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We are sick... husband, wife, and 2 kids
by dknlm, Feb 08, 2008 09:31PM
I am not entirely sure if this is all related, but it sure seems to have some similarities so I am going to go over all of this.
Around August of 2007, my oldest son (who was then 3 and a half) got diarrea. Around a week or so later, my wife and I got it as well. That is when this all began.
I am going to go over my wife and I first and what has been happening to us. Sence my wife is the most extreme case, I will talk about her first.
Her problems began with stomach problems in general. Almost everything she ate caused her to feel extremely sick to her stomach and like she was going to throw up. She started developing severe vertigo as well. She constantly felt dizzy and disoriented in general, and it always got worse when she ate.
Eventualy she was able to find certain foods that didn't cause any bad reactions, but she only found a few. The main two things that were ok for her to eat were basic crunchy tacos from taco bell and peanut butter / chocolate granola bars. She lived off of those things for quite a while. Anything else would cause her to feel extremely dizzy, and like she was going to vomit and would give here severe anxiety.
It was such a problem and so scary for her, that she started developing severe anxiety problems complete with full blown panic attacks... something that she had never had a problem with. In the 17 or so years that I have known her, she has never been mentaly ill... that was my department (I even tried getting on dissability for 3 years of my life). She was always the stable, sane, and healthy one. So it's quite a shock for her to suddenly, out of the blue... develope extreme anxiety and panic problems.
It got to the point where she would never go anywhere alone, and would never go into a store of any kind out of fear of fealing dizzy and sick. I had to go everywhere with her, and she couldn't be home alone with me there because she was afraid she would freak out and have to go to the hospital and wouldn't be able to take care of our kids or find a place for them to go.
Now let me back up a bit and say that during this whole period, she has now gone to the doctor around 6-8 times. Each time they do blood tests, pregnancy tests, and every other test an emergency room doctor would think to do. X-Rays, brain scans... whatever. I can't name all of the tests, but there were alot. And they could NEVER find anything wrong with her. At all. They suspected an ulcer or some other stomach problems, but there was no concrete evidence for any of it. They perscribed her a hardcore antibiotic that made her 10 times sicker for the period she was taking it and it didn't make things any better in any way. She was perscribed Nexium, and she still takes it to this day, but can't tell if it's working.
One of the last two doctor appointments she went to, it was brought up that maybe she has developed an anxiety disorder which is causing all of these things. My wife has always been against taking medicine for mental conditions and has never wanted to even concider herself as having mental problems of any kind... but for once in her life, she was concidering it. It was very hard during the next few weeks as she talked to various mental hospitals about being an in-patient at the request of her doctor. None of them would let her in because she wasn't going to kill herself.
Finaly she accepted an anxiety medication, Cymbalta, from her doctor. She procrastinated taking it for a week or two... she really didn't want to. The fact that she did finaly decide to take it should tell anyone that knows her that she realizes she has a severe enough problem. When she took it, an hour later... I had to take her to the hospital. It brought on immediate suicidal thoughts... something she never thinks about... and it caused her to have a panic attack (isn't it supposed to do the opposite?) and a few other problems, so she thought she was having an alergic reaction. They didn't do much at the hospital. She was sent home a few hours later.
Things are slightly different for her now. Now that she realizes she has anxiety problems, she is handeling herself differently. She can now SOMETIMES go away from the house on her own and do things. Sometimes she does cleaning and re-aranging like any normal person would... but it is still not the same. Certain things still cause her to feel like ****... and she will rarely take the risk of trying something she hasn't eaten sence she started getting sick. She still has to be around someone when she has the kids. It is a wonder that I am able to go to school 3 days a week without her making me come home. At least I am only there for a few hours. But when she picks the kids up from daycare, she has to take them to my Mom's because she doesn't want to be alone.
Ok so, does she have anxiety problems that are causing her stomach problems... or are her stomach problems causing the anxiety? I mean... the stomach problems came first and the anxiety resulted from it. We have kinda come to terms with the fact that it's the anxiety. I mean, 8 or emergency room visits with all the doctors saying nothing is wrong... has got to mean something, right?
Yet every now and then she brings up the fact that the stomach problems came first and that maybe there IS something wrong with her physical, and that the anxiety could be making it WORSE.
I know that seems like alot to take it and it was a long read, but trust me... there is still alot I am not covering and I could write a book on it.
Now one of the reasons we think there is still something wrong with her physicaly, is because myself and our 2 kids have all been having some of the same symptoms and they all started at the same time back in August.
For instance, let's look at me. Ever sence I developed that diarrea after my son did, I have had intenstinal/stomach problems as well. Maybe we all have the same thing, but our bodies are reacting to it different.
