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Wanna play doctor?

post #1 of 10
Thread Starter 
I'm going to list dh's symptoms, and you can tell me what can cause them, k?

He frequently gets a pain right under his ribcage on his left side, the pain radiates up his shoulder and neck. He's had EKGs done and it is not his heart. He had a doctor diagnose him with gallbladder attacks on the basis of this pain, so he had it surgically removed, but he still gets the pain.

He throws up a lot. After eating he will get a bit of vertigo, the pain in his upper gut, and then he'll vomit. He usually feels much better afterward, but occasionally keeps the vertigo and nausea for an hour or so.

He occasionally experiences bright red rectal bleeding. His doctor said it was hemorroids, but it's still freaking him out.

He practically lives on tums, he gets indigestion and heartburn frequently. He generally goes to bed earlier than I do, and if I wake him for some "activities" he can't lay down again afterward because of the heartburn.

He has seasonal allergies, which seem to have gotten worse this summer, usually it's in the fall.

He tested negative for the h.pylori bacteria. The doctor offered to get him scoped out both ends, but didn't think they'd find anything, and dh's insurance only covered 20 percent of the cost. So we never did it.

I was wondering if he has some vagus nerve disorder or something, the doctors pretty much tell him "sucks to be you, you're healthy according to our tests."

Sound like anything treatable? He thought it was food reactions, and I've wondered if perhaps he's allergic to something he eats a lot of and it's built up in his system. Last night he ate a baked potato with light cheese and butter and salad and tea. He threw it all back up later.
post #2 of 10
three things that came to mind -

He's low on stomach acid (esp with all the Tums intake). Take some water with lemon or AVC before meals.

Would he be willing to go to acupuncture? Helped me when all western medical tests said I was fine, but I was in pain.

Would he be willing to dairy-free for a month to see if that helped?
post #3 of 10
I would get food allergy testing. How long has he had these symptoms? Did anything happen around that time?
post #4 of 10
They did gallbladder surgery without imaging to see if the gallbladder was the issue? You can have symptoms after gallbladder removal. http://www.gallbladderattack.com/gal...rsurgery.shtml This site describes that.

I think he needs scoped on both ends. By a different doctor as the one who told you they won't find anything and pronounced him healthy without looking is clearly not an informed doctor. These are serious symptoms. They would need to scope to look for http://www.apfed.org/egid.htm Eosinophilic Disease which fits many (even all) of what you describe--from the pain, to the heartburn and vomitting and right down to the blood. And it is related to food so it makes sense he's connected that in his mind. In fact he may well test allergic to foods but before you go pulling things out (like dairy) you need to figure out if this is the underlying condition. We pulled foods for my son before he was tested and that was a mistake as it messes up the scope results. Read about the disorder. They can look for other things while they are there in a scope. Find a GI doctor who knows how to look for Eosinophilic and that doctor will know what else to test (and will take him seriously) too. He needs that ruled out or in no matter the cost. Though I'm confused about insurance only covering 20%--why? Is a deductible issue or ? Because scoping for things like this are pretty standard in the GI world. My son had it done and covered without any issue.

The red bleeding...seems they could figure out it if is hemorroids without issue. Why assume something like that? I had bleeding and while they assumed it was fissure related we had to scope to make sure it wasn't polyps or the like. That scope is pretty easy and entirely painless (both are painless actually). They don't know without looking. Your doctor is just plain scary with the assumptions and lack of concern with such serious symptoms.

He needs a new GI--a knowledgable one. Perhaps that site I linked can recommend an adult GI for that issue and I believe there are yahoo groups and the like for it too. Worth traveling so your husband can get better. He's clearly not ok.
post #5 of 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by sbgrace View Post
Your doctor is just plain scary with the assumptions and lack of concern with such serious symptoms.

He needs a new GI--a knowledgable one.
Ditto that.

AND ditto the food allergy testing. I'd get both IgE and IgG testing done. Forget skin patch testing, get a good blood test done for food allergies. I've had good results with Genova Diagnostics. A regular allergist may only do the skin patch testing and not the blood testing.
post #6 of 10
Sounds like he has a leaky gut. Has he tried to restore optimal gut flora with a cleanse, probiotics, raw veganism?
post #7 of 10
Thread Starter 
We tried dairy free for like a whole 4 days before he quit. We tried avoiding wheat and that lasted for 3 weeks. He was a vegetarian when i met him, but he never ate vegetables :P He lived off french fries and corn flakes. He has no interest in returning to vegetarian or vegan living. He does the flush and cleanse thing 2 or 3 times a year, he won't take vitamins or supplements that I give him, it has to be from a doctor

He's been listing his symptoms to me and complaining about his pain for the last three days, when i finally get some ideas from y'all to offer him he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. I think I'll throw him down a well and he can eat what I put in the bucket to lower down to him
post #8 of 10
liver? I think pain under right ribcage is where your liver is.
post #9 of 10
It sounds to me like he needs to change his diet to really help out in the long run. I'd suggest the paleo diet, but that's a tough transition.

Also, try some enteric coated peppermint oil capsules. They work!
post #10 of 10
I just came across this old thread. Any updates on your husband?

My opinion: It sounds like a couple of things going on. Some of the symptoms may be consistent with hiatal hernia. I had a naturopath do a quick (painless) visceral manipulation technique and it went away. Hemorrhoids and food intolerance also sound plausible.

Good luck!
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