Throat and abdominal discomfort, weight loss, and diarrhea

[cadman9j]

I am a male and I am 22 years old. I just graduated from college. Over the past few months I have had digestive problems, throat and abdominal discomfort, and weight loss. Here are my symptoms:

Almost every day I feel that part of my throat is swollen and I have a dull ache/discomfort in my throat. Sometimes it is higher in my throat, near my tonsils, and other days it is lower at the base of my throat (I’m assuming near my thyroid?). The discomfort is pretty consistently on the left side of my neck/throat.  This has been going on for over a month now. I am not sure if my lymph nodes are actually swollen or not, but there is a general tightness or swelling feeling in my throat. The dull ache is not the type of pain associated with strep throat; it is more of a discomfort. Last week I noticed that I have a sore (red circle) at the base of my uvula, and this week I have one white spot on my right tonsil.

When I wake up every morning, my upper abdomen aches, especially on the left side under my rib cage. Also, my armpits ache some mornings (maybe lymph nodes?). As the day progresses, my abdominal pain seems to move down lower towards my lower left abdomen, but occasionally also aches on the right side too. The abdominal pain seems to worsen after meals or after bowel movements sometimes. I used to have diarrhea every day, when I was eating everything that I wanted to.  Recently I have changed my diet and my diarrhea has been better for the most part, but I still have soft, broken stools.

Currently my diet consists of gluten free and dairy free foods. This diet does make me feel better (especially less diarrhea and more energy), but my left abdomen and the left part of my throat still feel very uncomfortable and ache constantly. It almost feels as if the left part of my body is sick, while the right side is doing fine (I know this sounds crazy).

I have been to the doctor twice, the first time I was put on a proton pump inhibitor for possible indigestion/heart burn, and I had a blood test done. The blood test came back and I had no red flags, no signs of celiac and no signs of liver problems. The proton pump inhibitor didn’t seem to do anything for me. The second time I went back to the doctor he had me get another blood test to check for mono (still waiting on the results) and he suggested that I go to a digestive specialist. I have lost a lot of weight in the last month. I have gone from 184 lbs to 167 lbs in one month (lost 17 lbs.), and I am not sure if it is due to this illness, or if it is because I am home from college and I have been living a healthier lifestyle.

My symptoms seem to get worse when I eat unhealthy. Also, my body can’t withstand alcohol. After even a few sips of alcohol my throat feels as if it swells up even more than before, also my abdominal pain gets much worse after I drink half of a beer. I have decided to completely cut out alcohol because of this.

Overall I don’t have a fever, I don’t have night sweats, I don’t really have any other complications except the ones above. Could this be lymphoma, pancreatitis, food allergies, hyperthyroidism, or mono? I have no idea what’s causing this but it’s having a big impact on my quality of life lately.

[cadman9j]

My mono test came back negative, but it did show that i have had mono in the past. This is news to me because i have never been diagnosed with mono before... I'm not sure if that means anything now though.. Could that be causing these symptoms?

[mammo]

I would see a Gastroenterologist right away, this is their specialty.