Hello everyone,
I'm so happy that I've found this forum. Lately I've felt so hopeless and alone. While I have very loving and supportive people in my life, most of them are in very good health and cannot understand why I am always sick. My father tells me, "You're fine" and chuckles nervously. My mother frequently says, "Mind over matter" to me because she thinks we can overcome anything if we put out minds to it. While this can be true for some things, unfortunately an illness doesn't exactly work this way. Luckily my fiancé always tries to be understanding.
The most unfortunate part of this is that my doctors are leaving me wondering, insecure and confused. They've managed to make me feel like I'm completely insane. Maybe some of you can help me ask the right questions or mention the correct things to my doctors to help them find the answers?
Here's what I've been dealing with-
~Severe upper abdominal pains. (Stabbing with continual dull ache)
~Sore sides around the lower ribs.
~Belly cramping and twitching.
~Constipation, I go 3-5 days without a bm all the time. (Diarrhea rarely)
~ALWAYS nauseous.
~Flares of consistently vomiting for days at a time, I cannot stop even when I'm thoroughly dehydrated.
~When I finally have a bm I want to vomit at the same time.
~ALWAYS tired and weak.
~Dizziness and feeling faint often. I have fainted 3x in the last year.
~Loss of appetite, I've lost about 15lbs in the last month or so. I'm already very slim.
~Achy joints.
~Tarry stools and Pale greenish grey stools.
~Stiff muscles.
~Enlarged lymph nodes in neck. My chiropractor actually discovered this, I told my regular doctor and she said it wasn't a big deal and that I probably have a cold. I don't but she doesn't seem concerned.
~Cold hands and feet.
~Lots of white mucous following stool.
~Itchy skin, reddish pink rash on back and limbs. Cortizone helps keep it at bay but it doesn't stop all the itching.
~Chills sometimes shaky.
~Night sweats and waking up at night in pain.
~Low fever occasionally, around 99. Otherwise a low temp of 96.
~General malaise.
(Side note- I eat very healthy- no red meats, low dairy intake and I often eat gluten free choices. I've played with my diet for the past few years and any change I make doesn't help or worsen the problem. Also, I had E.Coli as a child and my appendix has been removed.)
Most of this has been going on for years. I'm so tired of never getting anything out of my doctor. I have switched doctors 5 times in the last two years because all I get of them is "You are just stressed." The next doctor that says this to me will get an ear full. If there is any reason for me to be stressed it's because I feel absolutely awful and no one takes me seriously.
A month ago I finally convinced my doctor to send me to a specialist. I had my consultation with a GI a week later and he decided to do both upper and lower scopes set for a later date to give me peace of mind and since my family has a history of similar issues. He ended saying that it's probably just Psychogenic vomiting syndrome. Which to me translates to "When you stress you throw up." I'm so very sick of hearing things like this. I researched it anyway and it doesn't sound right at all.
About four days after that I ended up in the ER because I was vomiting profusely for 48 hours and completely unable to hold down ever water. Although this happens very often and I had never gone to the ER for it prior, when I noticed bight red blood in my stool I called my GI and they told me to get to the ER right away. They ran a bunch of blood work and took a urine sample, which both came up fine aside from dehydration. Then the doctor did a very awkward test to see if I was still bleeding and he didn't see anything. He mentioned a tag that resembled a past hemorrhoid. I told him I have never had any to my knowledge. He left the room and returned saying he had put in a request with my GI to do multiple biopsies of the tissue in my organs. He mentioned that we may be looking at Crohns, a gluten intolerance or some other auto immune disorder. Unfortunately the ER doctor was the only doctor I've ever encountered that seemed to be genuinely concerned and recognize that this is not as simple as "stress." but he obviously can't be my regular doctor.
I just had both scopes done yesterday and guess what? Another normal result. I was loopy when I heard this and started to cry and flat out asked my GI "Well then why am I so sick? What is wrong with me?" he said "Well we can discuss further when you come back to see me." and chuckled. My next appointment with him isn't until December. I am still awaiting the biopsy results but it looks as though they only did one biopsy of my duodenum and no other area. If this comes back as normal as well I am going to be ready to give up. This has affected my entire life so drastically. I haven't been at work for two weeks because I am so weak from barely eating and throwing up so often among many other symptoms. Everything just continues to get worse.
I am in so much pain and I just want advice and answers. The doctors I've met have mostly made me feel like I've lost my mind. Any advice would be wonderful. Sorry about how lengthy this is.
Thanks for reading!
