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HELP! Multiple food sensitivities, gut sloshing, low stomach acid, etc
Hello, everybody. I'm writing this for my wife who is not active on the internet. She is 37 years old and has been suffering from IBS symptoms for at least 15 or so years now. Her problems have gotten steadily worse and we're currently trying to get to the bottom of the problem with the help of doctors.
Her symptoms include general indigestion, gas and bloating, burping after meals, loose stools and diarrhea and occasional constipation. One particularly unusual symptom she has is an audible liquid/air "sloshing" in her abdominal area when it is pressed or she moves around. I've seen others mention this on the forum. Have anyone figured out what this is yet? Her's is VERY noticible and uncomfortable. Her GI doc suggested it might have to do with her stomach being slow to empty but it's something we're still investigating.
She has become sensitive to almost ALL foods at this point. Greasy, spicy or "juicy" foods are immediate triggers. Bland foods are best tolerated but there are limitations there as well. Raw vegetables for the most part badly tolerated. The only foods that seem to be OK at this point are grains and sugar, which is certainly not something to make a diet out of. She eats lots things like baked breads, muffins, cakes, pancakes and waffles. In spite of her high sugar and carb intake, she doesn't gain a lot of weight, which is also disturbing. She's found that Mylanta helps with her indigestion because it "coats her stomach" while other remedies like Rolaids and baking soda are less effective.
Interestingly, her most effective remedy is vanilla ice cream. If she eats it with greasy or irritating meals, it seems to also have a soothing, stomach-coating effect that helps her tolerate the other food. Has anyone else here experienced a similar effect with vanilla ice cream? The relative blandness of the vanilla flavor seems to be required for her.
Some other symptoms that seem to be related are signs of malnutrition including hair loss, muscle atrophy and an inablity to develop fat in a unified manner. The only place she seems get fat is in her abdomen, which is often bloated as a result of her food sensitivities.
She's had one visit with the GI doc so far. He ordered an upper GI endoscopy and abdominal ultrasound. Both tests came back more or less normal. The endoscopy found some gastritis, espohagitis and gastroparesis but nothing severe. No ulcers were found and all biopsies came back normal. One note on the endoscopy report says "Suspect gastroparesis due to retained gastric contents."
She had a full blood panel done along with a celiac disease test and H. Pylori breath test. All were normal. The only abnormal finding was slightly low Vitamin D. We had to switch to another GI doc for her follow-up next week and I just wanted to be as prepared as possible about what to ask and any further testing she might need. We've been having to wait a long time to get appointments, so I want to be ahead of the curve as much as possible to avoid drawing this out.
Another significant factor we discovered recently is that she might have low stomach acid. Looking up "retained gastric contents" I came across hypochlorhydria or low stomach acid. We got some Betaine HCL w/ Pepsin pills and started out with one pill with a protein-rich meal, then two and so on. At this point she's up to 7 pills of 600mg Betaine and 60mg Pepsin each with no ill effects. She's no longer taking them because it's too difficult to take so many large pills at once and it requires her to drink a good amount of water with her meals which creates problems for her stomach. She prefers to have as little liquid when she eats as possible because it worsens her problems. Most of the time, even just drinking water alone without a meal is also upsetting to her stomach. So according to what I've read, a person with a normal stomach acid level will have an adverse burning/tingling reaction taking even one of these pills. Since she can take 7 and possibly more, I'm thinking this must mean she has low stomach acid.
Another thing that I'm thinking is a factor is dysbiosis, a gut flora imbalance. She's had a very poor diet for a number of years, so I imagine the microbial environment has been thrown off quite a lot. She may have Candida since she eats and craves lots of sugar and wheat. I've read a bit about SIBO which could be a factor as well due to the possible low stomach acid.
And there's one more thing that could be relevant that I've read about on this forum. Bacteria from tooth decay getting into her stomach from her saliva. She was been extremely doctor-phobic for most of her life. In fact, her recent visit to the doctor for this problem was her first appointment in 25 years. She hasn't seen a dentist in equally as long and it's likely she has a lot of tooth decay going on. I realize this is something we need to take care of as well but we're just trying to go step by step here.
At this point, these are the tests I want to ask the GI doc about:
Stomach acid test
SIBO test
Candida test (if such a thing exists)
Comprehensive stool analysis
Can you think of any others? If anyone can relate to any of her symptoms and issues, particularly the odd ones (gut sloshing, ice cream soothing, specific food sensitivities, tooth decay connection), please reply. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Her symptoms include general indigestion, gas and bloating, burping after meals, loose stools and diarrhea and occasional constipation. One particularly unusual symptom she has is an audible liquid/air "sloshing" in her abdominal area when it is pressed or she moves around. I've seen others mention this on the forum. Have anyone figured out what this is yet? Her's is VERY noticible and uncomfortable. Her GI doc suggested it might have to do with her stomach being slow to empty but it's something we're still investigating.
