nausea all the time

[rbks321]

Hi all-

I haven't posted much here, but I definitely have learned a ton about MC! I have gone back and read old posts and taken advice from the experts (that would be all of you who have been there and done that). The one symptom that I still struggle with daily is feeling nauseated. Sometimes it does develop into actually vomiting, but for the most part it is non-stop feeling like I am going to lose my lunch.
I read a lot about the other dreaded symptom, the D, but have not been able to find much info on chronic, everyday, nausea. Please direct me to threads if I am missing them.
Besides being dianosed with LC, prior to that I was told by ER Dr. (after an ultrasound) that the lining of my stomach appeared thickened & inflamed. I was prescribed OTC Prilosec and took it daily for two weeks. A couple of months later, when I finally got the nerve to be scoped, my GI Dr. said the same thing. This was immediately after the procedure. He told me to go ahead and try the Prilosec again. I did and complained to him that symptom is not any better. At that time, he Rx'd Promethazine. I take this several times a day. Sometimes it helps a little, sometimes it doesn't. I'm doing my best to not go the drug route, but this has been the one thing that has not improved since GF diet. I'm still keeping a food diary and have been unable to pinpoint any corralation between diet and symptom.
At this point, I am not overly concerned to know if this is a LC thing or gastritis thing, I just want it to go away!

I woke up this morning, looked at my husband, and said "I am going to stop eating all together!!". Obviously, not serious just frustrated.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks-
Rebecca

[Mars]

Hi Rebecca!

It's nice to see you posting - and welcome to our internet family!

I too have had bouts of constant nausea. Mine can present with or without "D" . I tend to slow down on "heavy" foods and eat pretty bland for a few days to help it. My primary doc put me on hyoscyamine (Levbid) for the cramping and nausea. I have also been RX'd Antivert while the nausea is at its worst. Everyone reacts different to meds so I don't know if it will help you, you would have to discuss that with your doctor. He told me that in my case, the spasms I have in my colon and kidneys (another story all together) causes the upset stomach.

Anyways, my advise would be to try to eliminate the problem food/drink by continuing to keep your food diary. Eat a bland meal for a few days and then try adding foods back into your diet that you are used to eating. You might find the problem that way.

I wish you luck in finding the problem quickly - it WILL get better. Hopefully you will find the culprit soon and begin feeling better! We're here for you!

Hugs,
Mars

[tex]

Hi Rebecca,

I had that problem fairly often when I was still reacting. I decided that in my case, at least, it was due to what is known as gastroparesis. I could actually feel, (and hear), my stomach empty it's contents, when it started working, again.
Gastroparesis is a condition in which the muscles in your stomach don't function normally, and it prevents your stomach from emptying properly. It can interfere with digestion, cause nausea and vomiting, and play havoc with blood sugar levels, and nutrition.

Do you by any chance have diabetes? Diabetes is the main cause of gastroparesis. I don't have diabetes, so my episodes were only temporary, though they were fairy regular, on a cyclic basis.

In your case, the gastroparesis may be caused by gastritis, (inflammation of the lining of the stomach). For some of us, gastritis seems to be caused by MC, because when the MC symptoms are resolved, the gastritis will be resolved, (and along with it, the gastroparesis). In my case, it was temporary, and would usually let up, after a day or two. Making changes to your diet may help you cope with the symptoms, but that's not always enough to eliminate the problem. There are medications that may offer some relief, but, of course, medications usually have side effects, and they're not always a good solution. The following guidelines seemed to help in my case, but of course, they didn't eliminate the problem. Soup was my standard fare, whenever I was nauseated:

* Eat smaller, more frequent meals.
* Minimize fiber.
* If fat seems to be a problem, eat mostly low-fat foods.
* Soups and pureed foods might be easier to digest.
* Drink water throughout each meal.
* Gentle exercise after eating, such as going for a walk, may be helpful.

The fact that the Promethazine seems to be ineffective, is not a good sign. You might ask your doctor to allow you to try one of the other drug choices, which include diphenhydramine, (Benadryl), onedansetron, (Zofran), and/or prochlorperazine, (but be aware that prochlorperazine is a powerful antipsychotic).

Good luck with this. I know the feeling, and it's miserable, especially if it's chronic.

