Your thoughts on my symptoms

[bwfc1234]

OK so, I recently (Thursday evening) had an episode and it's got me Googling .. and in a lot of results I don't like what I'm reading, so I wondered if any of you guys could ease my fears.

I'm an almost 43 year old male and weigh just over 13 stone at 6' 2"

In the past I have had pancreatitis twice, so anything remotely wrong gets we worrying - the doctors came to no conclusion as to what caused it and have labelled it 'idiopathic' which I believe means 'we have no idea' .. and no, I'm not an alcoholic as every doctor that visited me on their morning rounds asked me about. I had an ultrasound in hospital both times and the first occasion they told me I had a fatty liver.

So, the other night I went for a meal, chinese all you can eat .. and I ate .. a lot! I drank 1 pint (well 3/4 of it) of lousy bitter.

After my 4th round (they were small plates!) I started getting a pain below my chest, so I stopped eating and rested. The pain grew worse and after about 30 minutes started to ease off slightly. Obviously I'd eaten too much and my stomach was likely stretching more than it should. I went to the toilet and did a number 2, nothing earth shattering, just a standard toilet visit and a small amount passed.

The pain subsided to a dull ache and I thought I'd wash it down with some ice cream (yes I'm that stupid!).

The pain didn't get any worse and I decided to quit while I was ahead.
After another 30 minutes or so we left. We said our goodbyes and I started to walk back with my friend to the car about 1/2 a mile away.
After only a few steps I got a pretty intense pain on the left side of my chest, it seemed to travel straight through from front to back. Every step I took was really painful. On the way back we walked past an ambulance and I almost stopped to ask but thought better of it .. didn't want to look stupid and be told it was just indigestion.

We got back to the car and he drove me home .. in pain.

I took a couple of indigestion tablets and some paracetamol with helpful reassurance (and a look of 'stop panicking you moron' that I thought I'd get from the ambulance) from the wife that it was simply indigestion.
I went to bed in a lot of pain and couldn't sleep on my left side but I did manage to get to sleep eventually.

In the morning the pain was still there although not anywhere near as bad. I went to work late (which was pre-planned).
The pain was with me all day, a colleague suggested it might be trapped wind so I went and bought some wind relief tablets.
It was on the Friday that I went to the toilet and noticed that there was a noticeable amount of mucus in my stool. The same has happened each visit (of which there must have been about 7 or 8 since, on one occasion today it looked like white ribbons around it).

I have had mucus in my stools before, normally lasting for maybe a few days and then clearing. Once my stool seemed really light too for about a week, like clay coloured as opposed to the normal dark brown. I visited the doctor on this occasion and was told to give it a few days and if it doesn't stop come back, this seems to be the standard response from my doctors about any problem I've had - seriously thinking of changing.
I have also had the same pain before, perhaps about 10 years ago, I remember it being even worse on that occasion, every few steps I took gave me such a sharp pain that I had to stop till it ended. I went to the out-of-hours surgery and the doc prescribed me painkillers but no diagnosis, can't remember what they were, I think they began with 'K' probably strong paracetamol.

It's now Sunday night and the pain is hardly noticeable unless I twist my body or overstretch but the mucus is still appearing.

So I guess my question is has anyone experienced this before? Is it likely that it is a symptom of IBS?

[bulan]

I have IBS and it has brought on strange symptoms over the years. Not like yours, but it's different for everyone.

Still, I would get a second (and third) opinion if needed, until I found a doctor who was willing to give me tests and a diagnosis. Like someone recently said, it's your body and your health.

[Pigeon]

BWFC, it could be a lot of things - gastritis, IBS, indigestion, stomach ulcer and so on.

I once had a similar episode where I had quick onset severe stomach pain which lasted two or three days (so I couldn't walk) before eventually subsiding to a dull ache that stayed with me for nearly a year!

I had lots of tests - ultrasound scan, blood, gastroscopy - which showed nothing but a tiny duodenal ulcer. Even now, I'm not convinced that the ulcer was the cause but I think I had a bout of gastritis which scared me so much I ended up with a form of chronic IBS/indigestion through stress. From what I've read, the two things often go hand in hand, particularly in those who suffer from stress/anxiety.

Given the speed at which your symptoms came and went, indigestion seems like a reasonable explanation. Certainly pain and mucous in stools are IBS symptoms but as bulan says, they are different for everyone.

If I were you, I would go back to your GP, tell him your fears and ask for relevant tests. If you don't have any confidence in your GP, could you consider changing to one who is more sympathetic? If you feel you might be suffering from health anxiety (which I'm assuming you do or you would't be posting on here) it's really important that you find someone you can trust.

I'm speaking from experience here when I say it makes a real difference.

Hope all goes well

[bwfc1234]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I think it's time to revisit the doc. If I don't get anywhere then I'll have to move to my old one who has another practice in this area.
It's not encouraging to read this today:

SIX doctors' surgeries in Bolton are facing "priority inspections" — after the health watchdog raised concerns they could be falling below care standards.

My surgery is in that six. I only joined it when I moved in with my wife as it was her docs. She said it was great.

The pain is almost gone today so that's a huge relief. Reading about the pain on Google suggests Gallbladder/Pancreas so it got me all worked up because I didn't want to face that again .. it was real agony.
I do suffer from health anxiety, but I think it's because for so many years I was perfectly healthy and then I gave up smoking and the weight piled on and then came the pancreatitis.
Since then I've had it again, had a vasectomy which resulted in a hydrocele and have had to have shoulder surgery, so over the last few years have felt like I'm falling apart when in reality I'm likely far healthier now.

I forgot, even though I said the doc didn't do anything they did take blood which came back negative for whatever they tested for.

Thanks again. Hope to have answers soon

[bulan]

I hope you find answers soon as well.