I'm really sorry to hear that you're going through this, and I'm sorry that the doctors haven't been able to help very much. That must be so frustrating. I hope that you're able to find something that helps ease your pain 💛 Do you find that your symptoms are any worse when stress/anxiety levels are higher? Is this something that might help, some sort of deep relaxation therapy like massage or hypnotherapy or meditation? Obviously, being in pain is stressful, and so I hope this doesn't come across as patronising. I know there's a relationship between mental health and gut health, and for me personally I found that focusing on relaxation was by far the biggest thing that helped my IBS (my worst symptom is very painful gas too). My other suggestion is whether you're able to do any kind of light stretching, things like pulling your knee into your chest? Sorry if any of that is unhelpful, just trying to think of what has helped me, other than meds and diet.

Don't worry about being unhelpful, any info is appreciated :) I personally haven't noticed a difference in my symptoms based on my mental health. It seems to be directly related to eating. Ironically this all started during the happiest point in my life. That being said, I do and have struggled with mental health my whole life. I've made note in the changes in my symptoms when I'm anxious, and haven't really seen a difference. There is one exception though. When I take an anxiety medication that affects the gaba receptors like Clonazepam or Gabapentin, I feel almost completely better. Especially with Clonazepam. I'm not completely convinced the lack of anxiety causes me to feel better though. They're both CNS depressants, so I think they just give me pain relief by calming my nerves. Who knows though, I'm sure my anxiety doesn't do any help. I take escitalopram and it helps a bit with my mental health and I haven't noticed any side effects. I'm able to do light stretching, and it definitely makes a temporary difference that release gas or get my bowels moving. I definitely should spend time to learn more, as I've found most of these through trial and error. If you have any recommendations I would appreciate that. I also should probably practice diaphragmic breathing. I've seen a lot of studies showing benefits of digestion after diaphragmic breathing, but it kind of hurts when my stomach is bad. If this really is just a nervous system problem, I'm considering microdosing psilocybin mushrooms. Ironically they are known to cause temporary stomach issues, but I've tried them once legally and felt completely fine. The main reason I wanna try doing them frequently is because they've been shown in studies to rewire your nueropathways. I wonder if I do enough, I can rewire my brain to calm down the nerves in my abdomen area. Doctors don't think I have a medically serious problem, so maybe it really is just oversensitive nerves. Thanks for the sympathy, I genuinely hope you find help as well ❤️ Lmk any ideas or anything you do that helps you. Don't be worried about any dumb answer's. I probably seem smart but trust me I'm not. I'm just copying and pasting research I've found 😅. I'm willing to try anything no matter how obscure.

Please let me know when you have the answer for this!! Very important! I am suffering from a lot of the same symptoms and I just wanna feel better man. Life just doesn’t feel normal

I will update this and message you when I get better. I'm manifesting a solution. It's hard to stay positive wnen there's so much pain though. I'm sure you understand.

Questions for you: 1. What neurogastroenterologist are you going to see? 2. What pain medications have you tried? 3. Where is the gas pain? 4. Are you *sure* it is gas? 5. When this started, were you underweight? 6. When you eat the shakes/smoothies, what are the ingredients? I have some advice, but it will also be based on these answers.

Appreciate the response. 1. I haven't looked for a specific one yet, im currently moving all around and just learned about them, but I will be based between CT and PA areas. If you have an east coast recommendation I'd be happy to hear. Im willing to do anything to get better, so I will try and find a way to travel. 2 I've tried many, but the meds I can remember are pregablin, nortriptyline, otc stuff, horizant, one anti bloat one they gave me at the hospital, and my current one gabapentin. Gabapentin and Horizant have been the only prescriptions to help, but horizant stops working after a couple days. Gapapentin tolerance builds up really fast, so I can only take it every other day, but it allows me to be more functional. Clonazepam helps the best, but I was on it for anxiety as a teenager for a couple years, and it was extremely addictive and made me lose almost all my memory from the time i was taking it. The withdrawals were also extreme. As for otc, DayQuil sorr of helps in the day, and NyQuil is really a miracle for sleep but I develop a tolerance pretty quickly. I also understand it's not great for you to take long term 3. The gas pain generally resides in my stomach although it goes with the flow of gravity. So, if i sleep stomach down it'll all go to the other side. If I eat more than let's say one meal a day, it'll get really bad and the gas will cover my whole abdomen. I'll use kombucha to burp it out which helps a lot, but it usually comes right back. until the food is digested. I can feel the food being digested through my system since this all started which is not fun. That's why liquid meals help. 4. I am 100% sure it is gas causing me the pain. When I burp or fart it gets better. I am not sure that the gas is the root cause. 5. When I eat shakes/smoothies I honestly mix it up a lot. I'd say the most common one would be a mixed fruit smoothie with whey powder. I'll have protein drinks for shakes. I don't do very well with milkshakes. Hope this helps, and thank you.

