[Guest]

Can IBS cause upper stomach pain? I have been having issues for over a year now with lower abdominal cramping and more specifically (and frequently) a stitch or twinge in my lower right abdominal area. This is more of a sensations that comes and goes and shoots up my right side. Anyway. about a month and 1/2 ago I started getting upper stomach pain. Just kind of a dull pain right below my ribs. Same pain Ive gotten when Ive had stomach aches (not often) or took medicine that hurt my stomach. Sometimes it is a knawing pain like indigestion and other times it just the dull ache that is bothersome. At first it was only happening along with my other symtoms, MAYBE once a week. The past couple weeks it is becoming more frequent.I am working with a Gyno and Digestive person to see if I Do indeed have IBS. My symtoms though are more all these abdominal pains and sensations rather than pooping problems. Constipation has always been an issue for me so if I DO have a problem with that, that's what it is. I have though however had 3 diahrea attacks that were very short lived but almost made me pass out. Anyway I could go on and on about trying to figure out what my problem is but my main question is.. does IBS cause upper stomach pain???

 

[Kathleen M.]

Techinically, no, IBS will not cause pain in the organs of the stomach and esophagus.However it can cause pain in the part of the colon that is above the belly button. The colon isn't just in the lower half of the abdomen and comes up the right side to under the ribs, across the top of the abdomen just under the stomach, and then bends under the ribs on the left and goes down the whole left side.IBS can cause pain in any of those locations.Stomach (the organ) pain often feels more "chest" than abdomen/stomach for location but it can make that gnawing hunger kind of pain that isn't always what people feel with colon pain (but pain is so weird and subjective it is hard to know and often hard to tell the difference).Gnawing hunger like pain near center of the body high up in the abdomen by the chest can be gastritis or an ulcer so may need to be checked out. It can also be functional GI pain and so be just like IBS but actually be in the stomach. This is technically not IBS but technically would be called functional dyspepsia, but how the researchers divide things up isn't always how they do it in the clinic and some doctors call everything that can possibly go wrong functionally in the GI tract IBS even if technically it should only be in the colon and should always have stool issues associated with it.That being said, upper GI functional issues seem to be very common in IBS probably because what sets you up to get one probably isn't isolated just to one section of the GI tract so you can have both upper GI and lower GI functional illnesses in the same person.

 

[Guest]

Oh also. I dont have the classic symtom of IBS where your pain goes away after you go. Infact for almost a whole year we thought it was an ovary or female organ problem like Endometriosis (which has not been ruled out yet)

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply. You seem very knowledable in this area. How come? I appreciate your feeback.Ok so yeah the upper stomach thing just started a month and 1/2 ago. The first instance of it I felt like gas was running up under my ribs etc. Sometimes if I lay down this pain goes away. Sometimes its strong enough that that doesnt matter. I have had just a very small smidge of Heartburn.Stress has been a huge issue for my through my life. I am a very worried anxious person and I am now (partially due to these stomach problems) thinking about getting counseling to help me deal with my worry and anxiety.

 

[Kathleen M.]

Between all the biology classes and having IBS I've learned a lot over the years. Working on the anxiety will help as it never makes anything better.If the pain up top is new and bothersome it may be worth getting it checked out in case you do have something in the stomach that needs a different treatment.

 

[Guest]

i have. I saw a GI doctor last week and told him about the upper stomach stuff also. he is having me take Bentyl.. Ive only been taking it a week and a few of those days I only took it a couple times a day rather than the 3 times befor meals that he perscribed. I cant tell if it works or not. I can tell you it makes me feel trippy when it first kicks in. somtimes it seems to stop cramping and stomach pain, sometimes it doesnt.... It doesnt seem to do much of anything for my right lower abdominal sensation thing.

 

[jennyk22]

Well, I don't have any advice to offer you, but I certainly can sympathize. My pain varies between two places: low and center, similar to menstrual cramps, and most often where you seem to be describing: center abdomen about two inches above my belly button, midway between my belly button and my ribs. Is this where you feel it? I thought that was my stomach too, but maybe it is part of the colon??

 

[jackobite]

I just completed a whole round of tests, and am recovering from a severe series of episodes, IBS diagnosis. I was really confused the whole time, bc most of my symptoms are upper abdominal pain too! But they tell me it's classic. It's just that upper abdominal pain isn't typically a sufferer's worst symptom. Sounds like there are some opinions as to a 'Pain-Predominant IBS', rather than D/C/A/PI. I get stitches under my ribs, and sometimes it develops into a really hard feeling in my stomach, like I swallowed a rock, and then really bad cramping happens. I have relief after a bm, but it's only for a little while. Did you get a diagnosis, or make any headway?