Gastritis...or, how to convince yourself that you are dying

Sunday morning, I woke up with the most intense abdominal pain I've ever felt.  It was sharp and excruciating pain, right around my belly button area.  I was certain I had a bowel obstruction, so I of course started to panic.  I called my ex and had him drive me to the ER, making sure he had a picture of the DS so he could explain to them what kind of surgery I had because I was crying too hard to even really talk.  I got examined by the doctor, who then says he's sure I have gastritis.  WTF???  They give me some yucky stuff to drink, which was a combination of an antacid and lidocaine...and ten minutes later, I feel fine.  I told the dr. that I felt stupid for coming in, but he said that the symptoms are so similar, that I did the right thing.  He also told me that he has suffered himself from the same thing, and what causes it for him is dairy products.  It's not due to lactose intolerance, but because (he said) that 30% of Americans cannot properly digest the proteins in dairy.  Well, guess what?  On Saturday, I had a big ol' glass of milk, a bunch of cheese, and a little ice cream for dessert.  Hmmm...wonder what caused it?  He said that for him personally, milk, cream, and ice cream are the worst offenders.  Has anyone else ever heard of this?  I am going to be majorly bummed if I can't drink milk anymore.  I usually drink lactose-free but Saturday, I had a glass of regular.  Maybe on top of having the cheese and ice cream, it was just too much?  All I know is that I NEVER want to feel that kind of pain again in my life...it was purely awful!  For all of you that have suffered from bowel obstructions, I can only imagine the pure hell you had to endure.

 I haven't had gastritis but I am lactose intolerant now to a degree. My Whey protein and cheese and even sour cream doesn't seem to bug me but Milk or ice cream goes in and then moments later comes right back out the other end All still in liquid! 

But if I'm really REALLY hankering for milk or icecream I will pop a lactaid with the first swig or bite and it makes it no big deal. Lactaid pills are basically chock full of Lactase, that enzyme necessary to break down the milk that you don't have to properly digest the dairy products. 

Glad that it was definitely not a bowel obstruction!!! Hope that you are back to yourself and that you have no more issues so that you can move forward with your progress!!!  Hopefully it was just a one time thing and it is smooth sailing from here!!! 

Heather,

I'm glad you are okay. Sounds scary!

Lisa

I'm glad you are okay now too! It's still trial and error since you are so early out. Me too really I'm not that new but I'm still trying to figure what agrees and what doesn't.

 My daughter had this as an infant :(  We thought it was reflux, so we were treating that.  It wasn't helping and she was always so miserable.  I was breastfeeding, so it wasn't really top of our minds that the milk protein could be the issue.  It took us 3 LONG months to figure it out, and then another 2 weeks for the protein to clear my system after I cut ALL dairy out of my diet before she began to feel better.  It was just awful.  

Lactaid pills or products won't help, as those are for lactose intolerance.  The proteins are different.  You can use almond, coconut or soy products.  There is a really yummy ice cream called Pure Decadence (not sure on carbs) it will be in the organic freezer section or at Whole Food's or TJ's, and a low carb soy milk made by Silk too.  Maybe you are like other DSers and can do the lactose in hard dairy, but not in milk?  And the combination of the lactose intolerance from the milk and the overdose of dairy proteins sent you over the edge?

Sorry you had such a painful experience.   Glad it wasn't anything more serious though.

 Thanks for the correction on the lactaid pills. I thought it was the same thing. 

Thanks for the suggestions!  I bet that was really hard with your daughter being an infant, poor thing.  Glad you got it figured out eventually!

Oh lord, yes.   At one year out, I decided to celebrate closing on my house with a big ol' honkin' bowl of coldstone creamery.   Holy crap - I bloated up like a balloon and had absolutely incredible pain.   If the GI ****tail they gave you helped and it hasn't returned, I'd chalk it up to that.  If it does persist, do have Dr. Foote or Kemmeter check you out.   They know just the signs of an internal hernia and can make that diagnosis far easier than any ER doc can.  

Oh yeah, I bloated up totally too.  So far, I haven't had any other pain/problems, and I even went to work Sunday night.  I guess what they gave me did the trick.

Part of why I was panicking was because I wanted to be seeing Dr. Foote or Kemmeter cause I knew they'd know how to fix me if it really was an obstruction...but thank goodness it wasn't, and it was just me being dumb with food!