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7718987 tn?1393611400

Nausea For a Month Please help

I am a pretty healthy 25 year old male and have been out of work for 4 weeks because of persistent nausea. I also become fuller quicker, and I noticed I have been burping huge burps, usually after eating or drinking, but sometimes I’ll get these huge burps out of nowhere, and I never had that before.  The nausea is kind of like when you eat too much, and I don't notice it too much when I'm at home.  If I want to go somewhere, it gets worse most of the time. Sometimes it gets bad and I retch a few times, but do not throw up.  A week into my stomach pains I tried to stick it out and go to a concert, but I became very nauseous and when I finally made it home, I threw up after trying to eat a meal.  The pain gradually got less severe over the next 4 days, and it has plateaued for the last 3 weeks.  I had an upper endoscopy done and they found nothing. The gastroenterologist wants me to get an ultrasound of gallbladder and (liver?) but my other doctor thinks I should see if the sertraline(antidepressant) I've been taking for nearly a month now will help.  I have been taking various antidepressants on and off since age 15.  
This sickness started out of the blue when I was on my way to work.  I do roadside assistance, and it's kind of stressful, so maybe it is a mental issue.  I think it could be functional abdominal syndrome or seasonal depression.  I had a similar episode three years ago minus burping, but it went away after 3 weeks.  I really appreciate any help. I’ll be extremely grateful if your input leads to my recovery.  
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Avatar universal
I had very similar symptoms and it turned out I had (have?) gastroparesis. Basically what this means is that, for some unknown reason, my stomach muscles are partially paralyzed and I digest food at half the rate that normal people do. This, from what I understand, causes the food to actually begin to go bad in my stomach and/or for my stomach to get so used to not being empty that I have severe nausea when it is (never been 100% sure which). The way that this was discovered, for those of you who might want to be tested for it, was by me eating a radioative egg sandwich (yes, really, I'm not kidding) and then they took scans of some sort (I can't remember what type) over two hours to see how fast my stomach digested the food. (Also, it's amusing to see people's reactions when you tell them you ate a radioactive egg.) This is how they discovered that it takes me almost double the amount of time to digest food (so, if it would normally take someone an hour to digest a sandwich, it would have taken me two). This was actually shockingly easy to fix, although it did mean having to be careful for a while: I had to take metoclopramide a half hour before every meal for a while (it's been so long I can't remember how long I took it; at least six months I think). After that, I began to slowly take myself off it and now have barely, if any, nausea in the mornings. If you want more in-depth information, I would suggest googling it.

Also, I would highly suggest that you do what *you* think is best and don't let your doctors bully you into something that you don't feel comfortable with. Trust your gut and do the tests you want done first; you can always go back and try the other things later. If your doctor is bullying you GET ANOTHER DOCTOR. That is a doctor that doesn't have your best interested in mind and might even make things worse. I let my doctor talk me into accepting a diagnosis, despite my huge misgivings and repeated attempts to tell my doctor that I really didn't think I had the problem she thought I had, and started taking acid reflux medication. This was probably one of the absolute worst things she could have done as it slowed my digestion down ever more and made it so that I was extremely sick 24/7 for over a month, until I was finally diagnosed with gastroparesis and could start treating it. (Personally, I found my current--amazing and brilliant and kind--doctor by asking the people at the *office* who they went to go see. If you don't know where to start looking for one, find a larger practice if you can and ask the people who work there who they go see.)

I really hope that this helps someone else. Either way, I hope that you eventually figure out what is wrong and hope that you get better.

