British Liver Trust]

Until other forum members respond, you may find it useful to read our previous post on health anxiety:

healthunlocked.com/britishl...

Best wishes

British Liver Trust

[Kharyshkyr]

Hello! I have been in the same situation as you, I quit drinking 2 months ago after a long time of moderate drinking. I'm 30 years old and since I quit, I have been plagued by anxiety and panic attacks. I have these pains in my right side as well, but they couldn't find anything wrong with my liver - it's normal sized and its edges are smooth. I did my bloodwork, Doc says they are normal. During my drinking, my diet was very bad, and I've been quite underweight. Lost quite some weight after one month of quitting. I assume that my body started to process the fats that have been built up during my period of drinking beer. I started having a better diet, no fastfood, only salads, seeds, peanuts, fruit and veggies and lots of vitamins, due to me being quite anemic after quitting. I've also been vitamin deficient, which made it worse for my recovery and immune system.

I am still panicked about my health and am always looking for confirmation that I have liver disease and this has become a daily pattern of intrusive thinking. My doctor also told me to stop worrying, because nothing showed up on the scan. I also assume that with cirrhosis, the edges of the liver wouldn't have been smooth. I think it's best to do the medical checks, keep being sober, take vitamins, sleep well and everything that must be done in order to let my body heal. I've read about people having intense anxiety after quitting, so this could be a thing as well. Another explanation that I came up with is that the mind is interconnected to the stomach, so sending bad signals to the stomach is also a bad idea, therefore keeping a calm mind might do wonders. The liver is recovering and while many people feel better after 1 week of quitting, this has not been my case.

My advice is to stick to a good diet, stay sober(!), to work out, at least a little bit and let the body remove all the toxins that have been absorbed by the body. Some damage will fix itself only after a few months, or at least this is my take on it.

Good luck!

[Csbass828]

You can go to a gastroenterologist, try to get a good one. You can get an endoscopy (upper GI) to rule out ulcers and/or a colonoscopy to rule out anything on the bottom end. You can get a hidascan which checks for gallstones or gallbladder related issues. If you have gall stones or sludge it's common to have pain just below the right rib cage and some pain in the back and/or shoulder. You can also ask for a breath test for SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). They can check you for h.pylori as well. For me an endoscopy and colonoscopy was nothing. You're asleep, you don't know nothing has ever happened. They're very professional about it. I have been through the gambit with digestion issues, I'm not a doctor. I can only speak from my personal experience. Have you taken any kind of acid blockers or proton pump inhibitors...like Omeprazole or Prilosec? I know when I had stomach pain from ulcers the slow release Omeprazole was very helpful, you can get those OTC. I wasn't a drinker, but I've had plenty of ulcers and they can last for a while. If they've done scans and you come out clean. They've mainly ruled out anything they can physically see in that particular area, which is good. I would most definitely lay off the alcohol at least until you get it figured out. You're gonna have have to advocate for yourself and push for a diagnosis. You could get them to check your pancreatic enzyme levels too in an effort to rule out pancreatitis. You DO NOT want pancreatitis. Alcohol can reke havoc on your digestive system. Even drinking beer can mess your digestive system up. It's kind of like anything else, doing anything in excess can generally cause you harm. Good luck....I hope you get it figured out.