Need Dx for friend...HELP!--Heather, need input, please!
#29283 - 11/27/03 09:12 PM
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SharonMello
Reged: 01/22/03
Posts: 996
Loc: Groveland, CA
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Hi everybody - At Thanksgiving dinner today, one of my friends there has been having quite a problem with getting a very upset stomach after eating any type of food except Rice Chex and FF milk. Tonight, after she ate, she started getting stabbing pains in stomach (below waist) and then nausea and then cramps. She drinks a lot of FF milk (not lactose free) and has had a lot of tests done. Her colonoscopy showed some polyps...they did biopsy and found nothing irregular. She's had all types of tests and nothing found in her stomach like ulcers. They can't figure out what's wrong. She hasn't had a gall bladder test yet but she doesn't have pain in the gall bladder area.
I gave her Heather's book and told her to read it. I also told her to write down how much and what she eats and when she eats it and to drink lactose free milk. She's a stubborn one, she is, and I've tried to convince her that this was the best thing to do at this time to help her and the doc figure out what's going on.
Does anyone else have suggestions? This has been going on for months. Some days she doesn't eat anything because she doesn't want to get sick. She's lost about 30 lbs or more, which on one hand is good because she was overweight. She looks great now, but she can't keep much on her stomach. She says if she has just Rice Chex in the AM w/FF milk for breakfast and then again at her evening meal, she feels pretty good, but if she eats beef, she gets sick (wonder why???). Or if she eats anything besides the Rice Chex and milk, she gets sick. I asked her if she ate just rice and she said she tried that, and it makes her sick. Bread doesn't make her ill, but just about everything else does.
Oh, yeh, one more thing. This all started when she had a drug reaction and that resulted in some liver damage, which the doc said, was reversible. And, when she gets sick and throws up, she also gets diarrhea (how do you spell that??). She also has bouts of constipation.
INPUT, PLS! Thanx a million, y'all.
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Sharon
"Anything Chocolate"...that is all!
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That's such a tough one. It so hard to watch someone else hurt themselves, and not do anything about it. Kinda like a drug addict or something....
Anyway, maybe try explaining to her that she obviously needs to get more nutrition than what she's getting from Rice Chex & FF milk, so she needs to do something, so why not try the diet. Maybe one time bring some soy or rice milk with you and tell her to at least try it, because you're worried about her. Maybe if you can get her off the regular milk, she'll feel better enough to try other foods.  Have you been able to even convince her of trying the fiber supplement?
Hopefully someone else will have some better advice for you. Good luck and keep us posted on how you make out with her.
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Hi Sharon - How awful for your friend. It really sounds like she's going through hell.
I think she needs to get back to the docs and have more tests - especially on her liver, to see if she really has recovered from that damage. I'd also want tests on her gallbladder, as her symptoms could match problems there.
The FF milk isn't doing her any good - is she willing to try rice milk, since she does okay with rice chex cereal? She does need to get to the bottom of this problem because she just can't live on the cereal alone, and she shouldn't have to.
I'd be most worried about the symptoms starting after the liver damage - I'm a bit surprised they haven't followed up with her about that, to see how she's recovering. Obviously, she's really not, since she's had all these GI problems ever since.
I think Mags is right in that there is only so much you can do to help her - she has to be willing to help herself. Maybe she's really happy with the weight loss, and is worried that if she solves the GI problem her weight will creep back up. She might have some motives here for "wanting" to stay sick that you're not going to be able to overcome. Though I think you can help her realize that she can get her health, and a healthy diet, back while still keeping extra weight off. This shouldn't be an either-or situation at all.
Is she willing to pester her docs for more follow ups?
- Heather
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Mags - She's a tough cookie (she's one of the security enforcement guards at Pine Mt. Lake and she kicks butt if she has to). I guess she's not tired of being so sick--altho she should be after 5 months of this foolishness. I'm going to print out your answer and read it to her and maybe that'll do some good. She doesn't even wanna try Lactaid FF milk let alone soy or rice milk. I just wanna hit her over the head with a ball bat (that's what we do in NJ, right, Mags?!!)
Thanx for your input.
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Sharon
"Anything Chocolate"...that is all!
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Heather - thanx so much for taking time out to answer this one. Like I told Mags, she's a tough cookie--won't even try Lactaid FF milk let alone soy or rice milk. She just crinkles up her nose when I mention it. What a wuss!
She didn't even know she had liver damage until they did an ultrasound. Don't know if it's healed or not. Then her friend told me she was dx'd w/GERD, too. Would GERD do the throw-up/diarrhea/nauseous thing too? I think she just wants someone to wave a magic wand over her head and say "abra cadabra" and she'll be all better. She's not a youngster, either (although she's 12 years younger than me--so, let's see, that makes her a Fall Chicken (vs. a Spring Chicken or an Old Crow like me!)
I'm also going to print out your answer and read it to her. Maybe it'll start to sink in. It doesn't sound like she's pressuring the docs to get to the bottom of this. I think she'll be with us tomorrow night and I'll let her have it, New Jersey style!!!
Thanks, again. You're a doll (no matter what Will says!) Love ya!
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Sharon
"Anything Chocolate"...that is all!
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