Someone Please respond

[spookedlady]

Hi and thanks for making this site. It is very useful. Sorry, this will be kind of long.

I am a 20 year old female who has been suffering from various stomach problems since march of this year. It started one night after I ate a salami and cheese sandwhich. I woke in the middle of the night with the worst stomach ache of my life. It felt like a knife was cutting through my intestines. For the next month, I had mild diarrhea, nausea, bloating, and sharp stomach pains and more frequent mouth ulcers. Then, the problem went away for about another month. Then it came back, but this time, I had this small rash on my back that wouldn't go away. Then I tried cutting out wheat containing products, because I wanted to see if I had a gluten intolerance. I did this until september, about 4 months of a gluten free diet. It didn't help my stomach very much, but it helped my skin and canker sore problem some. I then cut out dairy and felt a little better, but not by much.

My stomach was still extremely bloated, I was very constipated, my stomach hurt even worst than before I stopped eatting gluten. Then I decided to see a doctor. I actually saw 3 doctors. They checked to see if there were lumps in my stomach, blood in my stool, and they even checked to see if I had ovarion cysts. All came back negative. They said it sounds like lactose intolerance or IBS. After going to the doctor, I started eatting gluten again and I felt fine until I ate something with cheese in it. But I noticed that my rash came back a little for a few days then went away.

I ate gluten for about 5 weeks until a few days ago. I stopped eating gluten and dairy this week to see what happens. Yesturday and today, I had stomach pains, alot of gas, and was constipated. Today I ate 5 gluten containing crackers and I feel better now actually. What could this be? What does this sound like? I'm not nauseated unless I eat dairy and I donot have anything strange in my stool from what I can see and from the tests. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. I donot have medical insurance so I can't really see a doctor right now. I'm currently paying off 2 medical bills, $1400 each. Going to a GI isn't really an option right now.

[IHumble]

You may want to consider to have more fiber and water in your diet.
For breakfast and lunch, you eat a plate of fruits and vegetables.  
For dinner you eat mixed beans with honey.
You should be able to see if this is the right diet for you in 3 days.

[spookedlady]

Yea, i've been to the county hospital 3 times. I was billed twice and now i'm stuck with 2 bills of almost $3000 in total. They did tests and I was supposed to go in for a colonoscopy but it would be too expensive, like $5000 or so. So from the tests, noone could really find anything. My problem isn't that severe I don't think, when my stomach gets upset, it only hurts for like 30 minutes or so. I had some juice, eggs and hash and some jello today and had no problems whatsoever. I only start to get problems after eatting milk containing things and sometimes, for no reason at all on rare occasions. I'm just afraid that the problem could be something very serious.

[Jaybay]

Since food of whatever kind is a trigger for your symptoms, how about keeping a food diary?  List everything you eat, the time of day, and note when symptoms occur (or not) and how bad they are.  Include any over-the-counter meds and liquid intake as well.  It might help you get a clearer idea of what's happening, and could be invaluable data for your doctor when you can see one.

I'm really sorry you're having to deal with this without medical help.  Can you go to a county hospital of some sort since you don't have insurance?  Any help from a church or anything?  I'm just kind of clutching at straws here.  Hopefully someone else will chime in soon with some other ideas.

[spookedlady]

I somehow doubt its my gallbladder though. I eat fat containing foods everyday with no problem. However, I had a cup of carrot juice and my stomach hurt only a little for like 30 minutes. And I only had sharp pain in my stomach the night I got it. Besides that, if I eat something that contains milk in it, I have problems for about a day or two. It's really confusing, but I really don't think it could be my gallbladder.

[Jaybay]

My first thought would be a gallbladder problem, which usually results in problems digesting fats.  Dairy products contain fat, so until you can see a gastro doc, focus on maintaining as low- to no-fat diet as you possibly can.  I had the same problems years ago and it took months to get to the bottom of it.  I ended up living on smoothies, but even after a while even that caused problems.  You can maintain good nutrition with a bland diet and supplements, it's just not much fun.