What is our next step?

[littlebabe]

My 16 year old son had the flu over a month ago.  Coughing, headaches, stuffy nose.  It lasted about 2 weeks.  He was fine for about a week, but since then he has become very ill.  He is vomiting every morning when he gets out of bed.  He says he can feel the nauseousness all day long, sometimes it is mild other times he cannot control it.  He is worse in the morning than at any other time.  This has been going on for over two weeks now.  He is complaining now of feeling weak.  Saltine crackers and ginger ale help, and I have been keeping Gatorade in him to keep him hydrated.

The doctor did not test him for hepititis, I found out this morning.  The blood work they ran showed elevated liver functions.  The ultrasound came back negative.  We have been told to next go to a gastroenterologist to further track it down.
In the meantime, should I take my son back to the doctors and have them take more blood and have him tested for hepatitis?

[littlebabe]

Test results have come back negative for both hepatitis and mono.  My son is still experiencing nausea, but it has subsided some and he is keeping down more food than last week.  He is now experiencing a new problem though.  He is getting motion sickness and can't ride in the car for more than a few minutes.  He tried to go to school today with a friend and had to turn around and go home. He hates to be missing so much school. I guess the next step is the GI. I am not sure what else to do.  Have gotten a new prescription for the nausea from the doctor but this one doesn't work either.

[littlebabe]

My son is going back to the doctor this morning to be tested for Hepatitis and Mono.  I do not have Hepatitis so I could not have passed this on to him at birth.  He does not appear to be jaundiced, but he says he urine is dark and has an odor. Another thought came to mind.He works bussing tables in a restaurant on the weekends and I was thinking maybe he picked something up there as I found out that they do not wear gloves.  

The doctor gave him a prescription for the nausea, but it does not help at all.  They are going to try something else today.  I thought about having the primary physician run a ct scan, but apparently this is what the GI is going to run.

Thanks for all your comments, it really helps to have input from other minds for things I might not have thought of.

[MichaelT]

I'm sorry son is so ill.

It seems to me that your doctor could be addressing the symptoms, trying to get your son some relief while he is getting an expedited appointment with a gastro doc - you can't be waiting six weeks to see a doc with this vomiting going on.

There probably is no urgency to test for viral hepatitis, but it would be a good thing to check - more information helps the doctor make an accurate diagnosis.

God bless!  -Michael

[Lill]

Do you have hepatitis C that you may have passed to your son?  Has he been exposed to hepatitis A?  Is he jaundiced?  Most people with hep A do experience some jaundice.  An ultrasound is not the most sensitive test for abdominal problems and there are other disorders besides hepatitis that can cause liver enzyme elevations.  I agree that you need a GI doc to delve into this further, but maybe your primary doctor could order a cat scan with contrast in the interim which would be much more sensitive than the ultrasound.  It would save time to get it done before you see the GI.  Good luck. Lil