Feel bloated/swelling bottom of left rib cage along with back pain left side? (gallbladder, allergies)

[impala_ws6]

Hello everyone! A little about me I am 30 year old Hispanic male living in the city, no major health issues other than seasonal allergies. I first started getting symptoms in late November of last year. Started out with stomach ache and nausea. Never vomited or had diarrhea. This has persisted until now usually worst in the mornings. Then I started getting real bad headaches which are rare for me. Along came blurred vision, floaters, and "lightning type vision". The headaches have gone away once in a while they come back. I went to an optomologist who said my eyes were ok he did numerous test. I still have visual problems especially in rooms with white walls or looking at a screen. Doctor did couple of test on me, my blood work came back ok. Stool test came back negative for H. Pylori but my blood test confirmed antibodies that apparently I've had the bacteria before. They gave me antibiotics and felt a little better but now the pain has come back consistently. I feel fatigued at times and feel like my upper left side towards my back is inflated. I've also started to have some sharp pains on upper right side abdomen and near the naval area. I am suppose to see a Gastroenterologist later this month. Sorry for long post but if anyone can give me an idea of what might be going on? Here is a recap of my symptoms:

Stomach ache, pain and tender upper left side radiating towards right around where the ribs end, vision problems, nausea, stool sometimes comes out light brown with white specks or dark spots.

I hope someone can help me out because these doctors just keep on guessing that its stomach acid of infection. Anyone have this experience before?

[ehealthguy]

If the bloated feeling is accompanied with--even mild--abdominal distension, it's probably from gas. Gas can be caused by small intestinal disorders, like celiac or Crohn's disease, or from parasites, for example. All of these can cause fat malabsorption and bleeding, so white specks in the stool could be unabsorbed fat or parts of parasites and dark spots could be blood from the stomach (blood from the intestine would be red). Light colored stools mean the bowel content passes faster and the bile in it does not have time to change into the usual dark brown color.

To me it sounds very likely your problems arise from the gastrointestinal tract, and headache and eye problems are secondary to that.

[impala_ws6]

Do you think it has anything to do with the pancreas? I hate reading the internet because everything point to cancer!!

[ehealthguy]

It could be something wrong with the pancreas but pancreatitis and bile stones that block the pancreatic duct are more common than pancreatic cancer. The gastroenterologist should know which tests to do; they will probably involve stool tests for fat, blood and parasites, some blood tests and, maybe, ultrasound of the upper abdomen.

[PoppySead]

Sounds like gallstones, and sometimes the pain does occur on the left upper side. People have gone to the ER thinking heart attack and it ended up being a gallstone attack. The way you describe the stool problems with the gas and bloating and pain seems like you have gallstones to me. Go get an ultrasound, you'll know soon enough. So sorry you are in pain. Don't worry, it's probably not serious, gallstones are a pretty common thing. They took a while to figure mine out as well. 2 docs later they found it. Of course, they will want to rip out your gallbladder but you can make that call when you find out for sure. I've kept mine so far but will probably opt for it out later. Eat a low fat diet and see if that helps until you get an ultrasound. Gallstones don't like fat, or citrus that much. It will make you have greasy running stools, and back pain. yucky. Good luck.

The eyes, and headache are probably due to stress, because you don't know what's wrong. This is very common as well. If you look up anxiety you will see your symptoms.

[impala_ws6]

They are going to take a small cam to look into my stomach. If they can't find anything then they'll do a CT scan. Thanks everyone for the info I'll keep you guys updated!