Tex

[adelie]

Hi Rebecca,

I too have chronic nausea. I have both problems with gastroparesis and intestinal spasms. In my case, the muscles in my stomach don't contract very strong so instead of food being passed along, it just keeps sloshing around which has a sandpaper effect. I can get some relief from both hyoscyamine and domperidone (Motilium), but for different reasons. The hyoscyamine will make my stomach rest for a bit and then I can get good contractions for a while to get food to go through. Eventually, though that stopped working for me. It still works for intestinal spasms further down the line, but not the nausea anymore. Now I get good results with domperidone. It helps regulate contractions and makes them a little stronger. I don't nearly have as much problem with bloating either. The only problem I've had so far with domperidone is that it's not generally available for sale in the US. In the US, Reglan is the closest drug available and I had to stop that because of side effects. Domperidone is generally considered much safer than Reglan because domperidone doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier, but the US lawyers were concerned about off label uses and greatly restricted sale to only some compounding pharmacies. I mail order from www.inhousepharmacy.com per instruction from my GI.

Along the non-drug route, I have found one tea that seems to help - Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer tea. On occasion when I start getting that slight Ugh, not again feeling but it's not enough that I want to take something, the Tension Tamer tea seems to help. I'm a big tea drinker, so I've tried lots of herbal teas and that one seems to work best for me. I also keep to small meals and eat every few hours. On bad days, I'll keep to low abrasive foods - well cooked carrots always seem to do well. I can steam the heck out of a bag of baby carrots and it still has the illusion of being a solid food too! This time of year, winter squash does good as well.

Karen

[rbks321]

Thanks guys for the information and suggestions. I definitely plan on trying some of them.
Mars- I take Hyoscyamine also. Thought that was for the stomach pain and cramping, but certainly don't think it's helping with nausea.
I've tried the bland diet, I've been eating small meals throughout the day for quite awhile (started that when I had horrible morning sickness during my second pregnancy), and try hard to avoid greasy, fatty foods.

I'm not diabetic, as far as I know. I had a ton of labs done during the Spring of last year, and that checked out okay. Tex- It did make me think about something though. My loving family made me GF brownies for my birthday a few weeks ago. I ate what I considered a reasonably sized piece and felt like total crap shortly afterwards. I had to lay down for a few for fear that I was going to puke. Wonder if it's the sugar. For months, okay maybe even the last year, I have been craving sweets. Never used to be like that. In fact, if I had a choice of a cookie or potato chips I would have picked the chips in a heart beat. Because I have nausea all the time, it's hard to tell looking at my food diary if that could be part of it. Gonna try to slow down on the sugar.
Interesting you mentioned trying to drink water while eating meal. The acupuncturist told me to eat small meals, chew, chew, chew my food, and avoid drinking anything during meal. That always seemed odd to me even though, but something he said must have made sense at the time cause I've been doing it. Willing to try something different, so I will drink water while eating meal.

I usually drink tea in the evening. Karen- Thanks for the recommendation. I'm going to pick up the CS Tension Tamer tea and see if that helps.

It's so embarrasing when I have to get up in the middle of a session with a client and excuse myself so I don't get sick in front of them. I've had people ask me if I'm okay if they see/hear me in the bathroom. Even been asked if I was pregnant or feeling rough after a late night of partying. I'm sure people are just being nice, but don't always feel like explaining to others that "no, I'm just nauseated ALL the time".

Thanks for tips and suggestions.

-Rebecca

[tex]

Rebecca,

Craving sugar is a symptom of a candida overgrowth. The candida actually has the ability to influence the host's thought processes, and in looking out for it's own best interests, it causes the host to crave sugar, (which yeast thrives on, of course). Now I'm not saying that you have a yeast overgrowth, (because for one thing, it's not easy to diagnose a yeast overgrowth), but craving sugar is a rather unique symptom, and if you don't have a previous history of craving sugar, then you might want to look into that possibility. In fact, candida could be your primary problem, because a candida overgrowth often causes a chronic nausea problem, though symptoms can vary widely.

Be aware that most conventional GI docs know precious little about candida overgrowth, wouldn't recognize it if it bit them on the end of their nose, and almost never treat it, so you might have better luck with a doctor who is either a naturopath, or one who uses "integrated medicine". The problem is that there are no specific diagnostic tests for it, and most conventional docs are lost without diagnostic tests.

I had to cut out almost all sugar, when I was recovering, because the only type of sugar that did not make me sick, was maple sugar.

The advice to not drink water with a meal, is based on the idea that it dilutes the stomach acid, and therefore interferes with proper digestion. Generally speaking, that's excellent advice, for most people. The recommendation to drink a lot of water with meals, is specifically directed at people with gastroparesis, where the additional water might decrease the risk of forming bezoars in the stomach. Of course, if bezoars are not an issue, then the additional water might not be as important, but it still might help to encourage the chime, (the stomach contents), to flow more freely. Tea sounds like a good suggestion.

If I were in your shoes, I would definitely check out the possibility of a candida overgrowth.

Tex

[adelie]

Hmmm... If candida might be a problem and you just gotta have something sweet, there are some natural sweeteners that are OK on the candida diets - xylitol, erythritol and stevia. Erythritol and stevia (Truvia is a combination of the two) are generally more digestive friendly, but some people are still sensitive to them.

