A
female
age
30-35,
*ugarCookie
writes:Ok I have a health question. I have been diagnosed with acid reflex. I got diagnosed with it in September of 2006 so almost two years ago. I had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. I didn’t have any ulcers but I did have a polyp which is what they said caused the bleeding but the bleeding never really stopped it comes and goes but doesn’t ever bother me.For the last week I have had really bad stomach pains. So bad that I cant breath and I start to hyperventilate. I asked my doctor Tuesday about it and she told me to eat more often which doesn’t help. Thursday evening, I woke up from a nap because I have two ear infections and tonsillitis that I’m on antibiotics for and have been feeling really tired. When I woke up my stomach was really hurting and I felt both hot and cold so I thought if I got in the shower I could fix my temperature. After standing for less than a minute I had to sit so I did. The stomach pains got worse and I couldn’t get up so I yelled for my fiancé to help me out of the tub. I was breathing almost like I was in labor only a lot more unsteady and my fiancé rushed me to the ER. While there my face, hands, arms, feet, and legs started to tingle and hurt. I started to get sweaty and my left hand locked into a funny position. I started crying from the pain in my hand and kept try to pull my hand open. I have had trouble with my pulse rate for the last few weeks which hasn’t been explained my pulse rate has been averaging at 110 which the normal for a woman is 75. When I first went in the ER my pulse rate was 160, then it went to 144 after about an hour, then right before I got discharge it was at 104. At no point did I run a fever and all my lab work came back fine. They put me on an IV to make sure I was hydrated and gave me a shot for pain and nausea. After 7 hours in the ER I was told it was my acid reflex and to check up with my primary care doctor and go back for another endoscopy and colonoscopy which I plan to do. In the almost two years I have had acid reflex I have never felt pain the way I have the last three days. I haven’t changed my eating habits and I haven’t stopped taking my medicine. My question is: Is it possible to feel that amount of pain and have those symptoms with acid reflex? Could there be something else wrong?One other thing on Wednesday I have an appointment to have an ultrasound done to find out if I have gallbladder stones. Thank you for taking the time to read this long letter and thank you all for the help!
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female
reader, Susan Strict  +, writes (21 June 2008):
 There's a lot here, and we're not doctors.
First, it's important to make sure you are telling the doctors EVERYTHING. Too often the doctors are trying to make a diagnosis on only part of the information, and you aren't displaying all the symptoms when you go to see them. Write down everything and refer to your list. If possible, write it down while you experience it - or at least as soon as possible afterwards.
The symptoms you describe aren't generally associated with gallstone pain. The intense pain from a gallstone will be high in your abdomen almost under your right ribs, and it will be at its most intense between thirty minutes and four hours after you've eaten anything containing fat, and the symptoms will recur every time you eat something containing fat - BUT if a small gallstone comes out of the gallbladder it can lodge in other parts of your digestive system and cause pain in other places before you (hopefully) pass it. If that pain continues without stopping for more than a few hours then it generally means the stone is seriously stuck somewhere and frequently needs surgery sooner rather than later.
It is possible for a larger gallstone remaining in the gallbladder to block the neck of the gallbladder. In this case the pain under the right ribs is fairly intense after eating, and an infection can start (which might possibly account for some of your other symptoms).
However, the breathing problem, sweating, tingling, hand locking, all suggest something completely different. These are typical symptoms of an allergic reaction. It could, for example, be a reaction to antibiotics or to something you've eaten or to an insect bite. It's possible that your body has suddenly started reacting to something you've regularly taken or something you've regularly eaten, if you are absolutely sure there was nothing new shortly before the symptoms started.
Acid reflux (or "reflex") is quite different. Although it's possible that pain from reflux - the stomach acid finding its way up out of the stomach - could have started such a reaction, it seems rather unusual. A more extreme symptom/cause could be a hiatus hernia, but you would have expected the doctors to have picked this up and mentioned it. It's usually fairly obvious when an endoscopy is done.
My guess would be that you have more than one problem here. It really is particularly important that ALL the symptoms are described in detail to the doctor so that he has a chance of making a full diagnosis.
Good luck - and don't worry. The doctors will sort it out.
A
female
reader, lexilou +, writes (21 June 2008):
 Gallbladder stones do cause pain so it could be that or it could just be that you just think your ill, it sounds to me you have a lot going on and maybe need to talk to your doctor about why you feel you are ill all the time x
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