For me, it started out with me having to go to the bathroom and having a bowl movement WAY more often than I ever have in my life. When it used to be once a day, it became 3 times a day or so. Alot of the time I would feel like I really had to go, and then I would sit down and nothing would happen. This happened alot, but seriously... compared to my wife's problems, it just didn't seem that big of a deal and I just lived with it. The problem is, I have had this problem ever sence then and not only do I continue to have it, but it has gotten worse. Especialy in the past week, which I don't understand at all. It starte with me fealing like I had to go to the bathroom like 5 times a day. The past few days, the number has increased. Today I have gone to the bathroom 8+ times. I think I even went 3-4 times in one hour. I pas alot of gas and the stools varey. Sometimes it isn't anything, sometimes it is very little, and sometimes it is more. But it is unlike a normal bowl movement... it is as if it is broken up and instead of going once, I go 8 times in a day a little each time. Like I said, this has been getting worse and today I realized that I seriously need to be seen. I don't feel sick to my stomach, but it is rumbling and making lots of noise.
And then both of our sons have had regular diarrea sence last August as well. My wife says that our 10 month old has it almost every day.
So whatever is going on, I strongly feel that we all have the same thing and that our bodies are reacting to it differently. I don't understand why it is so severe and life altereing for my wife and not the rest of us.
I think I have said enough. Please.. someone out there, tell us what to do.
- dknlm
Around August of 2007, my oldest son (who was then 3 and a half) got diarrea. Around a week or so later, my wife and I got it as well. That is when this all began.
I am going to go over my wife and I first and what has been happening to us. Sence my wife is the most extreme case, I will talk about her first.
Her problems began with stomach problems in general. Almost everything she ate caused her to feel extremely sick to her stomach and like she was going to throw up. She started developing severe vertigo as well. She constantly felt dizzy and disoriented in general, and it always got worse when she ate.
Eventualy she was able to find certain foods that didn't cause any bad reactions, but she only found a few. The main two things that were ok for her to eat were basic crunchy tacos from taco bell and peanut butter / chocolate granola bars. She lived off of those things for quite a while. Anything else would cause her to feel extremely dizzy, and like she was going to vomit and would give here severe anxiety.
It was such a problem and so scary for her, that she started developing severe anxiety problems complete with full blown panic attacks... something that she had never had a problem with. In the 17 or so years that I have known her, she has never been mentaly ill... that was my department (I even tried getting on dissability for 3 years of my life). She was always the stable, sane, and healthy one. So it's quite a shock for her to suddenly, out of the blue... develope extreme anxiety and panic problems.
It got to the point where she would never go anywhere alone, and would never go into a store of any kind out of fear of fealing dizzy and sick. I had to go everywhere with her, and she couldn't be home alone with me there because she was afraid she would freak out and have to go to the hospital and wouldn't be able to take care of our kids or find a place for them to go.
Now let me back up a bit and say that during this whole period, she has now gone to the doctor around 6-8 times. Each time they do blood tests, pregnancy tests, and every other test an emergency room doctor would think to do. X-Rays, brain scans... whatever. I can't name all of the tests, but there were alot. And they could NEVER find anything wrong with her. At all. They suspected an ulcer or some other stomach problems, but there was no concrete evidence for any of it. They perscribed her a hardcore antibiotic that made her 10 times sicker for the period she was taking it and it didn't make things any better in any way. She was perscribed Nexium, and she still takes it to this day, but can't tell if it's working.
One of the last two doctor appointments she went to, it was brought up that maybe she has developed an anxiety disorder which is causing all of these things. My wife has always been against taking medicine for mental conditions and has never wanted to even concider herself as having mental problems of any kind... but for once in her life, she was concidering it. It was very hard during the next few weeks as she talked to various mental hospitals about being an in-patient at the request of her doctor. None of them would let her in because she wasn't going to kill herself.
Finaly she accepted an anxiety medication, Cymbalta, from her doctor. She procrastinated taking it for a week or two... she really didn't want to. The fact that she did finaly decide to take it should tell anyone that knows her that she realizes she has a severe enough problem. When she took it, an hour later... I had to take her to the hospital. It brought on immediate suicidal thoughts... something she never thinks about... and it caused her to have a panic attack (isn't it supposed to do the opposite?) and a few other problems, so she thought she was having an alergic reaction. They didn't do much at the hospital. She was sent home a few hours later.
Things are slightly different for her now. Now that she realizes she has anxiety problems, she is handeling herself differently. She can now SOMETIMES go away from the house on her own and do things. Sometimes she does cleaning and re-aranging like any normal person would... but it is still not the same. Certain things still cause her to feel like ****... and she will rarely take the risk of trying something she hasn't eaten sence she started getting sick. She still has to be around someone when she has the kids. It is a wonder that I am able to go to school 3 days a week without her making me come home. At least I am only there for a few hours. But when she picks the kids up from daycare, she has to take them to my Mom's because she doesn't want to be alone.
