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She does have some psychological issues which are under control and have been for years. One of them is anxiety. When she brushes her hair, she typically loses a pretty good handful. She has lost about 30 pounds over the past few months, mainly from daily walking after knee surgery, but she has been starting to gain a little lately even with the vomiting and diarrhea. She has pins in her knee, and we thought that she may be having some sort of allergic reaction to them, but the doctor says that's not possible.
She had a hysterectomy because she had severe endometriosis, which was causing adhesions throughout her abdomen. We aren't ruling out that there may be some remaining somewhere. I wonder about the poisoning though, because she eats the same things her husband and daughter do and they are fine. Maybe something in her apartment she is sensitive to and they are not?
So you're sure the weight loss is from walking and not from vomiting? How is it that she can gain weight even when she's vomiting after every meal?
Also, I wonder if you've got something there with the adhesions (like one compression on something). Also, there could be something in the small intestine (parts not reached by the upper endoscopy and colonoscopy) to look at.
I'm filled with adhesions. They can't do laparoscopic surgery on me because it's really bad. The adhesions can't be seen via even MRI unless they're really thick. Thin ones can cause problems too though. Surgery for adhesions causes more adhesions so it's important to weigh the chances things might get worse. I'd only do it if the adhesions were causing an emergency situation or if they were already operating for something else. I endured terrible pain in my lower right quadrant. It went on for years, decades. It turned out to be nerve damage due all of my abdominal surgeries. Being just a little overweight can make the adhesions pull. My pain decreased significantly when I lost 10 pounds. The right nerve medication was the only complete cure.
It's entirely possible all of the endometriosis wasn't removed with the hysterectomy. That tissue can be anywhere in the abdomen. Sometimes even the lungs and such. It doesn't always show up on MRI either.
Her symptoms could be the result of a few things, each causing the different symptoms.
My second daughter has Crones disease. It took them a while to figure out what it was. Here suffering was so intense that I had to take her into a hospital and pump her full of morphine. Later because of our Canadian Health System...she managed to get an expensive drug that controlled the affliction and granted her an almost normal life. These infusions that she gets come in a tiny little IV bag...I looked at the invoice and the price was about 25 hundred dollars a pop..Thank God we are in Canada...If we were Americans she would not be alive. Just thought I would mention that for those who don't approve of public health care.
One doctor can be brilliant...another can be an idiot. In my experience sometimes you have to fire your doctor and go to another one. I remember talking to a young man who was having some issues and I mentioned this to him...He said "What- you can fire your doctor?" I was surprised that this guy thought that doctors were some sort of authority...They are doctors not judges. Take the child else where and don't bring any previous medical records. Let a new doctor start from scratch. Good luck
My daughter's adhesions were horrible, too. They had attached to her colon and they removed them, but as Hopes said, it just caused more. She was so bad at one point that she just laid in bed and screamed, and nothing we did could make her feel better. We have also considered Crohn's disease. I have rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease as is Crohn's, so the chances of her developing one as well is pretty high.
I also believe that it's possible there is more than one issue going on here. Possibly the hair loss could be stress related, maybe adhesions, we just don't know. I still think there is something going on in her intestines that is causing the malabsorbtion issues.
She came over this evening and we were talking about poisoning and what might have changed or been introduced at the time she started getting sick. She remembered right before this all started she had a horrible case of hives and was hospitalized for several days while they tried to figure out what was causing them. They never did figure it out, of course, and once they subsided they sent her home. A few weeks later, the pain was so bad she went to the ER at a different hospital. They didn't find anything of course, but one of the nurses asked her if she had been in that other hospital during a certain time period, which she had. The nurse told her that they had a patient that at that time that had an infectious disease that they were not aware of and had probably infected many people. She said they were trying to find that individual (they didn't know who it was) because whoever it was was out there spreading it around.
Oleg-you are right about the American healthcare system. I had no health insurance for over two years and didn't think I would make it until my Medicare kicked in. There were NO options for me during that time. I am glad your daughter is getting the help she needs, I know that Crohn's is extremely painful.
One doctor got perturbed with my daughter for not following his strict instructions..This was a few years ago. This man was so arrogant that he threatened to remove part of her intestines - I could sense that he was all about power and dominance. Imagine threatening to gut you if because you did not follow his prescribed strict diet.
I tracked this chump down in the hall and called him over- Then I fired him. If we had let this power mongering creep have his way my daughter would be walking around with a plastic bag on her side. Later we found a better doctor and had success. Looking back at this incident with the first doctor...My daughter clued me in about the man...Under his white coat his clothing was dirty...He looked like he drank to much and had personal issues ...he was angry and unhappy- so he had to go.
As for this issue regarding the child mentioned in this thread..There maybe a severe allergy from some common thing or food...Have her checked out for everything....also _ dealt with another child who had a brain tumor. There is one rule here- NEVER show fear or doubt...The child with the tumor survived - Now she is a functioning 30 year old about to leave for India then Africa after she tours a few North American and Canadian cities. She works for a well known and respected charity....I am so proud of her....her name is Faith....never give in to hopelessness.
