Nightly 2 am stomach aches/cramps

madelined633

I've been MIA for the last couple weeks- mainly because all my spare bump reading time has been trying to take naps to make up for being up half the night.

Almost like clockwork, about 2 in the morning for the past two weeks I've been waking up with horrible stomach ache pains/gas pains?/gotta go number two pains?/stomach gurgling/cramping pains. Most night I will pee, drink some water and take a couple tums. Then I have to sit up straight in bed until it passes and I can fall back asleep around four. Two different nights though, about a week apart, the pains were worse and I ended up also having a bowel movement, followed by cramps, followed by another bowel movement, more cramps, then diarrhea. (Tmi sorry). When that happened last week, I called the dr and she said that there are some nasty viruses going around and that it might be the start of it. Well I ended up feeling fine the rest of the day. Same thing happened last night- horrible cramping pains, bowel movement, more pains, etc...

Is this normal? IBS? Ugh I just want to sleep and not wake up feeling awful! I will call my dr Monday but until then, any fellow nightly sufferers?

LunaBug924

This sounds similar to what I experienced this past week, except for me it quickly progressed to violent retching, and eventual dehydration that landed me in L&D for the day. 

The 2 explanations I got were 1)One of the nasty viruses going around, 2) GERD 

I don't really know for sure, but as a precaution/prevention of the gerd symptoms, my OB has me on a daily dose of Protonix. I'm also not supposed to eat within 4 hours of going to bed. (That one's tough). I've felt fine for the rest of the week. 

I hope you can talk to your doctor and get some suggestions on what you can do for relief. Feel better! 

Cynthia6206

Iv kind of had similar pains mine is severe gas pains. It's been happening the last week at night. The pain is pretty bad..... Iv tried eating smaller meals not past 7 at night but it doesn't help. My ob said unfortunately there's not much I can do

whitneymarie003

I've also been experience something very very similar to what you described. The pain is excruciating and for whatever reason it only happens at night. I had it for 2 weeks almost nightly. I talked to my OB about it at my appointment last week, and it has definitely been due to gas / constipation. He told me to take Colace or Metamucil tablets. I've been taking Metamucil tablets and I seriously feel like a different person. I'm still not sleeping all the way through the night but I am able to have some normal bowel movements and I haven't had the sharp pain again. If you haven't tried either of those maybe see if that helps! I hope you start feeling better!

Edited because autocorrect is mean.

rainydayluck

Do you mean stomach or intestinal pain?
It could be bad indigestion/acid related stuff. Maybe try the PPs suggestions and try not to eat much several hours before bed.

Motiejmr

I get these pains and a couple sips of mylanta kills it within 10 minutes and I'm back to sleep!

britab

I have IBS and many mornings I wake up with terrible cramping and then have diarrhea. My doctor gave me a Class B medicine to take and it helps but there still are same bad mornings.

madelined633

Rainydayduck-- I'm not sure where exactly it is-- stomach or intestine (everything feels crapy and jumbled up, it's hard to distinguish).

Thank you everyone for your ideas. The online question submit form I filled out with my doctor was answered today by some other random doctor I've never met before, nor heard of... He (or she?? -- I really don't know) said to eat something small before bed and to take 1/2 a dose of milk of magnesia in the morning. This advice made no sense to me considering I feel fine during the day, and it seems to be worse when I eat later at night. I didnt eat 3 hours before bed last night and layed propped up and felt good last night. Soooo- I'm going to try all your advice first and ask my normal doctor when I see her in a week.