1999: I lost my job and my stomach had a breakdown. I couldn’t open my mouth without vomiting or going into dry heaves. As soon as I inhaled cold air I immediately started vomiting. It lasted for about 3 minutes, and usually consisted of
yellowYellow fever vaccine
Yellow nail syndrome bile. I went to a walk-in clinic and spoke with a doctor who diagnosed it as stress and gave me a simple med. I took it and avoided food for the rest of the day. The next morning I once again got up, feeling sick and as soon as I opened the door and felt the cold air on my
throatCancer - throat or larynx
Throat swab culture I started heaving bile, again.
I tried drinking nothing but water, and eating nothing but soup but found I could not keep these simple things down. Within seconds of
swallowingPainful swallowing
Swallowing difficulty I would start gagging and soon regurgitate the food. I tried only water, but couldn’t consistently keep that down, either. I was stuck in bed for almost 2 months in which I lost 80lbs. It wasn’t until I managed to secure a new job that things started getting better. I started seeing a physician. He diagnosed that stress caused the problem, but my weight perpetuated it, and I was placed on a protein diet, supplemented with
BelladonnaBelladonna
Belladonna tincture
Belladonna/ergotamine/phenobarbital. I had no more luck holding down these foods than any others. My mother had her gallbladder removed, so he scheduled a gallbladder radionuclide scan, but there was a shortage of the chemical used to irritate the gallbladder, and after injecting the tracer I was given a full cup of Half-and-Half cream, which I kept down for 2 min. The results were that my gall bladder was only operating at 60% efficiency and they’d like to remove it. But I did not trust the results due to the substitution of Half-and-Half, and the short
duration I kept it down.
The vomiting was so violent and
commonCommon cold that I had continual red circles around my eyes from burst blood vessels, there was fresh blood in my vomit, and I would spit up blood for approx. 5 minutes afterwards. I then turned to a GI doctor. Upper GI Ultra-sound: normal. Then upper entroscopy. After the operation I was told I hadgagged on the scope the entire time and they had to give me a double dose just to keep me unconscious. He didn’t see any abnormalities except heavy esophageal damage attributed to GERD, although I had suffered no heart-burn, the final diagnosis was GERD and I was placed on Protonix.
I’ve been taking Protonix since, but it seems to have no effect on my nausea. Instead, I eat very small meals, avoid drinking/eating at the same time, and do not travel within 2 hours after a meal. Also, I avoid swallowing after eating as it usually triggers the gagging. Instead, I spit any saliva into tissues for 20-30 minutes after eating. These greatly alleviate the nausea/vomiting I experience. I always get nauseous after eating, but I only vomit maybe 1 out of every 30 meals now.
I really just want a final solution or diagnosis. Do you advise I look into my gallbladder again, different GERD medication, stress medication, or something else?
Finally, I saw a different doctor. He ran the HIDA scan again. This time they used the second injection to make the gall bladder contract. When it did, I had awful symptoms...nausea, pain in the right ribs etc. My function was rated at 24%.
I had my gall bladder removed four days ago. Although I am still sore, I am feeling so much better already. They also found several small stones. If your doctor thinks it may help you to have it removed it is worth a try. The surgery is not bad at all. I am glad I went through with it. Good luck.
Did you get the cholesectomy with laparoscopic procedure ? How was your post op pain (1-10 scale)? How much did the pain reliever help ?