Ulcer, anyone?

Hi there! Checked in for my 6 mo. appt. at the doctor's today. Down about 104 lbs, doing well with the protein, water, exercise. All is well. Except: a very painful constant burning sensation in my gut (especially when empty). Liquids or food don't really make it better, either. I mentioned it to the doc, and she said I probably have a ulcer. No way to tell without a scope, of course, but the symptoms add up, so she is treating it as an ulcer. I asked her about risk factors, and everything she mentioned didn't apply to me. (Smoking, excessive tylenol use, insufficient protein, and stress.) Well, ok, the stress could apply! This whole phase of my life is a doozy - I just turned 40 and dropped another person, changed my life and now I'm training for my first mini-marathon! Whew! Anyway, anyone else have any insight as to ulcers related to gbs? Thanks for any input.

Hi Roxanne, Congratulations on your success! That is awesome! I don't have an ulcer, but I do find that m stomach is much more sensitive than ever before. Things that I could eat, there is just no way now. Most days I can't even get a cup of decaf coffee down because the acid comes right back up. Have you been taking any meds for this? My surgeon has had me on Prevacid from day one and it definitely makes a difference. After six weeks I was off of it and asked to go back on becauce I could not tolerate the pains and terrible taste in my mouth from the acid. Hope the treatment works for you! Jen

Hi Roxanne, Have you really paid attention to the pain and what you'd eaten before it? To me, it sounds like lactose intolerance. Its a bad cramping pain, worse than period cramps and bad gas. I didn't get this until i was about 5 mos out, but a lot of gbs pts get this right away after surgery. I depended a lot on dairy and that was the reason it happened to me. You will be surprised what all has lactose in it. there are a lot of good products that are lactose free too. Just pay attention for a few days and see if thats it. email me anytime you need. [email protected] Linda

Hello, After a wonderful first 4 months with no problems, I ended up in the ER 3 times in January with a severe burning pain, then blood in my stool. So far I have had an endoscopy and today, actually in about 2 hours, I will have a colonoscopy. The endoscopy did not reveal any ulceration from the top of my stomach, so they figure it may be at the bottom, we will see. I was prescribed Prevacid and the pain and bleeding went away almost immediately. Since I do not take aspirin products, it most likely was brought on by stress. January was a stressful month for me at work and i broke out in hives then the pain came about a week later. I actually thought I had eaten something too big and it ruptured something, that was ruled out after lots of blood tests and xrays, etc. We just have to be more careful now and pay close attention to our bodies. I will let you know tomorrow what the results were of the test today. I am sure I will be out of it as they are putting me to sleep. Take care, Cyndee