Severe upper middle back pain, bloating and nausea after eat

My name is Cindy. A few montha ago I woke up out of my sleep vomiting like I have never had before in my entire life. (I am 40 years old) I thought I had a bug, but then it kept happening.
Pretty soon after that, any time that I ate, a few hours later, (or less), I became bloated and nauseus. Even throwing up. Every time I ate, I got sick. Ive never been a person who ate a lot of meat, I rarely ate meat. I like milk, but now I can't even touch it.
Someone said to me, maybe it's your gallbladder. I wasn't having sharp pains, but under my right rib cage and under my breastbone was very painful to the touch, like deep pain. So much so, that I had to keep my pants rolled down because I couldn't stand to have my pants touch there. I also began to have pain in between my shoulder blades.
I was used to having caffeine every day, but it was making me deathly sick. So I stopped eating and drinking everything but cooked beets and carrots and water. After a few weeks or so I began to feel a little better, (that must have meant something), but I couldn't keep eating like that. I was starving all the time!!!!
So I went to the doctor. (I hadn't gone earlier because I thought they would want to take out my gallbladder. I didn't want that to happen, unless absolutely neccessary.) My doctor said everything looked good. He checked my gallbladder. He said it had some sludge, but not enough to matter.
So I came home and began to eat a little more. NO MEAT. NO MILK. But I am still getting sick !!! I been eating mostly light stuff, yet I still have bloating, and nausea, and the back pain is excruciating !!!!!
What is concerning me the most right now is my back. It has gotten really bad!!! It feels like someone is sticking several knives in the top of my back between my shoulder blades, and it is getting worse. Sometimes it is SO UNBEARABLE and I have to cry. This hadn't happened before, but now the pain feels like it is coming through to the front of my chest. Then I feel like I cant breathe.
At one point I thought maybe it was my back, but resting does not help, and it ALWAYS gets EXCRUCIATING a few hours after I eat. Then last week my heart started pounding and pounding in my chest. That is very scary. I can't figure any reason to it, sometimes it is really, really bad, and sometimes it eases up. I'm pretty sure it coincides to eating too !!
I feel like I am going to die everyday. I afraid if I go back to the doctor, he's just going to say,"Everything looks good".
Everything is not good. Something is not right !!!
What could be wrong with me ????
If I had an ulcer, wouldn't I have bad stomach pain??
Could it be my gallbladder ???
Oh, and although I have been eating, I've lost about 25 pounds in the past couple of months. Before I got sick, I tried and tried to lose a few pounds, I couldn't. So why is it coming off when I'm not even trying ??? Please, does anyone have any ideas ????

Hi Cindy,

I am having severe bloating, but not vomitting. But I don't vomit easily. I will get deathly nauseated, but I haven't vomitted in over 10 years. I was also having back pain. My doc suspected ulcer first, because I had severe stomach pain, had to go to the emergency room. But then I started with severe bloating, nausea and back pain. The worse of all my symptoms is bloating when I eat meat. They then suspected gallstones, but the ultrasound was negative. So now I am headed to a GI specialist. I have suspoected bacteria or a parasite the whole time, but the doctors didn't. Did you ever go to the doctor? It could be your gallbladder, better to be safe than sorry. BUt please, please, research about gallstones, there are non surguical ways to take of them.

Cindy,

Also I am thinking the rapid heart rate may be unrelated and may be do to anxiety you are feeling because of the other health issues. Just a thought, but if nothing showed on your heart, it is probably anxiety.

Hi, Cindy...
I hope that you are feeling better. I am writing because I have the same symptoms (minus the vomiting). I have nausea, bloating (big time) and horrendous pain between my shoulder blades. My gall bladder test came back showing a few stones, so I had it out a couple of months ago. However, I have not felt "well" since then. This gastro stuff is just awful. I don't know about you, but I also have this really wrenching pain in my upper stomach, coupled with very tender rib cage. Today, I was literally almost in tears while I was out with my son because I was in so much pain everywhere. Like you, I can only eat certain things, and that's driving me nuts, too. The pain is exhausting and worrisome....I know exactly how you feel. Just wanted to let you know that there is someone else out there with similar symptoms. I guess that all we can do is to keep looking for answers....and I, myself, am going to see if I can find a more attentive doctor, too!

I have went to to the dr and I had so many test ran they found a stomach bacteria the only thing is is not suppose to hurt to the back every time I eat I die a little bit I feel it is bad please if you find out anything email me please hopeful Angel

Hey everyone, I am too suffering these very same problems. (33F)

Meat makes the symptoms the most severe. But, almost everything leaves me feeling a little crappy. (nausea, fullness, gas, back pain - especially in the right side) pain in the right tummy occasionally just below ribs. If I eat meat things go really really bad - shaky no energy horrid nausea).

I haven't really done some food testing to see if I can eat other things without the major attacks. I can endure the discomfort with milk and breads (but my right back - below ribs is always miffed no matter what I take in).

Been going now for a number of weeks (and a number of tests) with no real results yet. Very frustrating like it all must be in my head. How long can you live on ensure.