My daughter's adhesions were horrible, too. They had attached to her colon and they removed them, but as Hopes said, it just caused more. She was so bad at one point that she just laid in bed and screamed, and nothing we did could make her feel better.
Your daughter is 29. I had most of my surgeries as a teenager or in my early teens. By the time I was her age, I was curling up in a ball screaming in pain. The pain was so bad I couldn't straighten my legs. All of this was menstrual cycle related, but I did not have endometriosis. I learned that for a fact this winter. The area where that pain occurred still causes me pain, but not to the extreme like it did in my late 20s. That's where my nerve damage is from all of my abdominal surgeries.
I have had IBS since my teens so the bowl problems and abdominal pains aren't really a big deal in my mind. I've gone through so much abdominal pain in different parts of my abdomen throughout my life. (I'm almost 50 now.) Yep, even the upper right quadrant. Anyways, this all came and went throughout my life in waves. I'd have years were I was relatively pain free, and then I'd have years that were hell. I had years were my menstruation was super heavy. I'm just saying that it's possible your daughter is one of the unlucky ones like me.
My sister died having a hysterectomy for endometriosis. The autopsy said she did not have endometriosis. I think it's common for doctors to perform hysterectomies for abdominal pain even when there is no endometriosis. Just this past winter, I was referred to a top gyne laparoscopic surgeon who tried to sell me a hysterectomy in his office before he even examined me in the exam room. He showed me my MRI. I have heavy scarring attaching my bladder to my uterus. I'm no fool. I know there is a serious risk of my bladder being damaged if he does a hysterectomy. My stuff is staying in there unless it becomes absolutely necessary to take it out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BadKittehs
She came over this evening and we were talking about poisoning and what might have changed or been introduced at the time she started getting sick. She remembered right before this all started she had a horrible case of hives and was hospitalized for several days while they tried to figure out what was causing them. They never did figure it out, of course, and once they subsided they sent her home. A few weeks later, the pain was so bad she went to the ER at a different hospital. They didn't find anything of course, but one of the nurses asked her if she had been in that other hospital during a certain time period, which she had. The nurse told her that they had a patient that at that time that had an infectious disease that they were not aware of and had probably infected many people. She said they were trying to find that individual (they didn't know who it was) because whoever it was was out there spreading it around.
This information is important on two levels.
I had the same thing happen with hives. 6 weeks of hives and multiple trips to the ER for IV steroids. This happened twice in the past 5 years. The second time wasn't as bad, only hived up for a day and benedryl took care of it. It turns out I am allergic to wasabi. I know for a fact that is what caused my second outbreak, but we're not sure if the first one was wasabi. It's something I rarely eat. I didn't even know what it was. It's a seasoning that is commonly used in seafood or Asian dishes. That's why it took so long for me to figure it out. If you think about it though, something you eat regularly would make it impossible to figure out.
I'm not sure if wasabi was in the food I ate the first time, but I know for a face that it was in the food I ate the second time. So I'm definitely allergic to wasabi, but I'm not sure if it is what caused those 6 week hives. Weirdly, there was another woman who lived in my neighborhood at the ER the same time as me who had the SAME RASH. We arrived at the same time, were standing next to each other at the check in counter. We started talking and it turns out she lives 5 blocks from me. We wondered if there was a chemical spill somewhere nearby. A good allergy workup would be a good idea. I keep meaning to get around to it. For food related, it's difficult though because an allergist isn't going to test for everything under the sun so something obscure like wasabi wouldn't be determined via allergy tests.
Get to the bottom of the infectious disease. Call that hospital and ask them what disease it was at that time. If you can't get a straight answer, call the other hospital. Then call the health department. Maybe the CDC has a record of it. I'd want to know what the disease is. You can compare symptoms once you know the infectious disease. It might not be a connection to your daughter's problem at all. It might be a respiratory disease but it's definitely worth investigating. Don't ask her doctor. He'll think you're nuts. Do the research yourself first to find out what the disease was.
If you think her hair loss is anxiety related (and the rapid heartbeat too), then the poisoning isn't as likely but still not something to rule out. Is she taking anxiety medication? If she isn't, it would probably be a good idea to get her on some. If she is, her medication might need to be adjusted. There's nothing that can help trichotillomania except reducing anxiety and sheer willpower of the person to stop the habit. But getting on anxiety meds could help with her rapid heartbeat and help her better deal with the stress of being a mother of a young child.
It sounds like she had the pain and symptoms before the hives but the pain got worse after the hives. Is that correct?
One more thing. I have a friend who has similar problems to your daughter, except she doesn't have hair loss and rapid heartbeat. She has been on disability for about 20 years. Hers is the result of an e-coli infection that caused permanent damage to her digestive system. This e-coli infection was so bad that it also damaged her respiratory system. She has severe asthma too. The damage is permanent. There's no treatment except to treat the asthma and try to control the digestive symptoms via diet to an extent. Her body can't process meat protein and fat. She become severely ill and sick, vomiting, etc., if she eats meat. But she still struggles even when avoiding meat. Meat just makes it worse.
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