Reflux -- Liz et. al.

January 27, 2004

Hi Liz - thanks for your note

not wanting to sound like a " yes-but " person, I will try to respond to the

issues which you have brought up. ;-)

>I have been having similar pain that I haven't found much help for.

>I do have some suggestions based on my search. I Had an ultra sound

>and acupuncture that didn't work.

I had ultra sound of right side (WHY they left out the left is beyond me) ... It

started out that I had pain on the LEFT side, but a different throbbing in the

stomach and liver. The throbbing is what I thought was stomach (a little lower

down) and the liver went away with accupuncture.

But it got extreme reaction when I took digestive engymes a month or so before

acupuncture.

That seemed to bring on diahreah, stomach pain, etc. I didn't realize that's

what it was but when

I stopped taking them after about a week, my bowels went back to normal.

Normally I have always

had several bowel movements a day, and I don't know exactcly what IBS is, but I

don't think I have it.

My bowels are normally soft, and if I have a tendency it is toward diahreah if I

get run down.

>I first put a search on the net " symptoms-rib cage pain " and got interesting

>information. Seems I found people who suffered from IBS also suffers

>from this pain. Also seemed that their doctors can't do anything for it.

>I haven't had a diagnosis but I am guessing that is my problem too since

>I have IBS issues. I am thinking on getting an upper GI done to rule out

>any thing wrong inside my stomach, but my irritation is outside my stomach.

I don't have any pain in my lower obdomen. The pain in my upper abdomen and

under the ribs definitely increased with stomach massage after needle treatment.

It seems that putting 5-6 needle in my stomach what I consider to be very deep

and then doing extremely deep machine is just too intense for my body which is

very sensitive and receptive. And it seems that twirling or twisting needles

is too muchfor me as well.

>I also suffer from some facial neuralgia and I thought this pain could be

>connected. My facial neuralgia responded to the acupuncture but the

>ribcage pain didn't.

I understand what you mean about the rib cage pain ... it is hard to pin point,

but I just described it to doc and accup. as under the ribs and across my upper

stomach ...

>I went to get acupuncture for constipation and it worked. It was then I

noticed

>a more frequent episode of this pain. Each bowel movement caused this

>pain. Not during a bowel movement but well before. Also sometimes after

>eating. I thought that maybe eating triggered bowel function. I had needles

>placed on my back as well and it didn't heal the problem.

My pain seems unrelated ... except now it is starting to subside a tiny bit at

various times, but I cannot find any variables which would contribute to it.

>What I did notice is that if I keep my bowel soft like a normal movement should

>be I can be without the pain. Funny place for bowel pain to show up. Also

>I noticed an improvment by taking calcium/magnesium vitamin A & D together

>at one time.

I have always taken a calcium supplement with all of the stuff that should

accompany it.

With all the herbs and supplements I have my bathroom looks like a health food

store ;-)

But I don't take everything at once. I take a multiple vitamin with extra E and

C and a few other things,

but only take one or two herbs at a time and stop one before starting another.

>This past two weeks I have been waiting for my period to come

>on and I usually have greater symptoms so I take this dose in the morning

>and evening.

well, this has ALL started after going through peri-menopause and now menopause,

which I call MiniPaws,

so it might be hormonal. Gosh I hate getting old, LOL.

>My acupuncturist said that the area that I am complaining about is connected

>to the stomach. But the stomach treatment didn't work. I am wondering if it

>could be connected to the small intesting? Any comment?

It definitely seems like the stomach, because when I had stomach points done the

last time I was in, it got worse, so I told her I am going to take a break from

treatment for a while.

It seems that balance is a difficult thing to find. Too much or too little of

something can throw things out of balance again.

>Do you have IBS too?

I don't think so.

>Also she mentioned that this could be indigestion.

>I know what indigestion is and nothing I take makes it go away, it doesn't

>feel it is within my stomach.

Yes, I know what you mean. I would think that things like reflux, or

indegestion, would eb and change over time.

>If you have acid reflux, have you tried taking digestive enzymes?

I tried them only because several people had said that when you get older you

need them. They made my stomach and intestines go bonkers so I quit.

>I take them and they help relive a bloated feeling I get after eating some

foods.

I eliminated all grains for the most part which was causing bloating. Dairy

also caused me to feel bloated so I quite eating it. I do so much better with

just proteins and vegis with only occasional fruit.

>It is an entirely different feeling from the rib cage pain.

>I don't know if acupuncture can treat you for low enzyme production. Drinking

>green tea, chamomile and ginger tea aids with digestion. And pepperment.

>I like these.

I have been drinking white tea and occasional chamomile as well.

I was taking giner and cayenne and the acupuncturist told me to cut it out as I

didn't need all that much heat now as I had too much heat in my stomach.

I am wondering as I sit here whether the caffeine in the white tea is causing a

problem. Maybe I should go back to just plain water bottled in glass for a

month and see what happens. White tea is a recent addition, and I used to drink

only water after I quit drinking coffee many months ago.

>I am going to try to find if there are any foods that help trigger this

problem.

>Don't know where to start myself. And I am interested if anyone on this

>board finds some kind of suggestion to this symptom. I will look into it

>further myself. My acupuncturist didn't suggest taking any herbs for this

>either, I would be interested.

I had three different herb combinations which the acupuncturist recommended.

One for colds - which worked like a miracle drug. I have never gotten rid of a

cold in 3 days before, normally it would always go into bronchitis. This winter

so far I have not really been sick at all. Just stomach and liver pain which

is different for me than respiratory things which I always get.

Then she gave me some stomach herbs which helped the nausea.

Also she gave me some herb combination for menopause. My hot flashes have all

but disappeared.

The only thing that remains is this weird pain it is very worriesome too and I

know that we aren't supposed to be feeling pain, it is debilitating, AND if we

don't know that cause we cannot remove it. I hear ya !!!

Cheers, Cat

^. .^ ~

" A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. "

--Emos Philips

January 27, 2004

let me suggest some sun flower seeds for your problem.

the lower rib pain is in TCM the liver acting up.

sunflower seeds act on the Large Intestine and calm the liver. try it, it

really works for me.

stay away from spicy food and if you eat other nuts, make sure you chew them

properly.

sunflower seeds are supposed to stop diarrhea too.

Cat <iceisit wrote: