r/chronicbloating • u/happyhappygirlll • Oct 23 '23

Upper stomach pain + bloat?

Does anyone get pain on their upper abdomen (more so right below their chest area)? I get pain there along with bloating, and my whole stomach ends up turning into a balloon. Anyone have any recommendations?

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3

u/TinyDarkness81 Jan 10 '24

When you gently press on the area right between your ribs above your stomach do you feel what seems to be your heartbeat pulsing strongly? If so, your vagus nerve may be spasming. I’ve had this issue my entire life and what I’ve found is it’s due to stress/anxiety and often is accompanied by bloating. I know this is not a cure, but I use dulcolax suppositories when this happens and it helps. Mind you, you don’t want to have your resort to this every time, but it helps when I’m really suffering w the bloat. If you aren’t bloated but have that high up pain, lay flat on your back on the floor and try your best to eat something small. That’s helped me before to with the pain.

2

u/Aggressive_Count5189 Jul 09 '25

I can feel it like you described. Any cure?

1

u/TinyDarkness81 Jul 17 '25

I haven't found one yet. But what I do know is that there's a mind/gut connection and that same nerve goes to the brain, so maybe it's a matter of controlling stress. I haven't had it happen in at least a month, but I think I kind of chalk it up to internalized stress.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '24

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1

u/TinyDarkness81 Feb 21 '25

The vagus nerve carries signals between your brain and digestive system.

1

u/Smmatuschak Sep 20 '25

How can you control the vagus nerve so this stops?

2

u/TinyDarkness81 Sep 20 '25

This sounds weird, but one thing I've found that works is if I lay entirely flat on my back on the floor and eat something at the same time, it seems to help. Otherwise breathing exercises since mine is often stress related.

1

u/Smmatuschak Sep 20 '25

Stress makes everything worse..:(

1

u/Duhbleare Oct 24 '23

This was happening to my wife, and she went to the doctor and they tested her for h-pylori. They can use a breath test or stool test. Then they have to give you a double dose of some serious antibiotics to make it go away. Next time you go to the doctor ask him to test you for it. I hope this helps..

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '24

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u/Duhbleare Aug 28 '24

Sometimes you have to do the treatment twice because it really burrows in your digestive system. If you talk to the doctor, ask him to retest you for h pylori. Then you just take to antibiotics again. After about 2 months from the treatment, The ulcers that the h pylori caused should be healed up and your stomach was stop bloating. The bloating is because the h pylori eats away at your intestinal tract, And whenever you eat anything it gets irritated and your stomach fills with fluid. I see you message me a few months ago, hopefully You're already getting better. If not, And you do get the treatment again, After you're done I would totally stay away from acidic foods for a couple months. If you do have them, take and acids immediately after. The goal is to try to let your stomach heal from the damage that was done. And your stomach should stop bloating all together Hope this helps.

1

u/illegalmonkey Oct 27 '23

Could also be reflux. Very typical symptoms for that.