Sick of Bloating & Belching & Being Sick

[nep75]

Here's a long one.  I was given acid blocking meds about 12-15 years ago and have been on them since.  It kept me from throwing up everyday and I felt better.  Flash foward to 2003, I started getting sick.  I got infections (in strange places), my head felt like it had detached and was dizzy (like it was full of cotton), my eye sight started to go.  Went to multiple doctors for all these weird symptoms.  Finally, after a couple of different antidepressants the neurologist gave me and "here try this one to see if it helps", my wife cornered the physician's assistant and said we weren't leaving until we got some answers.  She then ordered 32 vials of blood to be taken for tests.  Came up with Hepatitis C.  Not cool, but went through the Pegintron & Riboviron year therapy (that had it's own terrible side effects) and cleared.  I am still clear.  But here's the catch, all those weird symptoms the doctors said was Hep C acting like other diseases didn't all go away.  And during the treatment they upped my dose of acid blockers to the max and I can't come down as it makes me throw up from acid.  It's been 6.5 years since the end of treatment.

I'm still on the acid blockers.  I get bloated, belching, and back-up feeling, with that a sick feeling over my whole body.  I get a nasty taste in my mouth and I can feel it in my joints and muscles.  My head feels fuzzy and have a hard time thinking.  Just feel yuck!  I started having pain in my URQ.  The gall bladder came out after the test results amplified the sick.  I felt much better, better than i have for years for 2.5 months.  Now the belching, bloating, sick all over is back.  I am seeing a GI doc.  I have tried new diets, didn't help.  Doesn't matter what I eat, it happens.  It's getting to the point I can't really function in my life.  I've had colonoscopy that was clear.  They said I have diverticuli but no infections.  It really confused me with the GB removal feeling so much better for a couple months, now it's back.  What in the world is going on with me?  Do other people feel like this?  Could my acid blocker pills not work or cause these symptoms?   I'm tired of feeling like this.

Thanks,
~ nep75

[ggreg]

NEW, Sorry you still felt nauseated without the acid blockers, but I'm glad you gave it a try.  DOC, thanks for the informative part about how reflux can cause aspiration pneumonia.  GG

[nep75]

Thank you for the responses.  Yes, wife and I are sharing ID.  I have tried to stop the acid blockers and feel sick after missing 1 dose.  Really get bloated and throw up after missing 2 doses.  I don't think my body can handle acid anymore, just can't tollerate it.  I have a GI appointment next week and will ask him about the biliary dyskinesia and the Oddi dysfunction.  It is difficult to find a good GI doctor.  I will try to come back with news, possibly to help someone else in my condition if we figure out what is causing it.  
Thank you,
~ new75

[Christopher R Watters, MD]

I am assuming that you and your wife are using the same ID after reading the July, 2010 post. I find it amazing that physicians will put people presumptively on a medication and leave them on it for a decade and a half without a real diagnosis. That is exactly why the pharmaceutical firms continue to turn in record profits. Why would they be wasting time with a colonoscopy rather than actually diagnosing you reflux issue. First things first (and I am referring to the prior post as well), hiatal hernia does NOT equal reflux. Fifteen to twenty percent of Americans have a hiatal hernia on upper GI series. Patients with a hiatal hernia are no more likely to have reflux than those without. People with reflux and a large hiatal hernia do tend to be refractory to medical therapy though. Your problem would appear to have been present long before the hepatitis C and continues on with inadequate control on medical therapy. You have been followed for multiple years without an appropriate evaluation. If the presumptive diagnosis is gastroesophageal reflux and the therapy isn't working it is time to see if you have the right diagnosis. The gold standard of GERD diagnosis is a 24 hour pH study with manometers to determine the ability of the esophagus to work correctly. A gastric emptying study would also be appropriate in your situation. Somehow, people have been lead to believe that Prilosec/Nexium, etc. stop reflux. They don't. They merely make what is refluxed less acidic. Folks can still go on to have aspiration pneumonias and severe complications like Barrett's esophagus which is very likely due to the affects of alkaline reflux rather than acid. They fact that you improved for several months following the gallbladder surgery would also make biliary dyskinesia or sphincter of Oddi dysfunction a possibility. In my practice, I have seen a high incidence of bile reflux gastritis in the group of patients with dysfunctional gallbladders. It is naive to think that these patients' disorder is limited to only the gallbladder. They appear to have a more generalized abnormality of motility throughout the upper gastrointestinal tract.
Time to get a real diagnosis and recommendations for therapy. You have proven yourself to be a surgical candidate by virtue of your medical failure should reflux be proven.

[ggreg]

I'll offer this one thing I know, and that's since your gallbladder was out and you felt better, let us suppose that was causing your symptoms since the HepC was cleared.  Therefore, may i suggest you stop wtih the acid-reducer meds for a while and see what happens.  Drink some extra water to keep your bowel movements regular.  You can drink ginger ale so the bubbles will let the gas out.  When you eat, eat slowly and chew food well, eat at about the same times, and go to the bathroom at about the same time.  Always eat some bread or grains each meal, sort of "soaks up" the acid.  But stop your acid reducers.  

See, I'm thinking what I've suggested you do for a while here will keep you from throwing up.  I also think since your gallbladder was taken out and you felt good, this COULD mean that you won't throw up anymore.  And I think one more thing is DO NOT eat anything that is too acidic.  Look around online for "acidic foods" and "alkaline foods," so you'll be familiar with what are the culprits for acid.  And as long as you are having regular bowel movements, and now that your gallbladder is out, it could be you won't be too acidic anyway.