New diagnosis for my abdomen pain

[LilAnnie5]

A few months ago I posted that I had severe pain in my abdomen. The ER doctor thought it might be mild Crohn's disease. My GI doctor Did an endoscopy on me, and discovered that I have a gigantic ulcer in my small intestine. The largest he ever saw in the area. So the mystery of my intense pain is solved! I'm happy to know it's not Crohn's disease. He's just treating with meds, and it seems to be helping. Now I have to wait to see if that will cure it, or end up leading to surgery to fix

[hypercat54]

Oh poor you as this sounds awful. At least like you said it isn't chrohns thank goodness. I hope the treatment cures it and the pain will stop soon. x

[LilAnnie5 in reply to hypercat54]

Thank you hypercat54! I hope the treatment helps me too.

[Cb1963]

What a result for you, and I'm fully aware on how painful ulcers can be, yep all being well the tablets will do the trick, you wouldn't imagine that taking a tablet would sort it out, but they normally do the business and hopefully you'll be well on the road to recovery, and avoid the surgeons knife,numerous things can cause ulcers, diet, smoking, drinking and stress are often a factor, or even the h pylori bug can be a factor, a course of antibiotics can work wonders,but if you are put onto omeprazole or something similar for a long period of time it maybe worth keeping an eye on your B12 levels as someone who has had numerous stomach problems we tend to suffer with absorbtion issues,the effects are what I call 'sly' how they creep up on you, I will be on omeprazole for the rest of my life, and I am now on 3 monthly B12 injections and folic acid tablets occasionally, so I hope you start to feel much better over the coming weeks, thank you.

[LilAnnie5 in reply to Cb1963]

Thanks Cb! I am taking the Omeprazole, but as yet I don't know for how long he will keep me on it. I didn't know about the B12 levels being affected by it. It's always something, isn't it? Just like the cortisone steroid injections that I had been getting for the cervical DDD roughly every 3 months or so for years now can thin out your bone density, which I don't need as I already have osteoporosis. Can't win! Lol

[Cb1963 in reply to LilAnnie5]

Yep even the anaesthetic gas used in a general anaesthetics can have a detrimental effect on your stomach, I believe the nitrous oxide gas can also cause B12 absorbtion issues, I unfortunately I have had many general anaesthetics which has compounded the vitamin B12 problems, yes medicine is wonderful to stop one problem, and hey presto it can then give you another problem, but don't worry there's always another tablet to counteract that tablet,lol,or in the case of vitamin B12 deficiency it's an injection,hopefully you'll continue with your recovery, sometimes you have to become a private detective with your health, so it's always useful having this bit of information, as the symptoms are often very slow and creep up on you, and trying to solve the problems become a bit of a nightmare, stay happy and healthy, many thanks.

[LilAnnie5 in reply to Cb1963]

Oh wow, I didn't know that either. I just had anesthesia a couple of weeks ago for a procedure I had done. I need to mention this to my GI doctor. Thanks for the info! Stay well!

[cyberbarn]

I bet you are really relieved! Have they discussed what caused it? It can be H. Pylori but it can also be caused by some pain medications. I hope they find out what caused it so that you can make sure it doesn't happen again.

[LilAnnie5 in reply to cyberbarn]

Yes I am so relieved that it wasn't Crohn's disease! That's a life sentence. At least I know the ulcer can go away. They checked to see if it was the H. Pylori bacteria that caused it, and I'm happy to know that is wasn't the cause. Turns out it was from taking too much NSAIDS. So I'm off taking that anymore, but that was the only thing they prescribed for me for the osteoarthritis. Good grief! Back to the drawing board. LMBO

[cyberbarn]

I can't take NSAIDs either, so only paracetamol for my osteoarthritis. Apparently the trick is to always take it four times a day. Apparently it works better if it builds up.

[LilAnnie5]

Thanks for the heads up! I talk to my gp about it.