Constipation Pressure

This could be, and probably is, a large amount of overreaction. For all I know, this is just what constipation feels like. But I do get the feeling like it's just more than that.

About 2 months ago I quit smoking after 9 years. I'm 29, male. I've always been healthy and skinny even though I eat lots of fast food and other junk. Well i've put on 10 lbs in the last year, much of it in the last 2 months due to quitting smoking. I've had diarhea fairly often, and often i'll make 2 trips to the bathroom in a row when it's coming on.

About a month ago I noticed a weird discomfort in my left abdomen right around the lowest rib. I had been sitting up straight in a chair for awhile so I passed it off. It felt like I had been leaning my rib cage into my intestines.

After xmas dinner, I was sitting upright again and noticed it. It went away by the next morning so I ignored it.

New year's eve I noticed it again. The next day I was driving a lot and noticed that it hadn't gone away. The entire weekend I noticed it on and off. Mostly in the left side. Had a fair amount of bloating.

I took some rolaids to help with the bloating. I could still eat fairly normally though I had less appetite. I made a dr appointment for the next day.

I do not have any fatigure, nor any blood in my stool. I don't feel sick in any way other than constipation pressure. It doesn't really even hurt, it's just unconfortable. If I lay down or stretch my arms upward, it seems to help.

That was today. The dr and her intern poked around and didn't seem overly concerned. There's no soreness, and they didn't find any obvious growths. She said she noticed some bloating still.

The dr explained that it could be regular constipation coupled with my weight gain. She compared it to pregnant women. They took blood and ordered an upper gi and abdomen ultrasound. She gave me nexium for possible gerd.

Today was a little better at work. I think the nexium calmed my stomach a little, but the pressure from constipation is still there. It still isn't particularly painful, it's almost more mentally painful to worry about what it might be.

Through some weird scheduling, i'll be having those tests tomorrow in less than 12 hours. Hopefully that will be able to put my mind at ease assuming they go well. A follow up visit with my dr in 2 weeks, but I might try to move that up since I got the tests scheduled so early.

These forums are very therapeutic for me. The medical sites seem to basically say for every symptom "it could be something simple, or you could be dying.. Who knows?"

since i'm rarely sick, for all I know this could just be normal constipation "back up." i've also heard maybe gallbladder. Another oddity is that the pressure has been mostly on the left side. It feels like a runner's stitch sometimes, that low. But for about a day, it seemed to be much more prominent on my right side. If I lean in a certain way, I can almost make the other side feel the same way. Mostly it has been on one side or another, not in the middle, and almost never on both sides.

As you can tell, i've gone to see the dr and had tests scheduled, so i'm not looking for a diagnosis here. I'm mostly looking for others who have had similar feelings. Maybe somebody to just virtually slap me and say "duh, welcome to the world of constipation." as long as i'm not dying, I could cope with this discomfort until the docs figure it out.

I took two regular exlax tonight and a single fiber tablet. The strange part is that I do have an occassional bm, but they just don't seem to clear me out. They're like brown so from what i've read that indicate acid.

Hopefully others out there have experienced something similar. The fact that I can't seem to find people with similar symptoms is a bit troubling. Either because it could be something really bad, or it could just be something that is difficult to diagnose if it's rare.