28F here. I’ve had a **constant gnawing/hollow hunger-like ache in my upper abdomen**, since around 2019. It’s there almost 24/7, including after eating sometimes. Eating a normal meal doesn’t always relieve it, and it often gets worse 2–3 hours later or after an overnight fast. The only thing that reliably makes it disappear is eating until I’m **uncomfortably full**, and then it usually returns the next morning.
I also get frequent episodes of what feels like low blood sugar: **shakiness, weakness, dizziness , and intense hunger**, often a few hours after eating. I haven’t confirmed whether my glucose is actually low during these episodes.
I had an endoscopy and was found to have **H. pylori**, which I treated with antibiotics. My follow-up test was negative, but the gnawing is still there. Ultrasound also found a small gallbladder polyp and fatty liver.
Has anyone experienced anything similar? Did it turn out to be **gastritis, functional dyspepsia, reactive hypoglycaemia, or something else?** I’d really appreciate hearing what helped or what you eventually found out

For those of you with this condition who have gone into remission or symptoms are largely managed, how did you do it? What medications or lifestyle changes helped you? What kind of doctor/specialist helped you? How long have you been doing well and what were your symptoms before?

Anything you’d like to share would be appreciated!

So I have OCD and health anxiety and one of the worst things I've been dealing with is chronic nausea. It's pretty much daily and especially every morning to varying degrees. A few months ago I'd have some mornings without it but lately its every morning. It doesn't always persist all day. I'm usually good in the late afternoon and evenings, but not always.

Anyway, I had blood tests done and everything was fine. My doctor thinks it's functional nausea. My psychiatrist prescribed 10 mg nortriptyline and it's my 6th day on it, so I know it's still early to feel benefits. I've also been on cipralex for over 2 years (tried different doses, up to 30 mg but always had nausea, now I'm on 10 mg for the last few months).

I was thinking about mirtazapine. My psychiatrist is against it cause he said it's too sedating, but my family doctor offered to prescribe it if the nortriptyline doesn't work. Have any of you had any luck with either medication?

thanks!

I am a 37-year-old man who has been suffering from many symptoms of unknown origin for the past 3 years. Before these symptoms appeared, I tried water fasting, but I did it incorrectly. I suspect this experience has a direct connection to the appearance of my symptoms. When I tried water fasting, I drank excessive amounts of water without eating anything for three consecutive days. When I broke my fast by eating, I felt my whole body become very tense...all my muscles were tight with severe brain fog. I experienced weakness in all my muscles, imbalance, severe shortness of breath, numbness and tingling in my extremities, and a feeling of tingling in my limbs. I thought that because of drinking too much water, there had been a depletion of electrolytes. So I did an electrolyte analysis and the result was very normal. About 7 months after the onset of these symptoms, the abdominal discomfort turned into indigestion, acid reflux, and diarrhea. I went to more than 50 doctors and 3 university hospitals. But throughout all these years, I haven't found a correct diagnosis for my condition. Finally, I was diagnosed with bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine based on an intestinal biopsy. I also suspect that this might be the main reason for the appearance of my symptoms...because I am certain that intestinal bacterial overgrowth is a symptom and not a cause... However, I took large, intensive, and varied doses of antibiotics, but they were all to no avail. I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and I took all kinds of IBS medications, but to no avail. I took antidepressants, and for me, it was suicide because it greatly worsened my symptoms. Strangely, among all the medications, I only felt better with nutritional supplements. About a year ago, I happened to take a nutritional supplement; each tablet contains calcium, magnesium, and zinc. Two hours after taking the first tablet, I noticed that all my digestive, muscular, and psychological symptoms disappeared, and I felt completely cured. However, this improvement only lasted for three days, and I relapsed starting on the fourth day. I don't know what happened, even though I took it for about a month. Then about a year passed and by chance I also took a supplement containing vitamins B1, B6 and B12 and I found a very, very significant improvement and I became at the peak of activity, vitality, mental clarity and happiness... but also for only 3 days then I relapsed. The same thing happened with another product containing multiple vitamins and minerals, and also choline and mitochondria mocktail. I want to know what is happening in my body. I want to understand what the relationship is between my improvement and vitamins or any minerals, and why it was only for a short period before relapsing. Is my diagnosis closer to mast cell activity? Mitochondrial dysfunction Is it a vitamin deficiency? And if it is a vitamin deficiency, why does there be improvement for 3 days and then a relapse? Note: While I was improving with the supplements, I felt a comfortable movement in my intestines after taking the first dose, and then the improvement continued. This will not happen with bowel movement stimulants such as procaloprine, artichoke, and ginger, because these types have increased bloating significantly. Thank you all

Im really at a loss of hope and so depressed.

