I have severe rt side pain,vomiting, water stools, & lost 20+lbs

[kim765]

Can any one help me with all these symptoms, I feel like I am dying on the vine.I have not been able to eat for over 2 months, if I do I throw up.  I have severe pain on my right side from under my ribs that has suddenly begun to radiate all the way down.  My stools are like water every other day 10 times a day.  Blood work showed up my liver was stressed Upper GI just showed infection in stomach and lower GI is next week.  CT show swollen bile duct.  I have been passing blood in my stools for over 20 yrs.  New blood work and stool test were done yesterday.  But I have already lost over 20 lbs. and I am so exhausted I can barely walk across the house.  Doctor won't give me anything until he knows what it is he is treating, yet he doesn't even remember what I told him when I came in last week.  What meds I am on just end up floating in the stool passing straight thru me undigested..  I feel like I am dying here can anyone help me????  Thank you for your time!

[JB123]

First of all, if the doctor can't remember anything you told him/her, find another doctor. You know how you're feeling better than he/she is. I had to beg with my doctor when I was 25 years old to check my gallbladder. I had stomach problems from the time I was 13. I told him my there was gallbladder disease in my family. Finally to appease me, he sent me for an ultrasound. Low and behold that afternoon I had a my doctor calling me to apologize. My surgeon told me that I was very sick for many, many years. Then I had the battle for another 12 years with GI doctors and and several colonoscopies to find a wonderful NP tell me that bile salt diarrhea is too a real condition.  Its your money, its your insurance. Eat small light meals, a drink plenty of fluids. You maybe able to take Ginger Root for the nausea. It is available in the health food section. Write a diary. I keep a health diary for myself. Dates, times, symptoms, (from nausea to cramps, how many times I went to the bathroom, was it water or just loose.) what I ate or drank. It helped me search for the answers I needed, especially when you sit down with a doctor, and you may only have a few minutes to talk, I found I always forgot to mention something. Show them your diary, and go through it with them. Take control of your appointments!! God Bless you're in my prayers

[boron]

In HIDA scan they inject a contrast substance into your vein, and after a while they monitor (took pictures with a special scan) its distribution in liver, gallbladder and biliary tree. The main goal is to determine the funcion of gallbladder, and to see if a substance can flow through bile ducts.

Black blood is from the stomach or esophagus, the only other possible cause I can imagine is bleeding from Meckel's diverticulum (this is an inborn error, where a patch of gastric mucosa grows within small intestine, secretes acid and causes bleeding). Black color of blood is from acid. On basis of this black bleeding, I recommend your first investigation is upper endoscopy (gastroscopy). It seems urgent situation for me, it could be cancer.

[Jenswan]

Some of this sounds like how I was when I had the parasite Giardia.  Food passing though totally undigested, becoming unable to eat anything (a type of anorexia) or even drink water, extreme nausea.  I became pregnant before the symptoms were bad and lost weight until I was treated -- the baby grew fine, I guess he got all the nutrients.  I told my husband I was just dying.  The dr. thought it was pregnancy nausea or the flu but I knew it was something else.  Finally they did a simple stool test and had the diagnosis.  A stool test is a very simple test where you poop into a container and take it to the lab.  Until they finally diagnosed & put me on meds, I was sure I was going to die.

[kim765]

Thank you so much for your time and answer.  Could you tell me what is a HIDA scan?  And as for the blood, it use to be red, but the past few years it has just turned black.

[boron]

Having upper right abdominal pain and swollen bile duct speak for bile stone which stuck into your bile duct. The stone obviously came from the gallbladder. Well, it's not necessary a stone (CT would show stones), the fact is that bile duct may be obstructed from some reason (inflammation, or pressure from the outside, which is usually from pancreas).

It is HIDA scan, which shows how your gallbladder functions. If this function is low, then it is recommended that your gallbladder goes out.

So, if the bile duct is the problem, bile can't flow into intestine, meaning that FATS can't be digested and cause your diarrhea.

Next: Bleeding (is it bright red blood or is it mixed with the stool?) is probably from small or large intestine.

What to do:
1. Avoid fatty meals: this will prevent cramps caused by forcefull gallbladder contractions AND it will prevent your diarrhea (I hope).
2. Have a HIDA scan for gallbladder function - this will explain your cramps.
3. Colonoscopy - the cause of bleeding (probably inflammation) can be found in the colon.