Severe Digestive Problems...please give any help!!

I have digestive problems, gas pains, diarrhea, pain in the chest and back for the past 14 years.  I've had been to numerous doctors, galbladder removal, histerectomy, fundoplication, repair of a abdominal hernia, surgery for intestinal inhesion blockage....
It really feels like only one side of my bowel is working.  They want to perform another catscan with the dye which I'm allergic to....can you give any advice on what I should do?  I've been tested for nearly everything and still have severe pain.  They have found a long cystic duct which they state is not giving me any problems.  I get recurring ecoli infections and they say I don't have an opening in the bladder.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
You could be suffering from an inflammatory bowel condition such as Celiac Disease/Ulcerative Colitis/Irritable Bowel Syndrome/ Crohn’s disease. Parasites in the gut like threadworm, tape worm, giardiasis etc can behave this way. Hence a stool test is a must. Problems of gall bladder and liver or that of pancreas too cannot be ignored. Possibility of H pylori infection should be looked into by carbon urea breath test.

I would strongly recommend you to see a gastroenterologist (a specialist who looks after the diseases of our digestive system). A number of times a gastroenterologist is able to diagnose these conditions by clinical examination and detailed medical history. At other times a few tests are conducted. Blood tests to rule out anemia, stool test to look for white blood cells, sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy etc are used to diagnose ulcerative colitis. Braium meal and follow through, endoscopy etc are done to rule out GERD, Crohn’s disease etc. Irritable bowel syndrome is diagnosed by elimination of other causes. Gluten is a complex protein present in four main grains---wheat, rye, barley and oats. If you have gluten intolerance, then you probably have celiac disease or Non Celiac gluten sensitivity. There are blood tests called celiac test to detect gluten intolerance.
Crohn’s disease is a difficult entity to diagnose. An upper GI series using barium dye is done to see the condition of small intestines. A biopsy is the most confirmatory.  A recent advancement in Crohn’s diagnosis is video capsule endoscopy. So if you are allergic to CT scan dye, may be you can go for barium studies or for endoscopic guided biopsy.
Another possibility in your case is TB of gut. Hope this helps. Take care!

[sadfacepanda]

You can try taking things out of your diet.
If you find that you get better after removing wheat and dairy, it could be celaics.
I hope it gets better for you