Stomach pain, vomiting

  My son has just turned 18.  All of a sudden back in June after eating breakfast he immediately started vomiting with abdominal pain.  After a few days he lost 18 pounds, he did not eat for 8 days.  He vomited after everything except 7-up.  They did several test on his stomach, also a scope and found nothing. They ruled out food poisoning or a virus.  All of a sudden after the 8th day he immediately felt like eating again.  Everything was fine until 4 days ago.  After an absence of almost a month, right after eat ing some chicken he went from laughing to vomiting again.  He is now in the hospital again and they are baffled.  He has been diagnosed with Myesthenia Gravis but they say their is no relationship to vomiting that they can find.  He also has a lypoma dime sized in the brain near his occular nerve.  They are to do another MRI next week to see if their is any change but they dont think this is the cause,  Any suggestions.  Thank-you
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Dear Wes,
Episodic vomiting can be related to neurologic problems e.g. increased intracranial pressure, multiple sclerosis or to gastrointestinal problems.  First it is necessary to exclude an intermittent obstruction of the bowel.  Adhesions with partial intestinal obstruction, intussception of the intestine, duplication cysts (congenital abnormalities of the bowel) are unusual causes of obstruction for young people, but must be considered in this case.  X-rays of the stomach and intestines, endoscopy etc will provide information regarding the presence of these conditions.
If strucutral explanations are not found, the physician must then look for functional abnormalities i.e. impaired motor activity to explain the vomiting.  Gastroparesis, intestinal dysmotility must be considered.  The appropriate motlity studies should facilitate making these diagnoses.  If dysmotility is confirmed, then additional tests are needed to decide if there is a treatble cause for the impairment of function.
This information is presented for educational purposes only.  Always consult your personal physician for specific medical questions.
HFHSM.D.-rf
*keywords: vomiting
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