Pain, bloating after eating or drinking

Hello Everyone,

I am writing about my husband who is 65 and for the past year has had one test after another done ( about 80 thousand dollars worth of tests) He gets so much pain on the lower left half of his stomach ( large intestine area) then he gets so bloated and full and sick. They put him on medications for things like H-Pylori and Ecoli and meds for his stomach not emptying ( they said his stomach empties 10% slower than it should) but all the GI specialist tell him this is not the problem because that small amount should not give him the symptoms he is getting.

They thought it may be his Gallbladder so 12 days ago they removed it, and it didn't help. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem where they couldn't find out what was going on but then they did or something you did helped?

He has lost so much weight because he hardly eats due to the pain and bloating. He can eat a bit or a sip of water and it starts. I feel so helpless as a wife. He has not left our home in the past year except to go to the doctors or ER. I am going out of my mind being in the house 24/7 for the past year. We also have two daughters who are 7 and 8 and everything is on me. He feels so useless as a husband and father. Any information would help!

Thank You,
Autumn

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  Did they test him for H Pylori or E Coli before they treated him?  Did they test his gallbladder before they removed it?  What are all the tests he has had?

[autumn35]

Yes they did test him for H-pylori and E Coli, and they treated him for those. Retested and they came back negative. They did an ultrasound and Hida scan and they said that it was normal but his family doctor thought it would be best to remove it just in case this was the problem (which it wasn't.) They had done stomach scoping with just the camera and then with the ultra sound to check his liver and other organs behind his stomach. They also done the stomaching emptying test to see how fast his stomach empties. They done many CT-Scans and Upper GI scans. They also done one on his main vein that goes to his stomach ( this was done by an ultra sound) to make sure it was moving blood like it should because they said if it wasn't this could cause the symptoms he is having. Still after a year they have found nothing. He is still losing weight and is getting weaker and weaker as each day goes by. They all tell him to hang in there they are trying to figure out what's going on. But I feel they are just grasping at straws right now because they have no clue. They just got done testing him for Porphyria and an exotic fever but these test were sent to the Mayo Clinic and won't be back for some time.

[patient915]

What meds does he take for his stomach emptying?  It seems like he shouldn't have gotten his gallbladder removed if nothing showed that the problem was his gallbladder, but that is in the past.