I posted about this a while back, but now that I have a little more info, I'm hoping somebody might know what this is. I've been to two doctors, both of which just wanted to throw some anti acid pills at me and get me out of their office. I don't have insurance, so I can't afford to keep going through that with doctors.

For a couple of years now I've had what I call 'spells' that last about day or two. The first day is the actual problem, and then it pretty much cures itself after one night, with just some basic discomfort the next day.

It's happen about 6 times in the last 2 1/2 years or so, but I will list the symptoms of the last two episodes, as they were both basically identical, so I feel they're the best examples of what's happening.

I eat fairly healthy... I don't eat a lot of spicy stuff, I haven't eaten red meat for 20 years... I don't drink coffee, soda or alcohol. I don't smoke and I'm not over weight. In the last year (due to this problem) I've also eliminated any rich things like heavy sauces, super sugary deserts, and deep fried stuff. Except for an occasional typical upset stomach, this is the only major problem I've had. Though I've had some heartburn in years past, I haven't felt anything like that for at least a year.

Yesterday morning I felt fine... I had a turkey sandwich on rye and some cereal for lunch. Soon after, I started feeling a building of pain under my ribcage. I instantly recognized it as the problem returning... It's uniform across and doesn't favor a side. At first it feels like air pressure, but then builds to a burning sensation. It becomes very painful, but I've learned that if I can lay in bed in an upright position very still and try to relax, I can get it to go away. It definitely seems to be irritated by movement. It's very difficult to stay still though, because it's hard being still when you have a lot of pain. I did this yesterday and finally got it to go away. I made the mistake of getting up and trying to do a few things too soon, and it returned... I had to lay still again for at least a couple hours before it started to go away again. During this time I still felt hungry when dinner time came, but was afraid to eat. When I did eat just a little bit, it brought the pain back, but in more of a bloated kind of feeling, not so much the burning feeling. During all this I took my temp and it was normal. It was also the same temp today. This morning I felt better, just a little weakened from the experience and had a very empty feeling from not eating much. Once I ate I felt about 90% back to normal.

The above symptoms happened almost exactly the same way the last time this happened, which was about 10 months ago... Right after eating, same time of day, same pain. In fact, it may be a total coincidence, but I was having a sandwich on rye bread both times. But otherwise I was eating the same stuff I've eaten thousands of times. When I tell people about this (doctors included), I think they tend to assume it's just a stomach ache or heartburn... Believe me, I consider myself a fairly tough person, and this is not just a stomach ache. I consider a typical stomach ache to be much lower in the intestinal track, and it's usually associated with an eventual bowl movement. This is completely different. Also, if it is stress related, it doesn't seem to make much sense... I was recently working very hard doing construction for a month going non stop, and just taking a quick break to eat when I could. During that time I never had a single problem. Recently I haven't been running around much at all and just staying at home, and I had the problem.

I would love to find out what this is, because it really sucks wondering if every time you eat, this will be the time it comes back. If anybody has any ideas, I'd like to hear them.

Thanks,

Dave