Stomach issues... again

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About 3-4 months ago I had an issue with a swollen red toe and also a fungal infection. Took at first a couple of doses of antibiotics and then a 3rd. Also with fungal cream the infection eventually went away. The toe is not swollen anymore but still not 100%, still gets red if I stand for too long or sit a certain position for too long. It is very weird, doctors have no idea what is wrong with it but since it is slowly getting better I am just going to deal with it. I had MRI on it, checked for gout and did all the tests possible and they just can't find the cause. This of course brought me a TON of stress and during that time my stomach started bothering me. Just weird pains and nausea and burps and gas. I have had this before I am pretty sure so I just upped my PPI. Just kept the same, stoped drinking coffee and helped somewhat but not good. I also have some lower back pain and pelvic pain which I also had about a year ago and seemed to go away. I tried to not think about any of this since I am pretty sure I have had it before and went away.

I went and did my physical since it had been a few years (covid, yay). So I did it and my ESR (sedimentation rate) was quite high but the doctor dismissed it and said probably what was happening with the toe (which we thought maybe could have been lymes). I also went to my hematologist since I have MGUS and see her every year to make sure everything is in check, mentioned the ESR. She said everything was fine but she did not run ERS on C protein which was fine but she told me my iron is a little low. Same day I also went to my gastro and he put me on higher dose of PPI and some probiotics. I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy about this time 3 years ago so he was not too worried. I did start searching the iron being low and saw that its not common in men and that it could mean a bleed in the GI system. Of course this got me pretty worried. A month of the higher dose of PPI did nothing, I do think I am way less gassy so the probiotics seem to have done something but still very burpy and indigestion and just not feeling right. Stool looks fine I think and go every morning but the blood tests just got me worried now.

I just messaged my gastro to see what he thinks. Trying not to freakout but its hard.

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I really like my gastro so at least that. He wants to see the blood tests so we can proceed from there which I think is great. Getting them from the doctor is a pain though, small office and they don't have a front desk person right now. This weekend was awful, just pain after eating and just bloated after eat every time. Part of me does think this is anxiety but I still can't shake or ignore that it is something else. I get up and almost immediately I feel it in my throat. Either I am very burpy or I am very gassy and bloated. Its pretty horrible. And also now of course upper left abdominal pain which feels like a cramp.

[behappy]

I just like to document this here so that one day if I have similar issue I can come and see my symthoms ect, it has helped me in the past.

However I sent my gastro my bloods and because of the low ferritin he wants to do a colonoscopy and endoscopy again just to rule out any bleeds or anything in the GI system. I am annoyed that I have to get this done again since I just did it 3 years ago but since iron is low I think that is the right way to proceed. Now I will have to be stressed until its done and hope there is nothing major and then if not figure out why my iron storage is so damn low.