Severe stomach problems--help?

[koolark]

For the past 3 years, I have been having excruciating pain in my stomach and esophagus. It is always there, but gets worse at night. My stomach never seems to empty out--I can't eat anything after about 9 in the morning, and lots of the time, I can't eat at all. I'm on my third day without food right now--once, I went two months on nothing but liquid vitamins. I get bleeding ulcers a lot of the time with this, even though I take a PPI every day. Since the pain is always worse at night, I have to take dangeourous quantaties of antacids just to be able to sleep through the night. These antacids give me bad kidney stones, and I'm afraid I'm on the road to kidney failure if I keep it up.For 2 years, I went to dozens of doctors. They did every test under the sun, but they all came back normal. Finally, the doctors decided I was faking, and I've just had to live with it for the last year. Does anybody know what this could be? I'm in so much pain, I'm ready to jump off a cliff!

[girlonahorse]

if you have not had an egd done you might want to have one. you could have a hiatal hernia. Gurd can also cause these problems. The could also be related to stress.

[ladymorgan26]

Have you seen a gastroenterologist? I would imagine that you have if you have seen "dozens of doctors" but at a minumum you should have had the following tests:1. Upper Endoscopy (EGD) during which, among other things, a biopsy for H. Pylori (a bacterium that causes ulcers) should have been performed. This is a procedure where they use light sedation and use a camera to look at the inside of your stomach and esophagus.2. Upper GI - this is a procedure where you swallow barium while the radiologist takes pictures to make sure your swallowing reflexes work correctly. It is also one of the only ways to correctly identify a hiatal hernia if you have one. The barium tastes nasty, but this is otherwise a painless procedure.3. A stomach emptying study - this usually involves eating something like scrambled eggs mixed with barium (ugh, but survivable). Pictures of your stomach are then taken at intervals to monitor your somach's abilty to actually empty itself of food.There are at least three other tests that should be done to difinitively diagnose GERD (which is what it sounds like you have), but they are generally used only if you are at the point of considering corrective surgery.If you have had all of these tests and they have been negative, I would seek a GI specialist. The web can help you find top people in the field. Speaking as one who suffered with all of this for years and finally elected to have corrective surgery two years ago, I can tell you that the surgery changed my life. Best of luck to you!