TL;RD: Look into getting tested for gastroparesis. Testing for it is time consuming but not painful and will give you a great story to tell people. Also, don't let any doctors bully you into anything. Get second opinions. Or even third and fourth ones. IF THEY ATTEMPT TO BULLY YOU, FIND A NEW DOCTOR! They are not a doctor with your best interests in mind. If your doctor's office as multiple doctors, ask the people who work they who they go to.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
did u find out what was causing your nausea? same thing happened to me
9 years ago started waking up nauseous during day passing out
vomiting at work or public place, over years built up to 35 symptoms just getting worse and ended up
debilitated in bed couldn't move from fatigue and sickness - finally realized
it had something to do with food, digestion, my immune system, food allergies and insulin
resistance. took every conceivable medication for all the above symptoms, anti-inflamms
steroids, anti-histamines, acid inhibitors, etc. ended up only able to eat
raw vegetables and weighing 95 lbs. only time i felt okay was when i didn't
eat - i was allergic to pretty much every food except raw vegetables.
thru tons of research online i finally tried digestive enzymes, probiotics and lipoic
acids - all supplements you can order online (i got mine from amazon after reading
reviews of which ones worked best for most folk). they worked immediately.  i can eat
pretty much anything and stand the next day without inflammation, rashes, purple tongue,
red eyes, being bed ridden or ending up in emergency.
also no nausea, no bloating, no burping, no acid reflux.
and no more conventional meds.
saying this i've learned to exercise & eat properly, developed a healthy respect for what i use to take for granted
don't know if you have the same problem, but supplements might be worth a try (if just the digestive enzyme alone)
good luck to you - having been thru this certainly would not wish it on anyone

Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I would definitely have your gallbladder checked! It sounds alot like what it will do when going bad. My chronic pain meds masked the pain from my gallbladder pushing stones in my main bile duct for few yrs. I had rest of symptoms that eventually caused a huge spiraling effect of malnutrition and everything in my body to get unbalanced, still is and I got gb removed 2 yrs ago. It caused alot of irreversible damage that I will struggle with for the rest of my life :( there is alot of good info online to do to turn the gb problems around naturally before having it removed too. I would of done all of it if I'd known it was my gallbladder before emergency surgery was needed. I wish you lots of luck and hope you're feeling back to your old self (or new self :) very soon!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
What the dr said is true but i can imagine you must feel pretty overwhelmed with all those diagnoses, which isnt great if you are already depressed...start by asking your dr about your antidepressant as a cause, do the food log and maybe ask about dietary changes....i just went through this for migraines...ask about your gallbladder and maybe ulcer as you said your job is stressful ...antacids or ulcer meds may be helpful and start there...try not to worry as it doesnt help, but starting these things asap can give you some relief as you are working toward a solution...best wishes to you hope you find your solution soon also there are some good prescription nausea meds but ask dr first as it can mask symptoms
Helpful - 0
1143283 tn?1408903305
I had similar problems ,and when it struck it would be at once,also a headache,I got a Doctor where  I just move to,she had blood work and a scan done on me,I have appointment with the surgeon for Gallbladder surgery,I had 4-6 polyps in my Gallbladder,  I am watching what I eat so my acid reflex is doing better,hope you feel better,  
Helpful - 0
351246 tn?1379682132
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi!

I am sorry to hear about your medical issues. Since you have on and off been on ante-depressants, the nausea could be the side effect of ante-depressants. Hence, please consult your psychiatrist regarding this and ask whether taking an antacid or medications like ranitidine or omeprazole etc will help. Also, maybe you need to be put on another group of ante-depressants.

If you have depression or anxiety and panic attacks for which you are being treated, then you need to change your stressful job. Maybe doing something less stressful would help reduce the nausea and burps and retching. However, before you take this major step in life, there are certain conditions which should be looked into and investigated. Also, see if counseling helps de-stress you.

First: As one of your doctors suggested, liver, gall bladder and pancreatic problems need to be ruled out through scans and blood tests.

Second: Possibility of food intolerance should be looked into. At your end you can maintain a food log and log in all that you eat and symptoms as they appear along with timing, duration and nature of symptoms. Maybe a correlation may emerge. You doctor could run a food challenge test.

Third: Possibility of an inflammatory bowel disorder, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease etc should be looked into. This would require specialized tests like video encapsule endoscopy, celiac blood tests etc.

Fourth: The symptoms could be diet related. It can be due to excess consumption of food rich in sulfites like juices, molasses, yellow dye in ready made food stuffs, and red wine. Sulfites are present in lesser amounts in mashed potatoes made from dry powder, pickles, tinned shrimp, cookies, crackers, and readymade pie dough. Cabbage, radish, broccoli, red meat etc are the other culprits.

Apart from these kidney problems and other metabolic disorders, cancers of the gut, infections, certain mental health problems and brain stroke or injury can cause persistent nausea and burping.

A comprehensive investigation is required keeping all the points in mind. Please consult your doctor regarding this. Hope you get well soon! Good Luck and take care!
Helpful - 0

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