Dr Visit

[DammitJanet]

Nothing is ever easy for me. I cant just get clear cut answers and have simple issues.

It doesnt appear that I have gallstones. The ultrasound could only tell if my gallbladder had stones. Evidently it also looked at my kidneys and liver too. Those seem okay. Xray of chest was fine.

Now this doesnt tell us if my gallbladder is functioning and emptying properly or if it is inflamed or has an infection but my WBC came back okay. My enzymes were okay. Pancreatic, liver, etc. My blood sugar was a bit high but they think it was because I havent eaten anything in days. They didnt give me the numbers.

Thursday night I was so incredibly hungry I tried to nibble on some saltine crackers. They are always my first go to food when I am getting well from any type of tummy troubles. Well at about 6 am I woke up feeling like a had a brick of cement sitting right there at the top of my stomach. I was in agony. I tried getting some drink to try to wet it and move it along. Didnt much help so I was just writhing in pain until it was time to go to the doctor.

He says maybe it is gastritis or maybe H. Pylori. Took more blood. Sending me to a GI doctor next. Im in tears at this point begging him for something to help my stomach get through the next few days until I can get into someone else. He is like...well you are on pain medications. I dont want pain medications, I want something to either numb my stomach (which I know they make) or to try a strong laxative to see if that is the issue. There is something wrong here. If nothing is coming out either end and it is sitting at the top of my stomach, we need to do something pretty fast. I lost 3 more pounds just from Tuesday until Friday morning.

The doctor gave me reglan and told me to start taking my lactalose again. Ok. I put the lactalose in juice and drank that and took the reglan with meals. doctor was clear with me he wanted me to try to eat small light meals to see how that went. So Tony made me a sunny side up egg with a piece of toast last night. I could have been lobster! Tasted wonderful. Well, I came in my room about 2 hours later to take my night medications and my stomach started up. I figured...well, the laxatives may be kicking in and I may be having cramps from that so if I need to sit on the potty...so be it. Nope, this time I am puking. I add a new symptom. And far be it from me to awake his royal highness to get out of his slumber to come help me! I even left my room and went to the bathroom down by his room and opened his door, yelled into it, help me! and he just mumbled something and rolled over. I went back into his room after I was done and all he tried to do was make me lay down in bed with him...ummm..no pillows and I was hurting. I needed something to drink and I needed my back rubbed. He wasnt waking up to do it so I had to come into my room and figure it out for myself. Once he goes to sleep, he doesnt wake up for nothing. I think the house would catch on fire and we couldnt wake him up.

I am going to go get some more drink and try putting a little bit more on my tummy so I can take my morning medications. Wish me luck.

 

[klmno]

Have you tried eating a tiny bit of plain white rice- maybe mixed with a very little broth? I don't know why but I'm thinking this might help get your digestive system working- maybe because this is what they recommend for dogs (not that I'm insinuating anything negative LOL!) but their systems are very similar, from what I hear.

I know it's disappointiung not to get some answers from those tests but the good news is that none of those things indicated a more serious problem.

I hope you are feeling better soon!

 

[JJJ]

Crackers....toast.....bad
Applesauce....juice......not so bad

Janet, I'd suggest trying only gluten free foods. That "brick" feeling and the result could be a reaction to the gluten.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Janet, this is why I wondered in one of my last posts why they didn't order an upper endoscopy.

H pylori is a possibility - my mother has had two bouts of it in the last ten years. Hers didn't present with extreme pain like yours - her flair ups were feeling stuffed and bloated after only a small about of food (and you could feel the "hardness" of her bloating when touching her stomach area) and a lot of belching. If you have a bad case, it can definitely cause gi inflammation and it also can go hand in hand with stomach ulcers.

Did the doctor offer to do the test for hp? They can do both a blood test and a breath test. They have to be sure that is the culprit because it's a pretty intense triple or quadruple therapy. Make sure that gi appointment is considered an emergency. You need a camera down your upper gi (endoscopy) to see if there is visible inflammation, etc. If you are now unable to keep things down, you aren't getting any nutrients. Kinda personal question - are you going #2? Are your stools "normal"? Black sticky stools is another symptom some show with hp.

Janet, I'm sorry you are dealing with so much pain - it s u c k s. Might want to try eating the BRAT way - bananas, rice, applesauce and dry toast. I would also suggest eating some good yogurt as well. A number of docs add this and tea to the brat diet. Eat a little tiny amount - like a half a banana OR one slice of plain toast at a time and do that every two hours. See if that helps.

Hugs
Sharon

 

[Hound dog]

Janet, did they take a good look at your bowels at all?? You could have an obstruction or blockage and that turns into super bad news really quickly if not treated. You're on a rather hefty dose of pain medications and this should have been the FIRST thing they looked into. If not, you need to call them and make them look into it. You have the symptoms for it, vomiting as well.......because once it gets backed up enough, you can't keep food down.

This is what mother in law had, and yes she was one about the same medications as you (yours might be higher doses)......and that was the cause. She refused to tell staff her bowels hadn't moved because she didn't want the laxative that would make an accident trying to make it to the restroom a high probability. By the time staff realized what was going on she was vomiting feces. (gross, but it had backed up that much) FYI you can have small bowel movements with a blockage.....even a little diarrhea, but the main feces blocking the bowel never moves.......and eventually even that little bit that passes stops moving. Then you're in major trouble because it can cut off circulation to the bowel and it can die.

