Chronic Gut Issues

@lexic10
What country are you in and what is your age? Do you remember what triggered your symptoms? Were you under a significant amount of stress at the time?

Your symptoms are all concerning. Have you been to a gastroenterologist and had any falls endoscopy and colonoscopy? Have you had abdominal and transvaginal ultrasounds? Have you had extensive bloodwork and are you dehydrated? Have you reviewed all of your reports in detail to see what shows up as abnormal?

Do you have anyone that can help you advocate for proper care?

Have you ever been to a hematologist, endocrinologist or immunologist?

What are you able to eat/drink and keep down? Do you drink, smoke or vape? Do you use any recreational drugs? Have you had any testing for viruses or toxicities?

Do you get migraines and have you ever had Covid or the shots?

Hi @lexic10, I add my welcome. While no one on the forum can provide a diagnosis, members can listen and help with questions to ask your doctor. @dlydailyhope has asked you a lot of questions to help you get to the bottom of your gut issues. These are good questions to ask yourself and your doctor.

I also agree that your symptoms sound distressing. You mention that you've been to many doctors. Did you see a GI specialist (gastroenterologist)?

Thank you @dlydailyhope for all the support and concern.

I'm in the United states and under 21. I remmember thinking at first that I was probably stressed out and that's why I felt so sick, but the stress stopped and my tummy continued. I've had two endoscopes and one fairly recent colonoscopy with a bunch of scanning that I forgot the name of. We did all the bloodwork and I did indeed take an ultrasound for my lower abdomen. I drink plenty of water and usually have no issue- it's food that gives me a hard time. I also listened the best I could to the doctors when they explained their findings, but different doctors would give me different answers about the exact same test result. As you can imagine, I got very confused very quickly.

Unfortunately, I don't have much help advocating but at this time I took a step back from medical professionals. What I'm able to keep down really varies, I've done much better at keeping food down because I'm eating baby portions. I don't fully remember if we did any toxicity tests but we checked for some viruses they suspected I might have. They got nothing from this. I have a note explaining how I've tried every single medication my doctor could prescribe for gut health and that's when I started smoking marijuana medicinally with another doctor agreeing it could help the pain. I do NOT like what it does to my mental state, but I can function somewhat now.

I've had two COVID shots and a booster years ago and I also don't experience mirgraines.

Honestly, when I posted I saw how long ago other accounts were active and assumed I'd just be getting this out for myself, but I really appreciate how you're asking more questions than the doctors I've seen.

Thank you, I saw 2 GI specialists last year.

This is just a thought, but I had a similar issue when I was just a child. He didn’t matter what I ate; I would get nauseated and vomit for a couple of weeks about every three months. Finally, a doctor put me on a stomach tranquilizer called Belap. It worked perfectly and solved my problem. Then they changed it to a synthetic form of belladonna (the first one contained actual belladonna I believe), and it worked OK, but not quite as well. I took that for years, and then I didn’t need it anymore. I began to drink Metamucil every day until I became allergic to it about 30 years later, and it solved my problem pretty much unless I got really stressed. Now I believe the new one is called Bentyl. I don’t trust new medication as much as the old ones, but now they want $500 a month for Belap, so I don’t take it anymore, but I wish I could. If you carry all your stress in your stomach as I do, it might be helpful. I’m not a doctor and I don’t know if you’ve already tried that or not, but it’s just an idea. My doctor recently recommended aloe vera gel, and I just tried some on an empty stomach and I don’t feel so great, but maybe I need to give it another chance. I hope you find an answer to your stomach issue. You have my deepest sympathy. P.S. There’s a really good stomach meditation on YouTube by generation column. It’s the one that’s 9:58 seconds long. I find it very helpful. Good luck!

It's honestly so relieving knowing I'm not the only one who's been passed between doctors without a straight answer or a consistent solution. I've been put on a few mood stabilizers- I asked the doctor what in the world that meant and she told me I have anxiety. I actually do not have any form of anxiety until after those medications. I would be scared trying something like that again, but I haven't had any tranquilizers so I better give it a shot!

Thanks a lot @blessedwildapplegirl !!