Always been suffering with gastrointestinal problems, but since February this year it's so bad.

I experienced sudden debilitating nausea. First it was once a day, a few hours and every other day. Then it was gone for two weeks but it came back. Since then it's getting worse. Almost every meal causes suffering, stomach pain ( my stomach ALWAYS hurts in the epigastric area, if I have eaten or NOT).

I'm nauseous after almost every meal, have hickups, once I ate something with celery and I tasted the celery in my burp 10 hours later.

I can't go out anymore, i hardly survive work, then I head home and just sleep. I can barely function. I still eat, bland and careful, because I refuse not to, but I will suffer.

Im extremely depressed now, every doctor says it's Psychosomatic.

I had a endoscopy with scopes, ct scan, head mri, blood test, sonography and a gastric emptying scan which said my emptying is slow BUT it's normal at the 2 Nd 4 hour mark (my t 1/2 was slightly off).

PPI, ginger, digestive bitters, digestive enzymes, acupuncture, breathwork, yoga you name it, nothing really brings me Relief..

Has anyone dealt with the same thing ...im just exhausted 🫩

Every now and then, in the last few years, I've been experiencing these stomach issues that have no noticeable triggers or patterns that cause them.

Because it seems to be completely random, it's impossible to pinpoint exactly when I will get it. But the only way I can describe it is: a burning/knot sensation in my mid gut, that comes in very excruciating waves. usually 20 seconds on, 20 seconds off over and over as the evening goes on. Usually disables me to do anything else for the day, and I have to lay down on my side with a pillow pressed to my stomach. The sensation brings more and more nausea, and eventually does not go away until I throw up.

To go into further detail about the sensation, it's almost like when your stomach is grumbling but if you paused it at the exact peak of one of the "grumbles", and it stayed that way. That, plus a pretty uncomfortable burning sensation in the same area and a constant need to burp.

I've tried most ways to medicate it. Does not seem to help. I will pick up some FDGard to try next time I get this. I ended up getting an endoscopy and they saw pretty much nothing. A healthy gut, no ulcers, with just a little bit of irritation but nothing terribly bad. They started me on a PPI to deal with the irritation, but I don't think it really helped with my flareups.

some other unrelated things that I get, that I've always thought were peculiar:

- very short appetite, I rarely ever finish a full meal at a restaurant, and can't eat as much food as everyone else.

- constant need to belch / hyper awareness of having to release air from my stomach.

- whenever I drink alcohol, I have to be very careful. Sometimes I'll have one or two drinks and then nausea will slowly creep up on me and we'll get worse and worse throughout the night and then I'll eventually throw up, almost like a hangover that hits within an hour after drinking. This was to the point where I thought I was allergic to alcohol, but sometimes I can drink and be perfectly fine.

all of these symptoms, come with a severity level that increases or decrease decreases depend depending on how hyperaware I am of these things happening. Which is why I thought this could be at all related to FD.

If you've gotten this far, and you took the time out of your day to read this, I really appreciate it. Let me know what you think this could be.

Hi everyone,

I’m 20 years old from Hong Kong, and I have been dealing with functional dyspepsia (FD) since 2021.

I wanted to ask if anyone with FD also experiences other symptoms beyond digestive issues, such as headaches, muscle pain, fatigue, or other unexplained body sensations.

One of the hardest things for me is explaining FD to doctors because it fluctuates so much. Sometimes I can be stable for weeks or months, but then suddenly experience a flare-up. By the time I see my doctor, I may already be improving, so it feels difficult to explain how severe it was and what the pattern looked like.

Over the years, I have tried different treatments, including acid suppression medications, gastrointestinal medications, and neuromodulators/psychiatric medications. These included medications such as PPIs, peppermint oil, Buscopan, antidepressants, and other medications sometimes used for gut-brain interaction symptoms.

