I occasionally have burning pain in some part of my abdomen, on the left side just above the belly button , and constant aching all over my abdomen when I press it with my fingers. I have also tested positive for H pylori and taken the necessary course of antibiotics ( I need to have a new test to see if drugs took care of H-pylori). My doc once mentioned endoscopy. Considering my symptoms together with food allergy, can an endoscopy be really necessary and valuable?
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Any suggestion for endoscopy?
- Thread starter SaraM
- Start date
JAH
Senior Member
- Messages
- 497
- Location
- Northern California
Hi Sara,
I have had 2 endoscopies (and live in the bay area). Without going into all of the reasons why-- one was worth it, the other a waste of time. Both times just found gastritis, which is treatable with acid blockers (like zantac). I have food allergies too- so your abdominal problems may be due to that-- you could just try taking an acid blocker, if you think you have gastritis- either otc or by prescription and see if that makes a difference. (gastritis causes more nausea than pain, which seems to be your complaint) Since you have h. pylori, you may want to have the scope to see if you have an ulcer, but basically the treatment will be acid blockers. Always hard to know what to do in these cases, but I have had a ton of tests and they are almost always a waste of time- that being said, endoscopy isn't that horrible, a lot better than a colonoscopy!
JAH
I have had 2 endoscopies (and live in the bay area). Without going into all of the reasons why-- one was worth it, the other a waste of time. Both times just found gastritis, which is treatable with acid blockers (like zantac). I have food allergies too- so your abdominal problems may be due to that-- you could just try taking an acid blocker, if you think you have gastritis- either otc or by prescription and see if that makes a difference. (gastritis causes more nausea than pain, which seems to be your complaint) Since you have h. pylori, you may want to have the scope to see if you have an ulcer, but basically the treatment will be acid blockers. Always hard to know what to do in these cases, but I have had a ton of tests and they are almost always a waste of time- that being said, endoscopy isn't that horrible, a lot better than a colonoscopy!
JAH
Hi Sara,
I've had two upper GI endoscopies for symptoms that sound similar to yours. The first endoscopy (done at major mid-western medical center specializing in the procedure) confirmed the presence of bacterial overgrowth via a doudenal fluid sample. Note that very few GI's are skilled/specialized enough to get this type of fluid sample and to know that a positive test wasn't caused by contamination as they inserted the scope.
The second endoscopy confirmed active enterovirus infection via tissue sample taken from the antrum and the duodenum.
As for addressing my issues with abdominal pain, the first endoscopy had more immediate and tangible benefits. Hydrogen breath testing is a more widely available and less invasive procedure that would have gotten me to the same place (actually did back up the endoscopy results) and was a less invasive way to test the efficacy of my treatment for SIBO (Xifaxan).
There is no readily available and direct treatment (at least that I am aware of) for enterovirus infection. Those results may still play a role for me in immuno-supportive therapy down the road.
I have posted a number of references addressing SIBO on a thread about flagyl - http://www.forums.aboutmecfs.org/showthread.php?5737-Flagyl-Antibiotic-Query
More information on enterovirus infection can be found at the Enterovirus Foundation web-site: http://www.enterovirusfoundation.org/
http://www.enterovirusfoundation.org/chronicinfections.shtml
Dr. Chia has focused on the role that enteroviruses may play in CFS. His son had CFS and with treatment, experienced a significant (full?) recovery.
I should note that the Xifaxan was NOT intended as a treatment for enterovirus infection but was directed at the SIBO.
I've had two upper GI endoscopies for symptoms that sound similar to yours. The first endoscopy (done at major mid-western medical center specializing in the procedure) confirmed the presence of bacterial overgrowth via a doudenal fluid sample. Note that very few GI's are skilled/specialized enough to get this type of fluid sample and to know that a positive test wasn't caused by contamination as they inserted the scope.
The second endoscopy confirmed active enterovirus infection via tissue sample taken from the antrum and the duodenum.
As for addressing my issues with abdominal pain, the first endoscopy had more immediate and tangible benefits. Hydrogen breath testing is a more widely available and less invasive procedure that would have gotten me to the same place (actually did back up the endoscopy results) and was a less invasive way to test the efficacy of my treatment for SIBO (Xifaxan).
There is no readily available and direct treatment (at least that I am aware of) for enterovirus infection. Those results may still play a role for me in immuno-supportive therapy down the road.
I have posted a number of references addressing SIBO on a thread about flagyl - http://www.forums.aboutmecfs.org/showthread.php?5737-Flagyl-Antibiotic-Query
More information on enterovirus infection can be found at the Enterovirus Foundation web-site: http://www.enterovirusfoundation.org/
http://www.enterovirusfoundation.org/chronicinfections.shtml
Dr. Chia has focused on the role that enteroviruses may play in CFS. His son had CFS and with treatment, experienced a significant (full?) recovery.
I should note that the Xifaxan was NOT intended as a treatment for enterovirus infection but was directed at the SIBO.
*GG*
senior member
- Messages
- 6,389
- Location
- Concord, NH
Not sure what constitutes and abdomen, but I thought with Endoscopy that did not go very far into the digestive system? I had one done years ago, not sure if that is what led to 1 of my diagnoses of Chronic Pharyngitis?
Ok I looked up abdomen and seems to suggest belly, kind of vague for me, my belly is large!