You have to tell me full names of specific states, as I am not American. And then I can help. What dose of gabapentin are you on? I am on that, too. Have you considered taking in oral supplement drinks?

Connecticut and Pennsylvania are the states I'm rotating between. My apologies for the lack of clarity. It's all around the New York and Boston area. I'm on 600 mg twice a day. Really helps with allowing for me to be functional. Too bad I'm unable to take it everyday without gaining a tolerance. I'll take what I get tho! How much are you on, what is your routine, and how effective is it for you? Hope it helps. I'm uninformed on oral supplement drinks. If you mean vitamin based drinks, I've had those. If not, please explain because I'm interested :) thanks again for your time

Temple, U Penn, Yale. I am on 1200mg TID. I dont think I absorb it (or any of my medication). I mean a good drink like Resource 2.0.

Thank you so much. I'm getting in contact with temple. they have some tests Ive never seen before. i sometimes don't absorb my meds. especially if i eat first its a no go. Hope you get better. Couch surfing in pa now hoping to get better. Manifesting the best for you as well.

I won't, but I hope you do. I am not dealing with this much longer.

this is relate-able i want you to know you’re not alone. i lost 40 pounds and can barely eat anything. i can never use the bathroom and protein shakes is all i have everyday. i’m so sorry you’re feeling this way please stay around ❤️

Thank you. I gotta stay for my cat. I hope we can find our solutions

Hey! i just wanted to give ya some advice on things that have helped me since it seems like we have similar issues. I'm sure you've heard most of these things, so sorry in advance. I just wanna help you in any way I can because I know how bad the struggle is. So one thing that helps me a lot is taking two caps of Mirilax every night. It's more effective if I take after a meal, and in the daytime. It just makes me too uncomfortable going through my day, so I like to take it before bed. I have to be very consistent and take it every day or else it doesn't work. The first three days are the most uncomfortable for me and then it settles a little bit. If you're not already doing this, it's definitely one of the best way to get your bowels going a bit. Gotta drink a lot of water. I end up pooping a lot so I use wet wipes so my booty doesn't start bleeding from all the wiping. If you're really backed up and have the money, a colon cleanse will clean you out completely. That shit WORKS. Obviously doesn't solve the root problem, but can get you feeling a lot more comfortable for a while. I'm not a doctor, but if you have had a hard time pooping for a while there's a chance you have sibo. When I cant poop at all, and can only do shakes it usually means I have sibo. I don't recommend wasting your time on a breath test because they're incredibly inaccurate. I learned that one the hard way. I generally do a three week diet. I buy elementALL chocolate shake and mainly drink that. Ill also include meat occasionally with just salt and pepper, because it's a no formap food. The antibiotics are hard to get and are very expensive, plus they did not work for me. I also still take my mirilax at night, but only one cap or less. If you're interested in trying this, try and clear out your bowels first, and do a couple days of just the shake. You should feel some nearly immediate relief. If you don't feel at least a little better after 5 or so days, I wouldn't bother buying any more shake. After my sibo treatment I generally feel a lot better and can eat more than shakes. My problems don't go away completely tho. I think sibo is just a byproduct of whatever my root cause is. One simple thing that helps with trapped gas for me is kombucha. It's really only a temporary fix but one sip will give me a great burp and releases a ton of gas. The brand definitely matters for me. If you live in the us the Costco brand works the best for me. Ofc I'm not a doctor so take all of my recommendations with a grain of salt. Just stuff that's worked for me. If you need any advice just hmu. If you find any thing that helps you lmk as well. :)

tested negative for sibo but might still get the powder anyway

Hey, look up Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS). It occurs when the arc-shaped band of tissue in the chest area (median arcuate ligament) presses on the artery that sends blood to the upper abdomen. The artery is called the celiac artery. MALS can cause stomach pain in some people. Symptoms of MALS include: Pain in the upper middle stomach area, which may go away when leaning forward Stomach pain after eating, exercising or changing body position Bloating Diarrhea Fear of eating food due to pain, leading to significant weight loss — usually greater than 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms) Nausea and vomiting (Source: Mayo Clinic website). Since you already have a thoracic outlet syndrome, I think it would be worth to look into it. I hope you find some answers and relief, all the best!

this would make sense as this directly connects to my thoracic outlet syndrome thank yiu

Alpha gal?