Hi
I'm 49 and male.
I dont know where else to turn as the process of being diagnosed is taking so long due to covid 19. I do not have any diagnosis yet but my symptoms are very worrying and I wondered if I could ask some advice and opinions.
I've had issues with my stomach for the last 4 years. But these last 2 months have got so much worse.
Over those 4 years I've had 3 endoscopies. 4 years ago, 2.5 years ago and 9 months ago. The first endoscopy I was suffering with what turned out to be gastritis. I was also found to have a large hiatus hernia. I was given panteprazole 20mg and take them daily for the last few years.. Everything else said to be normal.
2.5 years ago my bilirubin spiked and I was very yellow in my skin and eyes. I was booked into hospital and had a ct scan on my abdomen, an mri on my pancreas and gallbladder and as an outpatient later in the month I had an endoscopy where it was found to be normal. Everything was normal. It turns out I have Gilbert syndrome affecting my bilirubin levels.
About a year ago I started suffering with swallowing issues, I had a videofluoscopy and my swallowing muscles arent working properly. Food went down ok but then slowed as it neared my stomach . 9 months ago they did a final endoscopy but I have a feeling he spent more time looking at my throat and very little time in my stomach, it seemed to be over very quickly compared to the other 2. I didnt have sedation on any of them so was very aware of the time on each. I also had a barium swallow which turned out to be normal. The swallowing issue is still with me now. He didnt even mention my hiatus hernia so got me a little worried if he looked in my stomach much.
Cut to these last few months. I first noticed I felt full and a little bloated after a meal. I was that full i even felt a little breathless. Then I started with a pain in my upper abdomen, very central half way between my belly button and my sternum so in the upper abdomen. This pain has initially intermittent but is with me continuously now. It's quite intense and I'm struggling to concentrate on anything when it's at it's worse. It feels deep and gnarly like someone is twisting my stomach. It feels different from when I had gastritis. It's always in the same place. I can eat ok but feel very full afterwards. The pain is worse lying down and I believe to be slightly worse after eating. I have not lost any weight, (I've put a little on over the lockdown) I'm not anemic and my stools are normal colour. My bowel movements are fine and unchanged. The main thing is this continuous pain. When I visited my gp he said it cannot be an ulcer as I'm on pronteprazole. He said that all endoscopy's check the stomach even if they were just looking at my throat.
I guess my questions are:-
Does this ring any bells with how you felt with your sc.
Could the stomach cancer have been missed during the last endoscopy? Do they ever get missed? Surely it would be very visible if I'm in this much pain 9 months later.
Ive read stomach cancer is slow growing, but how slow? would the endoscopy 2.5 years ago likely have seen the cancer if I'm late stage now and in this much pain.
Is pain a late symptom? Can you have this much pain with stomach cancer and to not have any weight loss, anemia, dark stools, etc. I just worry what this pain could be and that I also have swallowing issues. Surely the specialist would have seen something 9 months ago if I'm in this much pain now.
I had a barium swallow around 4 months ago. It was the quick one where they sort of take xray or video of my swallowing this barium drink for about 10 seconds. Would stomach cancer have shown up on this or was it purely for my throat. It took 5 minutes tops. I just stood next to a camera/xray that followed me the barium into my stomach as I drank a few times.
I've read swallowing problems can be a symptom. Is this because stomach cancer can block the swallowing process. If so, am I right in thinking that if it were stomach cancer, the cancer would have been seen ckearly on my last endoscopy as I had swallowing issues at that time too.
I'm pretty sure the pain is coming from my stomach and not my intestines and online images seem to show the transverse colon near the belly button rather than higher in my upper abdomen where my pain is.
Sorry for rambling. I dont know who else to ask about this and I'm not sleeping with worry (and pain)
Hi Paully49 and welcome to the online community
It sounds like you've been through a great deal over the last few years so I'm sorry to read that you're worried that you have stomach cancer. As I had a different type of cancer I'm afraid can't help with whether the symptoms you list point towards stomach cancer or not but I noticed that no one from this group had responded.
I don't know if you've had a look at this information from Macmillan on stomach cancer symptoms to compare them against what you're experiencing. However, as these symptoms can be caused by other conditions it's good that your GP is exploring all possibilities.
I know that Covid 19 has caused the slowing down of some investigations but hopefully now things will start to get back to normal.
Do come back and let us know when you have a diagnosis and I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's not cancer.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