I'm so happy that I've found this forum. Lately I've felt so hopeless and alone. While I have very loving and supportive people in my life, most of them are in very good health and cannot understand why I am always sick. My father tells me, "You're fine" and chuckles nervously. My mother frequently says, "Mind over matter" to me because she thinks we can overcome anything if we put out minds to it. While this can be true for some things, unfortunately an illness doesn't exactly work this way. Luckily my fiancé always tries to be understanding.
The most unfortunate part of this is that my doctors are leaving me wondering, insecure and confused. They've managed to make me feel like I'm completely insane. Maybe some of you can help me ask the right questions or mention the correct things to my doctors to help them find the answers?
Here's what I've been dealing with-
~Severe upper abdominal pains. (Stabbing with continual dull ache)
~Sore sides around the lower ribs.
~Belly cramping and twitching.
~Constipation, I go 3-5 days without a bm all the time. (Diarrhea rarely)
~ALWAYS nauseous.
~Flares of consistently vomiting for days at a time, I cannot stop even when I'm thoroughly dehydrated.
~When I finally have a bm I want to vomit at the same time.
~ALWAYS tired and weak.
~Dizziness and feeling faint often. I have fainted 3x in the last year.
~Loss of appetite, I've lost about 15lbs in the last month or so. I'm already very slim.
~Achy joints.
~Tarry stools and Pale greenish grey stools.
~Stiff muscles.
~Enlarged lymph nodes in neck. My chiropractor actually discovered this, I told my regular doctor and she said it wasn't a big deal and that I probably have a cold. I don't but she doesn't seem concerned.
~Cold hands and feet.
~Lots of white mucous following stool.
~Itchy skin, reddish pink rash on back and limbs. Cortizone helps keep it at bay but it doesn't stop all the itching.
~Chills sometimes shaky.
~Night sweats and waking up at night in pain.
~Low fever occasionally, around 99. Otherwise a low temp of 96.
~General malaise.
(Side note- I eat very healthy- no red meats, low dairy intake and I often eat gluten free choices. I've played with my diet for the past few years and any change I make doesn't help or worsen the problem. Also, I had E.Coli as a child and my appendix has been removed.)
Most of this has been going on for years. I'm so tired of never getting anything out of my doctor. I have switched doctors 5 times in the last two years because all I get of them is "You are just stressed." The next doctor that says this to me will get an ear full. If there is any reason for me to be stressed it's because I feel absolutely awful and no one takes me seriously.
A month ago I finally convinced my doctor to send me to a specialist. I had my consultation with a GI a week later and he decided to do both upper and lower scopes set for a later date to give me peace of mind and since my family has a history of similar issues. He ended saying that it's probably just Psychogenic vomiting syndrome. Which to me translates to "When you stress you throw up." I'm so very sick of hearing things like this. I researched it anyway and it doesn't sound right at all.
About four days after that I ended up in the ER because I was vomiting profusely for 48 hours and completely unable to hold down ever water. Although this happens very often and I had never gone to the ER for it prior, when I noticed bight red blood in my stool I called my GI and they told me to get to the ER right away. They ran a bunch of blood work and took a urine sample, which both came up fine aside from dehydration. Then the doctor did a very awkward test to see if I was still bleeding and he didn't see anything. He mentioned a tag that resembled a past hemorrhoid. I told him I have never had any to my knowledge. He left the room and returned saying he had put in a request with my GI to do multiple biopsies of the tissue in my organs. He mentioned that we may be looking at Crohns, a gluten intolerance or some other auto immune disorder. Unfortunately the ER doctor was the only doctor I've ever encountered that seemed to be genuinely concerned and recognize that this is not as simple as "stress." but he obviously can't be my regular doctor.
I just had both scopes done yesterday and guess what? Another normal result. I was loopy when I heard this and started to cry and flat out asked my GI "Well then why am I so sick? What is wrong with me?" he said "Well we can discuss further when you come back to see me." and chuckled. My next appointment with him isn't until December. I am still awaiting the biopsy results but it looks as though they only did one biopsy of my duodenum and no other area. If this comes back as normal as well I am going to be ready to give up. This has affected my entire life so drastically. I haven't been at work for two weeks because I am so weak from barely eating and throwing up so often among many other symptoms. Everything just continues to get worse.
I am in so much pain and I just want advice and answers. The doctors I've met have mostly made me feel like I've lost my mind. Any advice would be wonderful. Sorry about how lengthy this is.
Thanks for reading!
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