I don't have a gallbladder (removed years ago, and the pain isn't even remotely the same type at least for me).
No appendix either, so can't be that.

CT scan normal
endoscopy normal (waiting on results from a biopsy to see if there are any bugs)
small bowel follow through was stellar
very sluggish colon (but nothing new there)

I'm thinking in order for this to be something that just came on in a few weeks, perhaps it is bug related. They said my blood results were good.

More doc appts tomorrow. Really starting to get to me now.

Ciny - I have similar problems. I'm now 47. Been having back pain on and off for almost 4 years. First thought I somehow hurt myself at the gym. Went to three different chiros. No help.

I'm a vegetarian and quite health conscious. Don't smoke or drink, etc.

The pain in the back would wake me up at night/early morning. Felt like someone punched me in the back. Most times it was in center of back, thoracic area between the shoulder blades. Sometimes after I eat the pain was behind my right shoulder blade.

I didn't know what to think. Thought it was an aortic aneurysm. Went to cardio. He didn't do much. Didn't think so. Thought it was more a posterior protruding ulcer. Did a liver ultrasound. Nothing telling.

Went to GP. Did blood tests. No h. pylori. Did stool test. No blood. Ruled out ulcer. Friend tells me about her gallbladder. Describes my symptoms. I go back to GP. Ordered an u/s. No gallstones. Another set of blood tests. Liver function panel fine. No h.pylori. Did stool test. Fine. GI doc says ulcer. Take Prilosec. I fight him on it. Why. No reason to. Nothing to say I have ulcer. Does an endoscopy. Definitely rules out ulcer.

Pain continues. I monitor everything I eat. Used to sit down w/bowl of broccoli - anticancer and all that. Pain would be unbearable. No more beans for protein. Too gassy. Everything points to gallbladder. Insist on HIDA scan. They say ejection fraction 11%. Have gallbladder removed.

I went to see another GI yesterday for second opinion. He says no gallstones, does not recommend removal. Gallbladder fills fine. Sometimes emptying can vary. Depends on whatever. Could even be hormonal. The bloating he says is related to IBS. Recommends ginger and peppermint pills.

Been taking that and helps w/bloating. But this morning woke up w/the pain in the middle of my back. Felt like someone kicked me in my back. Felt nauseous. Still feeling it 5 hours later. WTF.

The mystery continues.

Cindy - I have similar problems. I'm now 47. Been having back pain on and off for almost 4 years. First thought I somehow hurt myself at the gym. Went to three different chiros. No help.

I'm a vegetarian and quite health conscious. Don't smoke or drink, etc.

The pain in the back would wake me up at night/early morning. Felt like someone punched me in the back. Most times it was in center of back, thoracic area between the shoulder blades. Sometimes after I eat the pain was behind my right shoulder blade.

I didn't know what to think. Thought it was an aortic aneurysm. Went to cardio. He didn't do much. Didn't think so. Thought it was more a posterior protruding ulcer. Did a liver ultrasound. Nothing telling.

Went to GP. Did blood tests. No h. pylori. Did stool test. No blood. Ruled out ulcer. Friend tells me about her gallbladder. Describes my symptoms. I go back to GP. Ordered an u/s. No gallstones. Another set of blood tests. Liver function panel fine. No h.pylori. Did stool test. Fine. GI doc says ulcer. Take Prilosec. I fight him on it. Why. No reason to. Nothing to say I have ulcer. Does an endoscopy. Definitely rules out ulcer.

Pain continues. I monitor everything I eat. Used to sit down w/bowl of broccoli - anticancer and all that. Pain would be unbearable. No more beans for protein. Too gassy. Everything points to gallbladder. Insist on HIDA scan. They say ejection fraction 11%. Have gallbladder removed.

I went to see another GI yesterday for second opinion. He says no gallstones, does not recommend removal. Gallbladder fills fine. Sometimes emptying can vary. Depends on whatever. Could even be hormonal. The bloating he says is related to IBS. Recommends ginger and peppermint pills.

Been taking that and helps w/bloating. But this morning woke up w/the pain in the middle of my back. Felt like someone kicked me in my back. Felt nauseous. Still feeling it 5 hours later. WTF.

The mystery continues.

Hi Cindy,

Probably way to late now but have you heard of helicobacter its like a virus, similar to an ulcer, which affects the stomach causing nausea, vomiting, bloating and all the symptoms you describe. Pain in your back maybe caused by the wrench on your body when you vomit violently and frequently. There is a blood test or breath test which can detect it.

If you have it then it is treated with antibiotics (maybe a combination) and acid blockers which is quiet hard going for a week or so and then you should be back to normal.

Dear Cindy,

Go to a different doctor. You need to have your Gallbladder removed. It is a serious thing to have your gallbladder blocked. A malfunctioning gallbladder does not only reduce your quality of life and is very painful, but it will affect your other organs. Once the Gallbladder is diseased it does not heal and it will not get better.

It is a safe, relatively easy operation. I met a woman who had the laparoscopic surgery when she was five months pregnant. The Gallbladder is a very small organ.


Be proactive. The doctor is there to SERVE YOU. You are the one in pain. Don't let your doctor put you at risk.