@lexic10
Here are a couple thoughts to consider:
1. Covid 19 is known to mess with your gut. See links below.
-https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/covid-19-disrupts-gut-microbiome
-https://time.com/7027179/covid-19-gastrointestinal-symptoms/
-https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj.q842
2. Did the tests indicate where you had internal bleeding (was it in your stomach or colon)? If you use aspirin, Motrin/ibuprofen, Advil, or Aleve (all NSAIDs), this can cause bleeding in your gastrointestinal tract. It would be good to stop taking them for pain relief and use Tylenol/acetaminophen instead. Check your endoscopy and colonoscopy reports to see if it showed any erosions or bleeding. I had to stop NSAIDs when they found erosions in my esophagus and stomach (diagnosed with esophagitis/gastritis and prescribed Omeprazole).
3. With any bleeding internally or with heavy periods and if a vegetarian/vegan, you want to make sure to take a multivitamin and extra iron. You should take iron on an empty stomach and the preferred iron that doesn’t upset your stomach would be a polysaccharide iron complex. I had iron deficiency due to heavy menstrual bleeding plus mostly vegetarian diet. I had a D&C procedure and they put in an IUD which helped stop the heavy bleeding and iron deficiency was resolved.
4. Since you are vomiting a lot, you may want to make sure to drink at least 50% of of your weight in ounces of water with added electrolytes (like LMNT brand) to replace lost minerals. For example, if you are 120 pounds, you would want to make sure to have at least 60 ounces of water with electrolytes. The electrolytes will help you keep/retain more of the water in your body rather than peeing it all out.
5. My suggestion is to talk to your gastroenterologist to ask for a HYDA scan of your gallbladder to check function. I had this done after they did all other testing and found that my gallbladder was only ejecting 7% bile after a meal when it should be a minimum of 35%-40%. This is called biliary dyskinesia and can cause abdominal pain/discomfort and digestion issues.
-https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23932-biliary-dyskinesia
-https://www.verywellhealth.com/biliary-dyskinesia-4797127
6. It would be good to see a nutritionist/dietitian to check your diet and supplements and make recommendations. They can do bloodwork to see if you have vitamin/mineral deficiencies or toxicities or inflammation markers. You may also benefit from seeing an immunologist for allergy testing if you haven’t had this done. You may have new allergies to certain foods post Covid.

@lexic10
Sorry…my links weren’t active.
1. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/covid-19-disrupts-gut-microbiome
2. https://time.com/7027179/covid-19-gastrointestinal-symptoms/
3. https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj.q842
4. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23932-biliary-dyskinesia
5. https://www.verywellhealth.com/biliary-dyskinesia-4797127

Everyone on Mayo Connect would be happy to help you navigate the healthcare system and share our experiences which may help you advocate for yourself to get the care you need and deserve. You are too young to be suffering alone. If you have results you have questions about, share them here but make sure to not include personally identifiable information. We may spot something in a report that your doctors didn’t discuss with you. I found my own thyroid nodule on a ct scan for something else and an old heart infarct on an ekg that no doctor brought to my attention.

@lexic10
Have you tried protein drinks, smoothies or milk shakes with healthy fats, protein, organic fruits/veggies? Have you tried taking a probiotic to help your gut recover some healthy bacteria? You may want to look up building back up your microbiome in your gastrointestinal system.
1. https://www.healthline.com/health/10-gut-foods
2. https://healthpath.com/gut-health/restore-gut-flora/
3. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/5-simple-ways-to-improve-gut-health
4. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325293
5. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/25201-gut-microbiome

I add this to my protein shakes/smoothies:
COUNTRY FARMS Super Greens Berry... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRLGSH3F?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

This might sound silly but I'm getting borderline emotional with all of these helpful suggestions that I've been begging the doctors for 2 years about. Thank you so much for all your time and insight on this! I'm excited that there are more outlets for me to inquire; they way medical professionals were speaking to me, made it sound like I was coming to an end on finding a solution.
I used to love salads and these little probiotic yogurts (I forget what they're called), but I noticed how much burning I'd feel from lettuces and spinach. I even found tons of discomfort in apples- that was my favorite snack with peanut butter. I found I can only eat a limited amount of fruits and veggies. I haven't tried milk shakes with healthy fats though!
Again, thank you so much for taking the time to find all these links for me and list tons of different approaches!