CHF and Intense GI pain occurring at the same time

[Ian]

Hello:

About 12 years ago my mother was diagnosed with Tachy-Brady, and an idiopathic cardiomyopathy. Amout 10 years ago my mother passed out while on a plane and had a pacemaker implanted shortly thereafter.

My mother is now 70 years of age, and is taking cumiden, premproto, vasotec, digoxin, aldactone, k-tabs (for a potasium deficiency) asiphex and furosemide (80 mg).

About 3 weeks ago she complaned of intense gastric distress, vomiting, and shortness of breath. We also later noticed swelling in her feet. She was then diagnosed with CHF after having a chest x-ray.

After the diagnosis of CHF, she was just taken off cardizem CD and given diauretics.

For a few days she felt much better and was even able to eat a full Thanksgiving meal. Her swelling was considerably reduced.

However, several days later the intense GI pain returned.  Also around this time, her cardiologist had her begin taking Coreg as a replacement for the Cardizem CD.

She describes the GI pain as an overwhelming feeling of pressure and fullness, causing her to frequently burp.  The pain is so intense she cannot even sleep, and i am very concerrned for her.

After hearing of her pain her Cardiologist took her off Coreg last week and is putting her back on the Cardizem.  To further complicate matters, she went into atrial fibrulation two days ago which convinced her cardiologist to cancel an endoscopy which was scheduled after she had seen a gastrointerologist.

As of today (Monday) her heart is back in her normal pacemaker induced pattern and her GI pain has lessened slightly but she is still suffering quite a bit.  

Can you shed any light on what might be causing this and is there anything that might be done to releive her symptoms?
What cause of action should we take?

Thank you for your help and this wonderful service.

Ian    

[allison evans]

pain in upperright side under ribs and middle of stomach

[Jon]

I am 61 years old and was first diagnosed with diverticulosis. This caused me no problems until I was in my late 40s. At that time I had an attack of diverticulitis and was in bed for 4 days with spasms. I was treated with keflex for 7 days and became symptom free. Over the years I have had repeated bouts with pain in the lower left abdomen and taken antibiotics which have taken care of the problem. I have had several barium enemas and 5 years ago had a sigmoidoscopy and a colonoscope and no polyps were found. 2 years ago I had problems with pain and had another sigmoidoscopy with no polyps. After consulting with a gastro specialist I was told not to fear colon cancer since no polyps were found with the full colonoscopy. He told me anymore scopes would probably do more harm to my colon. I take 2 tablespoons of citrucel twice a day.
                  

About 6 weeks ago I was put on a 14 day antibiotic treatment using cipro and flagyl. This relieved the symptoms but did not seem to completely clear up the problem. 2 weeks ago I was put on a 14 day treatment with cipro and flagyl and after 5 days I was symptom free. After about 10 days of treatment the symptoms are coming back. A few days ago I had a cat scan with iodine and a white liquid drink looking for possible abcesses. Nothing was detected.


Would the cat scan pick up colon cancer? Is there a better choice of antibiotics? Would longer than 14 days of treatment be better? Is moderate pain consistant with diverticulosis without the 'itis? Would more citrucel be advised?

Thank you,

jon

[HFHSm.D.-Gastro-rf]

Dear Ian,
There are many conditions that can cause abdominal pains, bloating, fullness etc.  These conditions can occur independent of cardiac problems.  Additionally, those with sevetre congestive heart failure may have 'swelling' of the GI tract that can present as dercreased appetitie and abdominal pain.  Your mother should undergo a gastrointestinal evaluation, once she is stable from the cardiac perspective.

[wendell]

Ian, if you'd like to e-mail me, I can offer some herbal recommendations for both the heart and GI problems. These work wonderfully well and should allow your Mom to gradually reduce her medications, which is a big part of her problem. With some of those drugs, the cure is worse than the disease.

Let me know if I can help.

Cheers,

Wendell