Stomach issues?

I’ve got a situation here and I was hoping you guys might have some insight

So, for a while now, I’ve been dealing with this constant pain in my cheekbones and a really nasty discomfort in my upper abdomen. It’s just non-stop bloating, nausea, and enough burping to power a small city—seriously, it feels like a thousand times a day—and it’s making it impossible to get anything done. On top of all that, my back and chest have started aching too. It’s become this daily ritual regardless of whether I’ve actually eaten anything or not. Looking back, maybe the first signs popped up about a year ago; back then, if I went out downtown and had even one or two beers, I’d hit a wall immediately. Not even because I was drunk, but just... my body would say "no more." I'm 23. Honestly, I'm terrified it could be cancer because I don't know the first thing about stomach issues. And before anyone starts lecturing me about not seeing a doctor—look, I will go, I swear—it's just that my primary care physician is so incredibly dismissive. She’s one of those types who just writes off everything as "stress" and calls it a day without actually helping. But still, the fear that it might be something catastrophic is eating at me.

but I’ve got this incredibly clueless—pardon me—doctor who’s just gonna write off everything as stress and call it a day. No one actually gets helped.

Unfortunately, yeah, it’s exactly like that for me too—two months down the road, I ended up stuck in the hospital. It could be a ton of different things; personally, I deal with gastritis and my vagus nerve is acting up like crazy. So, maybe you've got an ulcer. Just tell her you want to go in for that endoscopy thing—you know, where you have to swallow the tube? It’s a totally messed up feeling, honestly, though maybe you'll handle it fine—but at least then you'll actually know what's going on with your stomach.

Good luck!

First things first: get a referral from your doctor and schedule an appointment. You’ll likely end up needing a gastroscopy. Pain in that area doesn't always point directly to the stomach itself. Have you been under a lot of stress lately, or perhaps dealing with some anxiety? Are you eating regular meals?
Regardless, if these symptoms haven't let up after a year, you need to stop guessing and see your physician. Online diagnoses are never reliable.

I went through something pretty similar... turned out it was just stress triggering my gastritis.

Honestly, you should probably go see a doctor. 🙂

It’s not like I’ve been dealing with these symptoms for a full year or anything, but I definitely noticed things shifting. Lately, though, it's become a daily nightmare—constant heartburn, bloating, and just this bizarre, unsettling sensation in my upper abdomen. Honestly, I was too distracted by my back and chest pains to even give this a second thought; I figured everyone deals with a little acid reflux now and then, right? But this has reached a point where it’s actually unbearable. I’ve been doing physical therapy exercises for my back, and I already had my heart checked out—turns out I have a minor arrhythmia, so I’m on medication for that—but now I’m starting to suspect my stomach is the real culprit. When this discomfort hits and lingers all day, it seems to trigger those palpitations again.

Hey!

Based on what you’re describing, it sounds like you might be dealing with GERD. There’s actually an open thread about GERD right here on the forum if you want to check it out. You shouldn't mess around with this stuff, so I’d really suggest seeing a doctor. From the symptoms you mentioned, GERD seems like the most likely culprit.
Either way, go talk to your GP. They'll probably end up referring you to a gastroenterologist anyway.

I actually dealt with some incredibly similar symptoms, along with a few extra complications.
My diagnosis ended up being GERD, chronic gastritis, and a hiatal hernia, but I managed to get everything under control thanks to Controloc.

I definitely agree—you should get a referral to a GI specialist and schedule a gastroscopy. During the procedure, they'll take a tiny biopsy to check if you're dealing with H. pylori, which usually requires triple therapy. Based on what you've described, it sounds a lot like gastritis or GERD to me. I went through the exact same thing myself, and it turned out to be gastritis and esophageal inflammation.
Good luck! 🙂