She has become sensitive to almost ALL foods at this point. Greasy, spicy or "juicy" foods are immediate triggers. Bland foods are best tolerated but there are limitations there as well. Raw vegetables for the most part badly tolerated. The only foods that seem to be OK at this point are grains and sugar, which is certainly not something to make a diet out of. She eats lots things like baked breads, muffins, cakes, pancakes and waffles. In spite of her high sugar and carb intake, she doesn't gain a lot of weight, which is also disturbing. She's found that Mylanta helps with her indigestion because it "coats her stomach" while other remedies like Rolaids and baking soda are less effective.
Interestingly, her most effective remedy is vanilla ice cream. If she eats it with greasy or irritating meals, it seems to also have a soothing, stomach-coating effect that helps her tolerate the other food. Has anyone else here experienced a similar effect with vanilla ice cream? The relative blandness of the vanilla flavor seems to be required for her.
Some other symptoms that seem to be related are signs of malnutrition including hair loss, muscle atrophy and an inablity to develop fat in a unified manner. The only place she seems get fat is in her abdomen, which is often bloated as a result of her food sensitivities.
She's had one visit with the GI doc so far. He ordered an upper GI endoscopy and abdominal ultrasound. Both tests came back more or less normal. The endoscopy found some gastritis, espohagitis and gastroparesis but nothing severe. No ulcers were found and all biopsies came back normal. One note on the endoscopy report says "Suspect gastroparesis due to retained gastric contents."
She had a full blood panel done along with a celiac disease test and H. Pylori breath test. All were normal. The only abnormal finding was slightly low Vitamin D. We had to switch to another GI doc for her follow-up next week and I just wanted to be as prepared as possible about what to ask and any further testing she might need. We've been having to wait a long time to get appointments, so I want to be ahead of the curve as much as possible to avoid drawing this out.
Another significant factor we discovered recently is that she might have low stomach acid. Looking up "retained gastric contents" I came across hypochlorhydria or low stomach acid. We got some Betaine HCL w/ Pepsin pills and started out with one pill with a protein-rich meal, then two and so on. At this point she's up to 7 pills of 600mg Betaine and 60mg Pepsin each with no ill effects. She's no longer taking them because it's too difficult to take so many large pills at once and it requires her to drink a good amount of water with her meals which creates problems for her stomach. She prefers to have as little liquid when she eats as possible because it worsens her problems. Most of the time, even just drinking water alone without a meal is also upsetting to her stomach. So according to what I've read, a person with a normal stomach acid level will have an adverse burning/tingling reaction taking even one of these pills. Since she can take 7 and possibly more, I'm thinking this must mean she has low stomach acid.
Another thing that I'm thinking is a factor is dysbiosis, a gut flora imbalance. She's had a very poor diet for a number of years, so I imagine the microbial environment has been thrown off quite a lot. She may have Candida since she eats and craves lots of sugar and wheat. I've read a bit about SIBO which could be a factor as well due to the possible low stomach acid.
And there's one more thing that could be relevant that I've read about on this forum. Bacteria from tooth decay getting into her stomach from her saliva. She was been extremely doctor-phobic for most of her life. In fact, her recent visit to the doctor for this problem was her first appointment in 25 years. She hasn't seen a dentist in equally as long and it's likely she has a lot of tooth decay going on. I realize this is something we need to take care of as well but we're just trying to go step by step here.
At this point, these are the tests I want to ask the GI doc about:
Stomach acid test
SIBO test
Candida test (if such a thing exists)
Comprehensive stool analysis
Can you think of any others? If anyone can relate to any of her symptoms and issues, particularly the odd ones (gut sloshing, ice cream soothing, specific food sensitivities, tooth decay connection), please reply. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Hi. Thanks for the suggestions. She hasn't tried any probiotics yet. We're hoping the doctor will help with that. We have started eating some home made sauerkraut which is supposed to contribute some beneficial gut flora. A rotation diet does seem to be in order but we could use some guidance with that as well.
a) has she given probiotics a good try? (enzymatic pearls, blue/white box, have done very well with my family)
b) Has anyone suggested a rotation diet for relief and to help pinpoint the food(s) she must avoid? There may only be one or two foods, but if they've not been excluded I think her system may have become tired and sensitized to pretty much any foods.
b) Has anyone suggested a rotation diet for relief and to help pinpoint the food(s) she must avoid? There may only be one or two foods, but if they've not been excluded I think her system may have become tired and sensitized to pretty much any foods.
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