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Digestive Disorders

Stomach Pain / Gas

04/28/2003 10:44AM

Question:

I`m a 43 year old male.

Everytime I eat I feel very sick and I experience pain in my the center to lower portion of my stomach with much gas and belching.

I also feel dizzy and I almost always have severe headaches as a result of this stomach discomfort.

I`ve been totally exhausted from this ordeal. I have a hard time staying awake even though I`ve have 8 hrs of sleep each night.

After a recent endoscopy and colonoscopy (January of 2003) my doctor stated that there isn`t anything wrong with my gallblatter, nor do I have any ulcers.

He prescribed Nexium, which I have been taking 1 per day since January 9, 2003.

Note- July of 2002 an ultrasound was performed on my gall blatter, showing no gall stones.

My question is:

Is there a chance that there could be some malfunction of my gall blatter (too much bile, not enough bile etc.) that would be causing this trouble, even though the gall blatter didn`t show any gall stones or look bad during his endoscopy routine?

I`m so sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.

Thanks! For your time.

Answer:

Just to clarify, the gallbladder itself cannot be visualized during either an upper endoscopy or a colonoscopy. However, an ultrasound is still the best test to document the presence of gallstones and identify any other structural gallbladder problem (i.e.. swelling, inflammation). If a gallbladder disorder is present, the primary and usually only symptom that results is pain. Nausea, belching, gas, dizziness, headaches, and fatigue are in general not symptoms that indicate a gallbladder problem. 

For more information:

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Response by:

University of Cincinnati John D. Long, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Division of Digestive Diseases
Department of Internal Medicine
College of Medicine
University of Cincinnati