thigtness in upper abdominal

[AMerchant]

Hi

Beginning of June I suffered from indigestion which was basically thigtness in upper abdominal in the centre just below the rib cage. I feel full and tight after having little food. I don't have any acid reflux, nausea or lower abdominal pain or cramps. Its just the upper centre of the stomach that causes significant discomfort.

Has anyone suffered the same?

After antacids did not help much so my GP put me on omeprazole 20mg once a day which I took for about 3.5 weeks. He thinks I have over acid production. My Hellicobater test was negative and my blood tests were all fine too.

As symptoms improved and because of the constipation side effect I stopped omeprazole for a week. But the symptoms have come back so the GP has now asked me to continue omeprazole for another 4weeks. Its now day 3 but the i am not see as much improvement as it did when I first started this medication in June . Is the system readjusting to omeprazole and it eventually it will work? Has anyone been briefly been off PPI and then started again and it took time to readjust?

I also feel that the effectiveness of omeprazole becomes less in the evenings since I take it first things in the morning

[asbayford]

This may sound strange but I get that exact feeling when I'm constipated, even though i know its nothing to do with my stomach, just the bowels. Very weird!

[MariaSt]

Did you do a gastroscopy?

[Josepht110]

I would ask your gp for an endoscope, acid can be caused by many things , I was found to have a hiatus hernia, and took a stomach emptying scan which was the cause ,

Doctors are very happy to give you antiacid but if they don’t work after 2 weeks there is usually an underling reason

[Wunderbug]

This is exactly my situation. I have had the abdominal discomfort for the past week. Have started taking omeprazole again, but so far now joy. Still in pain and still feeling fatigued. I’ll keep you posted with any progress

[Leemccluskey in reply to Wunderbug]

It takes two antibiotics as h pylori is strong and will often adapt a resistance to one of the antibiotics but can't fight two at the same time.

Now omeprazole reduces acid production which allows your stonach to heal and not become inflamed but we need acid to break down food and minerals. So if we are not getting vitamin b12 vit d c etc and not benefiting from foods because we've got no acid you can start to get other problems not absorbing vitamins from your food due to lack of acid can lead to all kinds of health problems from tiredness to fractured hips.

I found that ppis like omeprazole and h2 blockers like ranitidine actually upset my bowel flora and caused ibs which is supposed to be incurable but I cured mine until I had a heart attack aged 48 and needed to start ppis again because my heart meds can cause stomach damage. Now the attack on my stomach from different meds including lansoprazole are causing me hell.

If you don't feel you have acid stop the omeprazole and watch your food. Try to avoid coffee tea chocolate and spicy food and try kefir yogurts and drinks and take a prebiotic now and again to bring back a natural gut flora free from pain.

Ask your doctor for a lipase blood test to check your pancreas just incase your pain is coming from there.

[Leemccluskey]

The area you describe sounds more like pancreas related. Maybe pancreatitis or the start of it or even gallbladder. I was told I had IBS with the exact same symptoms as you. Then a 2nd gastroenterologist said I had a sluggish bowel and then I found i had two lymph nodes in my abdomen from a scan but were told they were probably due to a slight non alcoholic fatty liver. Then a 3rd gastro told me I had ibs again and then after doing blood and stool samples came back and said I had slight pancreatic insufficiency and gave me digestive enzymes called Creon to take with meals.

All my problems started when I was given ranitidine for acid as I had gastritis and esophagitis quite bad and I had a breath and blood test for h pylori come back negative. I continued to have problems and my liver enzymes went up so stopped ranitidine. I then went for a gastroscopy that showed gastritis and esophagitis and H pylori. It turns out you can't take ranitidine for several days before any blood breath test for h pylori or even a camera. My doctor had not told me this so had probably had h pylori all along and got false negative results. Because I had stopped ranitidine weeks before my camera the biopsy showed the h pylori infection.

I was then put on omeprazole along with two different antibiotics to kill the h pylori. This is called eradication therapy. The omeprazole stops production of acid as h pylori embeds itself deeper in the stomach lining as it doesnt like acid and so the acid and infection cause havok in the stomach causing pain inflammation and gastrtis and even erosion damage Wimbish can lead to cancer later on.

The omeprazole stops the acid so the h pylori comes out the stomach lining so the antibiotics can get at it

[AMerchant in reply to Leemccluskey]

Hi. Was there any acid rebound reaction to stopping ranitidine. How long did you have to stop ranitidine before the camera inspection

Is omeprazole helping

[Leemccluskey in reply to AMerchant]

They say you only have to stop ranitidine for 2 days before a camera but would think longer is better. You have to stop ppi like omeprazole for at least 2 weeks before a camera.

I'm not sure if I got acid rebound as I was on Lanzoperazole after the camera and then went back to ranitidine as I was having side effects from lansoprazole. Omeprazole didn't agree with me and gave me a temporary heart murmur. A cardiology doctor told me I had a definate heart murmur when I went into hospital for a treadmil test and EKG every doctor since then has said you wouldn't of had a heart murmur both i know what the heart doctor told me. I had been on omeprazole for 5 days and was nearly passing out and dizzy with it.

It took at least 2 weeks for the omeprazole side effects to wear off.

I have 2 elderly neighbours who were on omeprazole one was losing her hair until she came off them literally lots of hair in the shower each morning and the other blacked out for a few seconds when parking in her driveway and drove straight through the garage door. She said she just didn't know what happened.

I know another woman in her 50s who also went for lots of heart tests and found all her heart trouble stopped after stopping omeprazole.

I learned from the Liverpool Heart and Chest hospital they don't now give omeprazole or esomeprazole to their patients incase it causes heart trouble.

[Edgar77]

I have the same tight upper stomach pain also like wearing a very tight saw belt. The camara down througth found a hiatus hernia. I dont want to eat and berp all the time. I have coeliac disease and went fr ibsc to mixed and for the last 8 months ibsd i lost 2and half stone. It has stopped at last but i have to be very carefull with diet. The doc is no help except lansoprazole for hernia.

[AMerchant]

The problem is I also suffer from anxiety which makes the symptoms worse but I don't think its the root cause of over acid production

[Edgefield]

Hi

I have these symptoms as well as awful constipation. I have slow gut transit and diagnosed with IBS-C (a general diagnosis ) and food isn't easily digested, so remains for too long in the stomach and intestines and then everything just backs up. After extensive medical tests and trying the FODMAP plan I have settled on a largely gluten and lactose free diet. I take 1 tablespoon of linseed and 1 tablespoon of milled flaxseed per day with plant based yogurt and take prucalopride (all recommended by my gastroenterologist)and I am much better as a result. The prucalopride encourages peristalsis. However to illustrate how sensitive the gut can be , meeting my daughter for the first time in 6 months last Saturday, I ate a small portion of lasagne and then cheesecake and ended up with exactly the same symptoms again after about a month of being free of these. It took about 3 days to enable me to digest the food and relieve the symptoms! I have found it's all a case of trial and error (Its taken me about 3 years to get this far) but I am more in tune with my body's idiosyncrasies than I was before. I hope this helps.