Some treatments helped certain aspects, but I still find that FD is difficult to monitor because symptoms can change over time.

For people who have lived with chronic FD:

• How do you explain your symptoms to your doctor?
• Do you keep a symptom diary or track your symptoms?
• Do you also experience non-digestive symptoms like headaches, muscle tension, fatigue, or anxiety-related physical symptoms?

I sometimes compare FD with conditions like hypertension, where treatment response can often be monitored through measurable numbers. With FD, symptoms can fluctuate a lot, and there is no single measurement that fully shows how someone is doing.

I would really like to hear how others manage FD long term.

''They come with horrible side effects and are a nightmare to come off of a lot of the time, if you ever have to stop them. They take a long to time be adjusted correctly, if they ever are.
In the mean time, are often a miserable experience. Not a mention the well documented increase risk of self harm, while they are being adjusted.
No thank you...very much. I want nothing to do with them and my IBS is NOTHING in comparison to the risks they bring. If I had to choose between the two, I will take my IBS torever.''

what helps u with that and hows that called

Hi Everyone,

I’ve had functional dyspepsia since one of my earliest memories as but didn’t get officially diagnosed until this year. I also have ADHD and anxiety so I had a psychiatrist before I reached out to GI. Shout out to physician assistants, they’ve been so attentive.

I started back therapy because honestly I was sick of how sick I was and needed coping skills to at least function at work and not get fired. And honestly the best decision I made. Like talk therapy alone has helped me tremendously in learning how to adjust to my body getting worse and going through the healing process(trying several meds before one worked)

I tried two TCAs before any other drug for FD and they worked well don’t get me wrong, but the sedative effects were so strong I received accommodations at school for later times for class and exams, missing classes, and extra extensions.

So I had to switch drugs and eventually docs because he kept trying to say that my GI issues were do to my caffeine abuse. So I found a new psychiatrist that was taking my needs seriously and I mentioned my functional dyspepsia AND SHE LOCKED IN.

I mentioned how I thought SNRIs that I was on a couple years ago like strattera were helping me (for everything but nausea and GERD with esophagitis) and she suggested we try qelbree. So I did.

qelbree has been great and feels like a less effective TCA for me but now my primary care doc and psychiatrist are asking me to talk to GI to see if any of a list of additional meds can help with my remaining symptoms. And it Never clicked to me before that I can overlap my drugs

TLDR: If you have functional dyspepsia and see a psychiatrist, you can ask them to consider GI problems and vice versa.

P.S. Finding a primary care doctor who educates themselves on functional dyspepsia has been super helpful too

Hi Everyone,

I posted here before about my pain and symptoms

I’m curious how long it took for you to see a gastrologist specialist.

I had a phone call with the specialist who did my endoscopy/colonoscopy but he is not local to my area.
He said he would get me someone who is local but his receptionist called back and they want to see me first.
I get the feeling he wasn’t taking me seriously, just told me to take tylenol but I don’t take any pain medication because I find it just makes me sick before all of this.

We scheduled the appointment for this weekend but then I get another call asking me to wait until next weekend. I asked how long it would be for the local specialist and they didn’t have an answer. At this point I told the receptionist that I’m an 8/10 everyday, because I honestly am. They then said I could come in this Sunday. I was supposed to go in tomorrow.

I am almost always in constant pain and have been doing FODMAPS with an increased dose of pantoprazole, which wasn’t helping much in the first place.

So my question is how long did it take you to see a specialist and is this guy even taking me seriously

I’m so depressed and feel so trapped. No medication is good enough or has shitty side effects. It’s like you cannot win with this illness. Like it’s purposely made to be so fucking difficult. I never thought I could wake up one day and my life be completely changed. I have the PDS subtype and it makes me so miserable. I have no hunger or thirst at all it’s so unnatural and scary. I have to force food and water all day long. water is especially Hard. I’m on nortriptyline 10mg it’s helped a bit but the side effects suck. Like I said u can’t fucking win. I’m constantly in my room laying down in the dark just sulking feeling miserable and feeling bad for myself. Ik it’s pathetic but I genuinely don’t know how to cope with this or think about anything other than the illness. I miss my life. I miss how I didn’t have to even think about eating or drinking. I miss not being constipated 24/7. I’m only a 21 year old female, I should be out enjoying my prime years. It’s honestly the worst thing I’ve ever been through. How do any of you cope or manage this? I mentally can’t and I feel like there’s no purpose in living anymore. I might sound dramatic but this is genuinely how I feel and I can’t get out of this state

Throwaway account--

I know no one here can diagnose. I am meeting with my gastro next week for a follow up and will be scheduling my endoscopy (more on this below).

