@lauraherbert It sounds to me like a feeding tube would be an extreme choice. If I understand correctly, you can swallow, correct?

My dad had a feeding tube because he lost the ability to swallow after a head injury and he had to relearn it. I helped him with him feeding tube. It's a messy thing punched though the stomach wall and it has to be cleaned and flushed. It can get infected or pull out and need to be surgically reinserted and you have tubing hanging off your belly with a clasp on it. The food is liquid canned drinks like Ensure or Boost that elderly people use because they loose too much weight. Those are usually available at the pharmacy section of the grocery store. If you can swallow, you could just drink some of those without a feeding tube. As nutrition goes, it is a lot of fats, carbs and vitamins and not really great nutrition.

Have you explored the possibility of food allergies as a cause? Perhaps taking digestive enzymes may help if you don't digest food well. Gluten issues cause inflammation of the gut if a person is susceptible and that actually may decrease the the surface area for digestion by flattening the villiae in the intestines. That is what happens with Celiac disease which causes malabsorption, and a gut may heal if gluten is taken out of the diet entirely. I did that. That requires research because there are so many sources of hidden gluten in foods. Basic food like meat and fruits and vegetables are good options as long as you avoid any grain with gluten. Corn and oats don't have gluten, but there could be cross contamination if there are some errant plants of wheat left over in a corn field from another season that gets scooped up during harvesting.

I have recently been through a lot of gut issues and pain, and it seems to have been caused by dairy products and also some physical issues with my pelvis that twists of out of alignment. Because that encircles the colon and large intestine, it can can cause pain and even constipation because of pressure. My physical therapist helps me with this. I do have other food issues and sensitivities as well as gluten and I have over time taken a lot of foods out of my diet that bother me. Have you seen a nutritionist? I even had a recent colonoscopy and the gastroenterologist took a biopsy to check for issues, but there were none. I had an ultrasound to check my ovaries because bloating and constipation can be a symptom of ovarian cancer. All of that was good, so I think my issues are food sensitivities and physical alignment of my body that I'm working on in PT.

The most calorie dense food is fat and if you are able to eat dairy, ice cream would be a way to get a lot of fat calories. Fats have about twice as many calories as proteins and carbohydrates. Olive oil is a heart healthy fat. Those are the 3 different types of food and most foods have a combination of them in differing proportions. Egg yolks are also a good source of fat with some additional proteins.

What suggestions have your doctors made, other than suggesting a feeding tube? Do any of my suggestions bring up questions that you would ask your providers?