Hello :)

Hello everybody, it's nice that there's a forum for our digestive problems! For a long while I've thought that I was the only one suffering with the big D at the most inopportune moments.:blush: Here's what's going on with me:

I have fibromyalgia and for about a year or so I have been nauseous for the majority of each day. Sometimes when I eat my upper abdomen baloons out and when you touch it it is very hard. I have to wear one size bigger during those times. I can actually feel bumps and I swear I'm feeling the different sections of my colon.

A month ago it was Ramadan and I tried to fast. We fast from sunup to sundown. When I'd break my fast I would immediately go to the bathroom in about 10 minutes after I'd eat. Well I didn't last fasting too long because I needed to take tylenol for my fibro pain. The first day that I ate normal by dinnertime my stomach was HUGE and I had pains everywhere around it. Since then I've been super nauseous each day (more than normal) and whenever I eat solid foods after about 60 minutes in some spots it's painful. I have been to a GI specialist and he scheduled a colonoscopy for mid-November. Well for the past 3 weeks I just can't eat any solid foods and have lived off of chicken broth, ensure, cheerios if I let them get soggy in my mouth, cream of wheat and tea. Every once in a while like last night I test myself to see if it's "all gone" and eat normal, kind of. Last night I made thanksgiving dinner and ate a couple of bites of turkey with gravy, mashed taters and squash. I'm talking like half of a tv dinner sized meal. Within one hour I had pain like you read about and it lasted all night long. The only thing that decreased the pain from an 8 to about a 6 was laying on my stomach. The pain wasn't constant, but came every two minutes or so. It's right under my rib cage but sometimes on the left side and sometimes on the right side.

I called the GI guy again and he wants to do a lower bowel follow through which has been scheduled for the 20th.

Has anyone experienced this before? I've always had digestive issues and sometimes can go a couple of weeks at a time with just diarheah. (sorry if this is gross). I get terrible gas pains sometimes where I even have to call out from work. It's just that I've never been not able to tolerate it so I never mentioned it to a doctor.

Thanks for any advice you can give me and I can't wait to read on this forum and not feel so all alone!!!

Welcome fellow beantowner! What's a lower bowel follow through? Is that a colonoscopy?

Sorry you're battling a ton right now. Hope you find answers and support here!

:welcome:
Your symptoms sound very similar to mine when I was becoming obstructed. If I stuck to full liquids, the pain was bearable. Then I would get so hungry I would eat something normal and would end up with unrelenting vomiting and gut wrenching pain. Have you been vomiting?

The barium test should be able to show how much narrowing you have in the intestine. I know its hard not to eat regular food, but really try to give your intestines a rest. Maybe try small frequent meals that are soft to full liquid in nature. I hope this info helps. Let us know how your test goes.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! Sorry it's the small intestine followthrough I think. It's where you don't eat after midnight and then when you get there drink barium and they xray you every so often until it passes into the next stage.

Fenway are you upset about yesterday? I was and wasn't. I think after the first World Series I figured it's time to give someone else a chance, you know?

No vomiting at all but a lot of nauseau if I don't stick to the liquids. I've actually been making my diet up as I go along, i.e. my GI specialist never gave me a list of helpful foods at all. He did say though that if I started to vomit along with the pain to go to the ER. He mentioned that he thinks I have a partial blockage. I guess I keep eating normal every so often because I'm also kind of afraid it's going to go away. Does that make sense? Kind of like when you hear a knocking in your engine and you take it to the mechanic and he can't hear it.

Oh btw I miss popcorn too!!!!

Welcome to the forum,

Since you mentioned Fibromyalgia, I thought I should let you know about the latest findings on it. Researchers are finding the virus XMRV in 95% of people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and similar percentages in people with Fibromyalgia and atypical MS.

The findings are preliminary, but something to follow up on.

http://chronicfatigue.about.com/b/2...-in-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-fibromyalgia.htm

Hope you can find some support and help here.

Dan

I've done that test. It's an easy one to do. Don't rely on GI for nutritional advice...I've found them not to be that helpful in that department. If you can, see a nutritionist. I went and found it helpful.

BL...my name is Fenway. Of course I'm bummed! More so that Pats lost too. Grrr. But, the Angels were clearly the better team. Can't win if you can't score runs.

* Not saying a word about baseball *

Welcome, BL!

Let us know how it all goes!

D Bergy said:

Welcome to the forum,

Since you mentioned Fibromyalgia, I thought I should let you know about the latest findings on it. Researchers are finding the virus XMRV in 95% of people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and similar percentages in people with Fibromyalgia and atypical MS.

The findings are preliminary, but something to follow up on.

http://chronicfatigue.about.com/b/2...-in-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-fibromyalgia.htm

Hope you can find some support and help here.

Dan

Click to expand...

That's interesting research Dan, I have suffered from Fibromyalgia for years ...I think my whole immune system is tanked ...

Thanks for that link, Dan! I'll bring it up to my GP when I see her next.

Ok here's my big main worry, what if I'm all better by the time the small bowel follow through test comes? Will they still be able to detect whatever the heck was causing this? I only ask because I had some fish last night and it didn't bother me. I did have slight pains in the usual places but only about a 3 on the pain scale as opposed to the 7 to 8 that I've been experiencing. So will they still be able to see anything? I know this is sick minded but has anyone ever purposely set themselves into a flare for their appt?

Also, what tests actually detect Crohn's disease? Do I have to wait for the colonoscopy to have it definitely diagnosed or will this barium test detect it?

Hi there and welcome. I read your story and I am surprised you can eat cream of wheat (which I love) and no bloat and major pains, wheat and high fiber will cause gas pains galore, as that happens to me, I had brown rice the other day, my dietician said you paid right? Yes, I did. I stay on a low fiber and no fats, soluable fats are ok but gravy would do me in. I also love squash. When you do have a meal dont eat and drink at the same time ( I know hard) and water (not cold) should be after about a half hour. If I dont watch what I eat, I had pumpkin pie and the pastry, yep I paid again. Hardly worth it. I rarely drink pop, causes gas.

You will get to know what you can eat, avoiding veggies- uncooked, and citrus fruits and dairy until you know how severe your Crohn's is. Barium follow throughs are not bad, plug your nose, and keep it down. After the test is over, drink lots of water or it will stick to your gut. Let us know how your test shows up. If it is inconclusive then you will probably have a colonoscopy. Good luck!

:welcome:

Well the colonoscopy was scheduled first but for Nov 17 so when I called in pain they scheduled the small bowel follow through.

The cream of wheat I don't eat all of the time. I've had it three times and now that I think of it maybe it does bother me but I don't know it. I take 60mg of Cymbalta and 10 mg of Nortriptyline for my Fibromyalgia pain so maybe that's acting as a buffer of sorts. Suprisingly enough the GI guy said that they would have prescribed Nortriptyline for this pain as well. The whole pain management theory for the GP's and the specialists is to try to treat the pain with that type of medicine rather than with things like percocet or vicodin. Normally I'm cool with it but I would like to have the right to ask for something stronger when I'm in a very large flare-up because at those times 2 tylenol just doesn't cut it.

I actually think this flare up was worsened by my taking 800 mg of Motrin. I know that's a no-no but I was in a LOT of muscle pain and just said to heck with it. Now I eat out of a straw so there ya go.

Welcome to the forum - good luck with the colonoscopy. I've had the pain under the ribs and ooooh that is no fun.