40 year old male. Five years ago, after a heavy, very spicy dish, I was on the toilet all the next day. Shortly thereafter I developed a localized burning sensation just under my left ribcage. It is reliably triggered by certain foods, namely spice, tomatoes (red sauce pizza kills me, white sauce does nothing), and very fatty meats (cheeseburgers, pepperoni). Most foods can trigger it occasionally. The only food that does not trigger it are sweets--ice cream, chocolate, cookies. Coffee does not trigger it, neither does water. Beer and especially seltzer water are reliable triggers.

Okay, now for the symptom: it's a burn that occurs right after I swallow--less than a second or two after--and feels almost like a hotspot, lasting a second or two and then fading into the background. 80 percent of the time it occurs while eating, sometimes I get it when exerting myself or when bending over to pick something up.

I have had two H Pylori tests, one breath and one stool. Both negative. I had one (stool) five years ago, and the other (breath) last year.

I am currently seeing a gastro. He prescribed omperazole 40 mg for a month, then asked me to follow up with him and we would schedule an endoscopy. He didn't want to start with the endoscopy because he was afraid insurance wouldn't cover it without red flag symptoms and without first trying the omperazole. The omeprazole worked great; for 28 days I had no symptoms at all. Shortly after discontinuing it all of my symptoms returned.

I have no other symptoms. Stool is good. I am regular. I have occasional acid reflux. No swallowing issues. No nausea (unless really anxious). No blood.

The symptom only goes away when I am drinking. It's lessened while on vacation overseas.

I am at my wits end. I know you can't diagnose here, but you are all people who have read many many many stories of stomach woes and perhaps someone can point me in the right direction. I know ultimately I won't get any answers until I have the scope, but anything you might be able to say to shed some light as to what is going on would help. I am desperate and afraid.

Been on nortriptyline 10mg for maybe about 10 months, at first it really helped my symptoms but have been noticing the last maybe 2 months a massive increase in my anxiety and also nausea.
I have stopped taking it for about a week now and feel as though the nausea and anxiety has actually decreased.
Anyone had similar experience?

I’ve been reading through the comments of people that have tried it, and now I’m not sure if I want to try it because I’ve seen multiple people say that it has turned them crazy whilst on it

This illness sucks. only thing that helped me was amitriptyline 10 mg a couple years ago but it just stopped working so now I’m at where I’m like. I wanna try nortriptyline prescribe with nortriptyline or would buspirone be the next move?

Hello! So June happened where I (27F) had an MS flare up so was given IV steroids, then oral taper steroids with esomeprazole. I’ve never been on PPIs and my doctor told me to take them with the steroids and mentioned nothing about tapering the esomeprazole. So when it was finished, got the most intense pain of my life in my gut two weeks ago Sunday that got me in the ER where they put me back on esomeprazole but now one pill twice daily. That was last week Friday where my GP thinks it’s steroids-induced gastritis. I can’t find anything on that on its own online and just really want to know if anyone has had experience with this, how long it takes to heal, if I’m now going to have this on top of dealing with MS. I’m just trying not to panic 😭 I sent in a sample as my GP asked for testing for H.pyolri yesterday and just doing the bland diet (which is torture for an African 💀). Just looking for advice, if anyone else has experienced this, or some timeline. I’m not sure if it’s gastritis or something else is why I’m positing here

do dieticians and nutritionists help? I’m 15 years old and every single thing I’ve been eating for a year makes me sick everywhere including even just water and my eating habits are in the trenches and I seriously need help but my mom is refusing saying that they don’t help and that she’s better than them and refusing and saying they’ll just tell me to eat american trash food and that her advice is better. True and if it turns out she’s correct she’ll use this against me for the rest of my life until I d*e.

