I was 35 when I began to experience some mild recurring upper abdominal pain. I had previously been diagnosed with acid reflux disease and was taking Nexium for symptom relief. This seemed to have reduced the pains somewhat but did not completely relieve them. The pains were getting sharper and more frequent. At my next doctor's visit I described the pains as a sharp stabbing feeling below my mid-sternum.
The doctor prescribed me Prilosec and warned me again about greasy fried foods. I had cut down on such foods but agreed to eliminate them from my diet. The new medicine and diet seemed to be working. I was having fewer symptoms over the next few weeks. I kept a bottle of cherry Rolaids in my pocket at all times. I was at work when my first serious attack hit me. I was a night supervisor at my local newspaper. We were running the early morning paper off the presses when I felt the pain in the center of my chest. I nearly fell over. I went into the locker room and knelt down on the floor. It doubled me over the pain was so intense. I really thought I was having a heart attack. It felt like something was on fire in my chest. I could barely breathe. I clocked out early and went home.
The rest of the night was a struggle. I thought if I could just get something to come up the pain would go away. This was how I best described the pain. It feels like food poisoning. On top of the stabbing burning pain you feel physically ill. When the pain would not subside, I decided to go to the emergency room. In the waiting room the pain seemed to simply go away. I was seen by the night physician who could find nothing physically wrong with me. I didn't even feel any discomfort when the area of my abdomen was pressed. It was like the pain was never there. I made another appointment with my family physician.
By this time I the sharp painful attacks were hitting me almost daily. And the tests were indicating nothing wrong with me physically. I had gotten frustrated with going to the doctor just to have them scratch their heads. No medication was working to relieve the now agonizing pain. This was affecting my work and I couldn't sleep through the night. In desperation I fastened a belt around my upper torso with a shirt tied up in a knot to keep constant pressure on my mid-sternum region. This was the only relief I could get. I was scheduled for another appointment with a gastroenterologist. A day before my appointment I began to get chills and became pale as a sheet. I collapsed and woke up in the hospital.
Only after my gallbladder had ruptured did it release poisonous bile into my system that the tests were able to record. A simple ultrasound weeks before would have shown that my gallbladder was full of stones. My physician explained there are so many different conditions that mimic the same symptoms that it's difficult to diagnose the gall bladder as the cause. I looked at him with some frustration and recommended he put an ultrasound at the top of his list of tests to perform when his next patient complains of stabbing upper abdominal pains.
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Previously Posted on FullofKnowlege.com
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