My husband is 71 and has had one test after another done. He gets abdominal pain and bloating (small intestine area) after eating and/or drinking. He feels full after only a few sips or a few bites. This has been going on for almost half of the year. He has been on a bland diet. We have tried six small meals a day, frequent feedings, etc, and it does not matter how often he eats or what he eats. He also has not had a normal bowel movement for over 4 months. He either has diarrhea or is constipated. His stools will be flaky, or short small pieces (less than 1 inch and skinny)(same before and after the gall bladder removal). He has had colonoscopy, flex sigmoidoscopy, EGD endoscopy. They have ruled out H.Pylori, cancer, celiac disease, ulcers, among other things. He had a gastric emptying study and he was emptying at the normal rate. They did a vascular study and his celiac and superior mesenteric arteries were not blocked and blood flow was normal to his intestines. They put him on acid blockers, but he still has the same issues. He has also been on probiotics, increased fiber in his diet. Nothing seems to resolves his issues.
They also thought it may be his Gallbladder so they removed it a couple of months ago, and it didn't help. He is getting the same abdominal pain, burning, bloating, full feeling as before the operation. He had a HIDA scan before the removal which showed the gallbladder was not functioning as his ejection rate was 6%.
My husband has lost so much weight because he hardly eats due to the pain and bloating. He can eat a few bites or a sip of water or other liquid, and he feels full, gets bloated, and has pain. Before retiring for the night, his stomach appears as if he is about 6 months pregnant. He has not been able to leave our house except to go to the doctors or ER, and that is a struggle. He is so weak and extremely fatigued, even though he is forcing himself to eat and drink (intake around 2000 calories/day including the nutritional drinks) to try to maintain his current weight. All his blood work comes back normal, the CT scans come back normal. His stools have been tested for parasites and fat malabsorption. All of these came back negative, no issues found. He is still losing weight and is getting weaker and weaker as each day goes by. All of the doctors tell him to hang in there because they are trying to figure out what's going on. We have been to numerous specialists and hospitals, and still no answers. The root cause has not been found. He is now scheduled to have a capsule endoscopy done which we hope will show something.
I am just 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? Any information would help!