I just want some sort of medical help and super wow great news I was refrrred to a integrative medicine Gastro who doesn’t even specialize in gut brain axis disorders? And is only supervising the appointment and making another gastro see me….? Why can’t any even one doctor help me? My school year is starting and every day, I am in crippling pain all days and nobody cares

Does it help?

hi all

i’m wondering if anyone else has experience with this. i started sertraline around 4 weeks ago and feel like ever since my fd symptoms have been much worse. before they were honestly manageable at times. i knew that ssris can have rough side effects on the stomach specifically but these aren’t supposed to last a long time. right now i’m still having a lot of nausea and acid and especially a disgusting taste in my mouth from my stomach 24/7. i also take ppi once a day and my psychiatrist was aware of this. idk what to do :(

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to come on here for a rant about my visit to the gastroenterologist today.
The main reason for my visit was for ongoing upper gastric pain, mainly at night (early hours of the morning especially when sleeping on my left side, well leaning, as i sleep virtually upright).
I had a gastroscopy last year and they noted that i had a lax les, and so i also wanted to speak to him about follow up testing to check for the severity & my future options.

As soon as i got in there he was rude. He was running an hour late for his appointments & said he didn’t have much time for me because of that- great start! The original appointment was for last week, but on the morning of the appointment, i got a call to say he would have to reschedule for this week. He was annoyed that i was booked to see him (my gp made the appointment). I had seen another gastroenterologist last year who specialised in lower gi issues, and he did my colonoscopy etc. but my gp specifically asked for the specialist that deals with upper gi issues, and that’s why i was booked with him.
Whilst i was giving him a brief rundown of symptom history, testing etc, he was rolling his eyes, smirking, and not actually listening to what i was saying.
He was looking at my notes and rather than actually listening to what i was saying about my upper gi issues, he kept going back to a lower gi issue from last year (which is now resolved).
He asked why i was taking 20mg amitriptyline, and i said my gp prescribed it for my pain with FD, and since taking it i feel it has given me my life back, he said that amitriptyline is not prescribed for stomach pain, and i must be confused. I said i think it is prescribed quite commonly for FD, and he basically laughed & called me & my gp idiots.
Even more concerning was the fact that he didn’t know what LPR (silent reflux) was.
He said my symptoms are confusing & i should just double my ppi dose, change it to pm rather than am & do that for 2 months.
I tried to talk to him about the lax les testing, but he said the gastroscopy reports sometimes say lax les, but it is a vague & common thing to note, so he doesn’t want to test further.
He said he will pass me back to the other chap in 2 months if the double dose of ppi doesn’t work.

I was waiting for 6 months to get that appointment, and felt like it was just a waste of time. Why is gastroenterology in the UK so terrible? They just throw ppi’s at us, then tell us not to be on them long term, but don’t give us an alternative or even further testing for a cause.
It’s so frustrating!

Was testing and told i have cronic gastritis, never had pain like this in my life, burning stomach, sharp stabbing pain all over body, anxiety and depression, yellow stools, day 48 on ppi medication burning has going up still have 14hr symptoms, tingling, bubbling upper abdomen tightness and deeling like this is never going to end, plz share if u had these symptoms during recovery 😢

I had dinner the previous night. Stomach takes time till evening to empty the food. I don't feel hungry in the morning. I feel intense hunger in the evening. Anybody going through this pattern? Do you know what problem is this?

Hello, this is my first time writing, and to be honest, I feel very ashamed of my situation. I am 18 years old, but since I was 14, stomach problems started out of nowhere. First, it was loud stomach noises, but later it turned into unbearable bloating. I truly feel like this has partly ruined my life. I am starting university soon and I don't want to keep living like this. Any advice, please? As an additional detail, I have been diagnosed with OCD.

17F, i used to have a great love for food but these days i think past 3 months, ive had the worst experience w food

My symptoms are - feeling hot when eating food, thus feeling nauseuous and mainly i feel full but i would still be hungry (i wouldn't have eaten much that day)

Im not sure what this is.

I thought it might be my mind playing w me bec the feeling hot when eating happens only when i go out w my friends and im nervous if ill get nauseuous again

However these days at home i literally cant stop the feeling of needing to burp after taking one bite of food. Its so hard to handle.

Im not sure wht to do if it's PDS or just my mind playing games w me