With gastroparesis, chewing gum for 30-60 minutes after eating can help too. The act of chewing sends signals to the rest of the digestive tract that more food might be coming, so keep working. I recently found that Powerade Zero helps a little too. Both the Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer tea and Powerade Zero have Vitamin B6 added and Vitamin B6 is often used for nausea. In my case, the irritation in the lining of my stomach from the constant slosh of food sometimes causes confused signals to be sent along the vagus nerve and I get nauseous and really hungry at the same time - really frustrating. When that happens, what works the best for me is to chew up a benzocaine cough drop and down it quickly with a glass of water (sucking on it just numbs your mouth - gotta swallow it) to numb things up a bit and get the vagus nerve to cut it out! I'm sure no doctor would recommend it, but when you want to rip out your stomach because it's driving you nuts - quite literally - if swallowing a cough drop does the trick, I'm going to swallow the cough drop.

Karen

[rbks321]

Thanks, Tex. Makes sense. Forgot to mention that I have gained 30# since November. I needed to put on some weight, but this is ridiculous! I figured it was due to my poor eating habits. I'm going to try the "spit test" tomorrow. I figure with all the tests I have had in the last year, this seems like the least invasive and most fun to try.

I'm curious about the Enterolab testing. I'm saving my pennies to send off for this. If I'm going to do it, I'm going to pay for the one that tests for the most. So hard to justify spending that kind of money at the moment, but I can't imagine not doing it. My question is..... has anyone that has been dx with MC NOT come back with a gluten sensitivity?

Also, as disgusting as this may sound to some, I know everyone here can handle it. Does the smell of BM mean anything to anyone? I am not ashamed to say that my poop stinks! Prior to LC dx, I had C-Diff. I'm wondering if I shouldn't get tested again. Similar things going on right now. The last couple of days I've had increased trips to the potty. Not nearly as bad as it was last summer, but still concerning. I hate complaining because I feel so much better than I did prior to being dx. No getting up in the middle of the night to go (which was GI Dr. alarm that things were not normal. My gut tells me something aint right.

I'm calling GI in the morning with my questions and concerns. Hope he is in. I swear he takes more days off than he actually works. I guess when you charge what he does, you only need to work a few days a month.

-Rebecca

[tex]

My question is..... has anyone that has been dx with MC NOT come back with a gluten sensitivity?

Good Question. Of course, not everyone here has been tested, but of the members who have been, I can recall only one, who tested negative, and she did not have an MC diagnosis. Here are her test results:

no-more-muffins (Negative biopsy results for MC)

Gluten Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA: 6 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)
Fecal Anti-casein (cow's milk) IgA 8 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)
Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 2 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)
Fecal Anti-saccharomyces cerevisiae (dietary yeast) Ig 6 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)
Fecal Anti-soy IgA 9 Units (Normal Range <10 Units)

Does the smell of BM mean anything to anyone?

Definitely! That's a characteristic marker of MC, celiac disease, etc. The increased odor comes from the malabsorption of fat, and the fermentation of various food items that reach the colon, incompletely digested, especially sugars.

As Jeff Foxworthy might say, (if he told jokes about MC), "if the odor of your BMs will knock a buzzard off a garbage truck, from half a mile away - you might have MC".

C. diff tends to add to the odor problem, and so would a yeast overgrowth, (in fact, a yeast overgrowth often causes body odor, in general), but MC alone, can generate enough noxious gas to gag a hidehouse maggot.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

Rebecca,
are you taking any meds?

My acupuncturist also said chew chew chew, i had a minor flare last week and i find the easiest thing to do is eat gooey food, (overcooked casseroles and putting the food through a processor and making it like baby food)

i drink lots of water with meals, one of my meds for hormonal issues gives me a dry mouth so i drink lots of water at work so i dont have dry mouth coughing fits in meetings.

another thing i do at work is clean my teeth after lunch, i am not sure that this would help with nausea but it gets rid of the dry mouth feeling i have.

[Syl]

You know, when I was put on a different blood pressure drug, Diltiazem, I developed some problems I never had before, namely, gastroparesis, and weight gain. Then the LC flare started up. Seemed like my food just sat in my stomach forever, uncomfortable feeling, and every time I got on the scale, I had gained weight! I have been off that drug now for a couple of weeks and I am losing weight and the full feeling stomach problem is gone. Just writing this because reading your post, it rang a bell. My flare is also much better (crossed fingers). Sylvia

[Gabes-Apg]

Sylvia

doctors can look up information about the metabolism of tablets.
it depends on which organ and how long it takes etc that is part of the whole jigsaw....

glad the flare is much better... and that you have figured out what was causing you discomfort!