GI problems Crohns

[DarksideOftheMoon]

Hey everyone. I have a friend and he is very sick all the time. He has Abdominal pains, Nausea alll the time. Lost 65 pounds in like 2 or 3 months, it was around the time he also broke his jaw, but He gets sick a lot, He cant digest his food properly, he get diahreah after eating, vommits after eating, appetite loss, fatigue, and pale skin. He looks terrible. He wont eat because eating makes him sick all the time. he throws up all the time, its horrible to watch him be so sick. He got a GI test done and he still had his food in his stomache 15 hours after eating, his colonoscopy showed that he had inflammation of his bowels... crohns is a possiblity.

Any other options??

[patient915]

There is something called idiopathic gastroparesis which means gastroparesis with no known cause.  However many cases of idiopathic gastroparesis were brought on by some sort of viral illness.  Mine was thought to have been brought on mononucleosis but is can also be brought on my the stomach flu or it can have no known cause.  Biopsies from a colonoscopy will show for sure whether or not someone has chrons (however sometimes biopsies take a long time to come back from the lab).

[DarksideOftheMoon]

That kinda sounds just like him!! He lost a ton of weight. He is not diabetic, hes not lactose intolerant either. If this is the case... what would be the cause. Funny how you say this, because when he got the GI his food was STILL in his digestive system ):
Hes such a good kid too. I think he might have crohns too though, because of the inflammation pollups and lower abdominal pain and he has diarrhea once or twice a week.

[patient915]

Gastroparesis is not deadly.  I actually have gastroparesis so I can answer almost all questions about it.  It basically means the stomach empties really slowly.  This can cause nausea (appetite loss), vomiting, quickly getting full after eating, not digesting food properly, and weight loss.  There are many different medications for this.  I started on reglan (but because of increased risk of bad side effects after 3 months, the FDA says you should only go on it for 3 months) and I am now on domperidone.  Domperidone is not FDA approved in the US (but it is in other countries) but it is relatively safe if blood tests and ekg's are done regularly.  It is only allowed to be prescribed be certain certified doctors.  You can also try erythromycin.  If none of these work, a stomach "pacemaker" can be implanted to help the stomach digest properly.  If the person still can't keep food down or is losing too much weight, food can be fed through a tube into the stomach (or even if needed, directly into the small intestines).  The main problem associated with gastroparesis is that if someone is vomiting up everything they eat they lose weight quickly and become malnourished.

I am also lactose intolerant, and I believe that a breath test isn't needed to test for lactose intolerance, as just eliminating lactose completely is easier than the test.  If eliminating lactose helps, then it worked and if it doesn't help, then you don't need to cut it out.

An endoscopy is a good idea because it can rule out other reasons why he might be having so many problems.

Do you know if he has been tested for celiac disease (gluten intolerance)?

That's great that you are so concerned for your friend.  He's very lucky to have a friend like you.

[DarksideOftheMoon]

they found these pollups and inflammation of his intestines, thank you for writing back, I am worried about him, hes just so sick. his food doesnt digest all the way i guess, he throws up so much and goes to the bathroom a lot. he hasnt had an enduodenoscopy yet. tomorrow his mom is taking him to get this breath test thing done to rule out possible lactose intolerance and other problems. As far as Gastroparesis, is this deadly? Because Im worried about his health cause he lost a lot of unintentional weight.

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  It appears as though he has gastroparesis (delayed emptying of the stomach) and he should be on medication for this as his symptoms correspond to this.  Do you know if he is currently taking medication for this?  Also a colonoscopy biopsy should either confirm or rule out chrons disease, so do you know what the colonoscopy showed?  Also has he had an upper endoscopy?