I can't eat anything

[Debb1]

I  ate at a restaurant and have been horribly sick ever since. I continue to lose weight and my stomach is always loud and gurgly.  Any protein I try either comes back out or I am stuck in the bathroom the next day.  Usually I have to use the bathroom within 15 minutes of  trying anything,  It has been 11 months and I don't seem to be getting any better.All my tests have also come back negative and I am still unable to eat.  The only thing I can digest is bread (mainly white ) and I drink Ensure to try and keep nourished.  I have also become lactose intolerant which I was a huge dairy eater before.  The doctors seem to have no answers and I am frustrated and don't know what to do next. Have had endoscopy, colonoscopy, stomach and esophagus samples, Chrones etc  Any advice?


This discussion is related to cannot eat proteins, grains, etc..

[JElsie]

I have been reading and reading for hours all over the place and you are the first one who seems to be having truly the same experience as I.

I've been a digestive enigma since December 2009.  All foods, solid or blended, just aren't processing well.  I hear ya on the 15 minute thing, sometimes it's even shorter than that before I'm running. it's humiliating and gets old fast.  I swear sometimes all I have to do is drink a little water and quite suddenly I'm the bathroom dealing with 20 minutes of explosive diarrhea.  

Almost 3 months ago I was down to tolerating rice and chicken only.  Then chicken became the devil.  My body was shutting down, I had minimal sources of nutrients and calories.  My gastroenterologist had done many tests and since December and had my gallbladder taken out in May because it was sick (no stones, risked poisoning my body, and with it gone it was supposed to provide more ease in figuring out the REAL issues going on.  Well, he hasn't figured anything out.  He figured he'd "do me a favor" and have me go on a resting period from tests and procedures since I had gone through so much already.  

I contacted a local health clinic that has a monitored prescription liquid diet replacement program for weight loss.  I am familiar with the program and with bringing what I knew about it to my gastroenterologist, was cleared to pursue it further as a tool to find relief by literally eliminating all food, and to eventually use a spring board to re-introduce foods one at a time into my system to monitor specifics as to what works and what doesn't.

All has been going pretty well for the last few months.  I am grateful for the relief I've found and have been able to drive further for things with less fear of having an accident due to no bathrooms nearby.  Unfortunately I still have issues here and there as if I tried to eat food.  Randomly I get a date with the bathroom, a good case of diarrhea, and no logical reason for it.  I'm so frustrated.

Thus far in trying to figure out foods that don't bother my system by eating them one at a time and monitoring for days after... nothing is working, no progress has been made.... except that I've dropped nearly 30 pounds, almost down 2 jeans sizes, and 10 inches off my waist.  Woo.  Being sick like this is not a good solution for a little extra around the middle by any means.

A stupid little cold went around my office, something I'd normally catch and deal with for a day or two with no problems.  Yeah, everyone else got a normal cold.  I... I got death's crazy cousin knocking on my door.  Couldn't let him in, I was stuck upstairs for 2 days straight in bed unable to stand up long enough to wash my hands after peeing before racing back to the bed in an effort not to blackout and fall on the floor.  Really hard to stand at a sink to wash your hands, do anything really, when the room won't stop spinning and your legs give you a 4 second warning before they stop working.  All that cleared up on day 4, but still having some bouts of dizziness at work. My voice is mostly gone, I can't sleep because I'm coughing too much despite meds that are supposed to help (including RX cough syrup with codeine).  

I feel trapped.  Do you feel trapped in a way?

I think my... our bodies are not only resisting food... they're losing the ability to adequately fight stuff.  Assuming you are experiencing similar issues with fighting of colds etc., I dare say our immune systems are shot.  

Problem is... I have no idea what to do next.  Nobody has any answers.  You can only live on Ensure, and I can only live on my liquid stuff, for so long.  Though it delivers basic needs, it's not the same.  

Doctors up here generally will do any test except a colonoscopy on young people.  I'm 26 next month.  I don't understand their issues; a test is a test, a person is a person.  Why are they so camera-up-the-tail happy with 50+ year-olds but won't consider the option for someone young with undiagnosed digestive issues? I'm flying out of state in October (packing powdered versions of my drinks so they're light; woo) and when i get back I vow to go down to the gastro's office and demand he schedule a colonoscopy.  Wish me luck.  An old classmate/friend of mine had to go through 6 different specialists in order for her request of a colonoscopy to get honored and you know what they found? Colon cancer... and a wicked case of it too.  That was about 5 years ago and she's still battling it.  Doctors can be really stupid sometimes.  Hm, maybe negligent is a more powerful word in this situation.

Sorry for the monologue.  I hope you find comfort (somewhat) in knowing you're not alone.  I surely was glad to read your post.  

Good luck and if there's any breakthroughs, let me know.

[FurballsMom]

Sorry, I'm stumped.  I have different symptoms than you do, even though there are a few similarities.  I found that I am gluten and lactose intolerant myself.  I can't eat a lot of protein myself and have been losing a lot of weight myself.  It seems like if you have had all these tests that come back negative that your doctor might have suggested that you might have IBS, which is certainly a miserable condition.  I have a definite case of IBS, which I believe I have had most of my life, even though I wasn't told that I had it 'til I was a young adult.  Your symptoms sound an awful lot like IBS, but there seems to be something else going on here as well.  You need fiber in your diet with IBS.  Gluten and dairy intolerances are quite common in IBS.  

Sometimes it's not Celiac, but sometimes it is.  Make sure the Ensure formula you're buying is dairy free.  I've had to become a prolific label reader out of necessity.  To avoid having to read so many labels, I shop the perimeter of the stores and I buy my gluten free grains in the bulk foods section.  I have to cook my own food and not buy packaged foods, because I have so many food sensitivies that I didn't have 'til I got older.

Since you have had so many tests, I can assume that you must be seeing a gastroenterologist.

You might want to get tested for Celiac just to be sure.  I have reason to believe I have Celiac, even though the test for it came back negative, because I might not have been eating enough gluten for the antibodies to show up.  Much of my family has been finding out that we're gluten intolerant, and my nephew has tested positive for Celiac.  Celiac is usually hereditary, but not always.  One can be gluten intolerant without having Celiac, too.  We're sure that my nephew inherited the Celiac from my side of his family.  

You can figure out if you're gluten intolerant by doing a simple intolerance test through an elimination of all gluten in your diet.  You need to continue to avoid lactose at the same time, because the two problems usually go hand-in-hand.  Even though corn isn't a gluten containing grain, it's not very digestable to begin with, and a lot of people with gluten/lactose intolerance simply can't tolerate corn either.  I discovered that corn will trigger my migraines.  Since I already have too many migraines, corn is not worth it at all for me.  Bread is out, unless you look for the breads that are made with rice and are definitely gluten-free.  You must still read the labels to be sure that the ingredients listed on the package don't include things that you know contain gluten.

Okay, I'm still stumped with your description of symptoms, but I hope some of this information will help you before you end up losing too much weight and becoming underweight.