Ok so, does she have anxiety problems that are causing her stomach problems... or are her stomach problems causing the anxiety? I mean... the stomach problems came first and the anxiety resulted from it. We have kinda come to terms with the fact that it's the anxiety. I mean, 8 or emergency room visits with all the doctors saying nothing is wrong... has got to mean something, right?
Yet every now and then she brings up the fact that the stomach problems came first and that maybe there IS something wrong with her physical, and that the anxiety could be making it WORSE.
I know that seems like alot to take it and it was a long read, but trust me... there is still alot I am not covering and I could write a book on it.
Now one of the reasons we think there is still something wrong with her physicaly, is because myself and our 2 kids have all been having some of the same symptoms and they all started at the same time back in August.
For instance, let's look at me. Ever sence I developed that diarrea after my son did, I have had intenstinal/stomach problems as well. Maybe we all have the same thing, but our bodies are reacting to it different.
For me, it started out with me having to go to the bathroom and having a bowl movement WAY more often than I ever have in my life. When it used to be once a day, it became 3 times a day or so. Alot of the time I would feel like I really had to go, and then I would sit down and nothing would happen. This happened alot, but seriously... compared to my wife's problems, it just didn't seem that big of a deal and I just lived with it. The problem is, I have had this problem ever sence then and not only do I continue to have it, but it has gotten worse. Especialy in the past week, which I don't understand at all. It starte with me fealing like I had to go to the bathroom like 5 times a day. The past few days, the number has increased. Today I have gone to the bathroom 8+ times. I think I even went 3-4 times in one hour. I pas alot of gas and the stools varey. Sometimes it isn't anything, sometimes it is very little, and sometimes it is more. But it is unlike a normal bowl movement... it is as if it is broken up and instead of going once, I go 8 times in a day a little each time. Like I said, this has been getting worse and today I realized that I seriously need to be seen. I don't feel sick to my stomach, but it is rumbling and making lots of noise.
And then both of our sons have had regular diarrea sence last August as well. My wife says that our 10 month old has it almost every day.
So whatever is going on, I strongly feel that we all have the same thing and that our bodies are reacting to it differently. I don't understand why it is so severe and life altereing for my wife and not the rest of us.
I think I have said enough. Please.. someone out there, tell us what to do.
- dknlm
What's your family GI history and your wife's? Any 'history' of anything including allergies?
I suppose it could be mold, but we moved in January and now live in an appartment. We did spend quite a bit of time in the basement of our old house, which had white painted walls. The paint was pealing and what looked like spots of black mold EVERYWHERE. We are in a band and practiced down there. I never really thought of the harm it could do. Is it possible that it caused this, and even though we don't live there anymore... the problems it caused still linger in our bodies?
I understand that secretions from the black mold stachybotrys have been blamed for numerous illnesses, but the science is conflicting. You might ask your doctor if this could be the root cause of your families illness.
Your wife and baby should be re-tested, in this order of importance, for:
1. Giardia using antigen test
2. Cryptosporidium
3. Norwalk virus
4. C. diff
5. H. pylori
6. Rotavirus
In the meantime, your wife should be eating soup and a little juice to restore electrolytes that can be lost from dehydration, as well as drinking a couple extra glasses of water daily. There is also a possibility that if your family has been using soy products, there may be an allergy. And as long as no one is on antibiotics, and milk is tolerated, then for a while acidophilus milk is helpful in restoring "good" bacteria to the body. And not to hurt anyone's feelings, but to err on the side of safety, keeping up good hand-washing habits for all members of the family is imperative when a baby is in the house.
I am glad your wife is doing a little better with the anxiety. Women in their child-bearing years are particularly susceptible to this because of shifts in hormone levels. In general, people who get dehydrated from diarrhea will get pretty spaced out. Also, once people develop stomach upset, it can take a very long time to want to eat normally again. In both of those instances, I've been there. Almost two years ago, I had IBS with diarrhea half-dozen times daily for SIX MONTHS. So, even today I am reluctant to eat certain foods, and during my lengthy illness I didn't want to go ANYWHERE from mental fear directly related to being so weak and sick. Sir, women are culturally raised to try to do everything, they are the caregivers, and so, for a while, you must do even more than you already are to assist her with her duties.
For me, a medication I was on caused my diarrhea. I was lucky. I, too, went thru numerous expensive tests with no results. While docs scratched their heads, I did some study and realized a concurrent change in meds might be making me sick, and as soon as I got off the drugs, I got better. With your family, everybody has been sick, so I'm thinking there is an infectious diarrhea going on, and so the tests I listed might be helpful.
GG