Undiagnosed symptoms...Possible liver issue

[MikeX063]

My girlfriend and I have been having this issue for about a year now.  About this time a year ago she got extreme abdominal pain and had to go to the hospital.  We found it was nothing.  Gradually, dark (she's Jamaican, might be a different color for someone of a different ethnicity) lines started appearing on the side of her stomach.  Yellowing in her eyes started to appear, but it was not jaundice as the entire whites weren't yellow.  They were more like yellow blobs, left of the cornea on both eyes.  On one of the eyes, there is a dark yellow spot with mild yellow over it.  The other eye has a small yellow area to the left (her left) of the cornea and the other side has a large blob.  The marks on her eyes are very noticeable.  She has also been gaining abdominal weight.  But it doesn't seem like fat, rather it seems like her stomach is slightly swollen.  At first, the diagnosis was Cushing's.  After further tests some months later, the results were negative for Cushing's.  She took another test that did show she had an elevated level of cortisol, which though is a result of cushing's, doesn't necessarily mean someone has to have it.

Since then, we have tried going to different doctors, none of which can seem to really diagnose the disorder.  One gynecologist says it was a severe case of mono, but a test showed that wasn't the case.  More recently, to my surprise...one of our family friends who does acupuncture and therapeutic medicine asked her the simple question of how long she waits before defecations.  To my surprise, she says she doesn't go number 2 for 6-8 days at a time, a simple question that NO DOCTOR asked her.  For a week now she has been taking medicine that has basically been expelling large amounts of poop from her bowels and she has been going every day.  The explanation was because she wasn't defecating, her blood was dirty and her liver was getting overworked.  Thus the easyness of bruising, the yellowness of the eyes, and the abdominal pain.  It's also important to note that it's not that she didn't have bowel movements, but that she simply doesn't like going number 2 so she holds it for days at a time (stupid, i know).

But the fact remains that she still has (apparently) an elevated level of cortisol without a specific diagnosis of cushing's syndrome.  I can't find any information after googling health risks of not defecating, so i'm asking this forum.  Is it safe to put our hope into this now that she's going #2 regularly?  Or is this explanation from our friend simply a speculation?  Thanks.

[CCRN34]

Those are some troubling symptoms. Particularly the increased abdominal girth, lines appearing on the "sides" of her abdomen (perhaps could be veins becoming visible) and the yellowing of her eyes (which does sound like jaundice...there are levels of jaundice, the whole sclera does not have to be yellow).

As someone mentioned above...has the doctor done any liver function tests? An abdominal ultrasound? If not, I think these are some tests that you should request next time she goes to the doctor.

[MikeX063]

yes, abdominal pain comes and goes.  i also forgot to mention that she has had a history of stomach ulcers.

she also has had her liver tested and it's fine.  i believe some doctors told her that her liver might be affected in some way but tests don't always show it.  It'd hard because she's been told something different by ever doctor.  The gynecologist first said mono, which was not the case.  she recommended coming in for a test of low blood count (i forgot what it's called).  The blood doctor found an elevated level of cortisol with no explanation because she tested negative for Cushing's, so his belief is that it's caused by stress...she does have a history of bi-polar disorder and ADD drugs.

[Sir_Osis]

I would think any pain (abdominal and otherwise) should be cause for investigation - unless its short lived.

Did the doc do a liver function test?  look for asciites (abdominal fluid retention)?  And wow, I cant imagine not pooping for days on end... more fruit, fiber and so on....