So if they've not checked your bowel, make them do so immediately. Please don't wait. Go to the ER if you have to.

((((hugs)))))

 

[recoveringenabler]

Janet, I have no health advice for you, but lots of sympathy for all that you're going through. Please listen to the others and get the help you require, it sounds as if you need urgent help. I send you warm caring wishes and big hugs...............

 

[TerryJ2]

Oh, I am so sorry! It sounds so awful, one min you can eat, the next, you're in pain and nauseated.
I hope you and the dr figure out something quickly.
Rice and crackers are usually okay even for the worst stomach cases. What about Popcicles?
I'm sending soothing hugs.

 

[cubsgirl]

I'm sorry there were no easy answers. Lactulose makes me vomit - could that have caused your vomiting too? I agree with Hound Dog that they need to make sure there isn't a bowel obstruction (I had one and it was not fun and i had to stay in the hospital for a few days).

I hope you feel better soon.

 

[DammitJanet]

I am on it about worrying about blockages. I know from enuresis that it is possible to have soft stool around harder blockages so that is one of the things I have been attempting to share with the doctor that I understand. I dont have normal #2's especially right now.

I did try rice early on but it seemed to make me hurt more but I will try it again and I did forget the banana's. Will get them. I got the ensure. Had considered yogurt but wasnt sure but will go get some. I have to admit I asked Tony to get me some sherbet but I havent had any yet. I just think that cold feeling would feel so good! I am becoming extremely weak and tired. One of the problems for me in trying to get booked right now is timing. Its holiday time. Lots of doctors are taking off all next week, or at least part of it.

I am plenty worried. The things we tested for were the easy things that would have been the obvious with my symptoms. Now its onto more digging. My doctor is in over his head.

Yes he just did the blood test for H.pylori but not the breath test. I didnt know about that one. My doctor is just a NP. There isnt actually a MD at this satellite office. There used to be but she left. This guy is good for refilling my medications and checking out an ear infection but much more than that and we are toast.

I hope today is better.

 

[Marcie Mac]

Janet I hate to say this but some of the symptoms you are having are the same as my diverticilutis - My pain started in the lower left side of the abdomen. They started treating me for it last SEPTEMBER -had the cat scans. There was a blockage (later on referred to as a mass-ugggg) blocking my kidney. When I ate it didn't go down. I kept saying something was wrong - right before I had the colonostphy I had to drink that stuff, and it got to a point that wouldn't go down either. They were supposed to give me the test down my throat -they didn't - and I almost died from the infection. Food had no where to go cept into those little holes, and those were what burst and caused perionitis (sorry for bad spelling). I was in extreme pain throwing up, and really extreme trying to pass food from the other end The more I tried to eat, the more things got worse. It blocked up so bad my colon.intestines had stuck all together, and they ended up removing my tubes, ovaries, small colon, part of my bowel and appendix.

Until you find out what it is, stay away from fiber. My diet was chicken broth, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs - anything that was soft. Anything with skin, or seeds was a no no (still is) There is a diverticilutis page on FB that has a lot of excellent info from people with same kind of pain/eating problems. PM me your number and I will give you a call. And be sure to drink Ensure for vitamins - gave me a lot of energy. Dr. Oz also has a web page on it. Certain pain medications don't help it any - He wouldn't give me any kind of narcotics as it has a tendancy to make it worse

Marcie

 

[DammitJanet]

Marcie...you are what is worrying me. I wasnt exactly sure what was going on with you but knew it was gut related. I may have made a huge mistake in not going to the hospital up in VA. I would have probably gotten better answers there ...and quicker...than I am getting here. I was hoping against hope it was just may gallbladder but the ultrasound showed no stones. And evidently it didnt show anything with my pancreas either but I wouldnt put too much money on that considering my size. Honestly...if you read the symptoms and do the checker, I hit all the marks for pancreatitis.

I will pm you my number. I havent had anything to eat today other than sherbet and diet coke. I might try another egg tonite.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Janet, I'm thinking back and don't I remember you not be able to "go" for a considerable amount of time several months ago? Did you go to the doctor then? I don't remember specifically, but I'm thinking it was contributed to a change in your medications?

Sharon

 

[DammitJanet]

The collective "we" which goes to mean I told my doctor that I suspected that by changing from methadone to oxycontin caused me to have constipation. I always got very constipated on any "oxy" type medication rather than the "hydra" type. Of course now I am on neither and on just morphine sulfate. Not sure if that is better worse or indifferent but I know that I always got more constipated on say percocets than vicodin. Thats as plainly as I can say it. And it works the same way up the class with the stronger of those cousins. Oxycontin is just Percocet without tylenol and its long acting.

I was the one who suggested that I thought it was from the medications and when they switched me back to morphine and I started taking the lactalose laxative along with it, well things did go okay for awhile. Nothing has been real good. I have always had some issues with this because of taking the pain medications. It is embarrassing that I have to worry about this at my age. I never dreamed I would be sending Tony out for Fleet when I was in my 40's! At least once or twice a year it just gets so bad that it hurts to go but this is a different feeling. When that is going on, its a "hurts to go down there because its a brick". I feel like I am giving birth without an epidural..lol.

 

[tiredmommy]

I think you need to be referred to an gastrenterologist at this point.