Feeling sick all the time

[WhoisitnowRalph]

Why do I have a constant sensation of travel sickness (morning sickness even)?

Feels like it's being going on, on and off, for months. If not feeling nauseous it's always just there lurking on the edge, like when you're really empty. The slightest motion makes it worse, I felt travel sick on a train today and even going up an escalator, can hardly bear motion on TV or scrolling through my phone - I feel dreadful as a passenger in a car after just a few hundred yards. I'm eating and I do have an appetite, sometimes eating helps but mostly it stays the same. The only thing that relieves it temporarily is sleep, although initially I feel sick on waking. I have metaclopramide on prescription for migraine, which I've used when desperate and it just won't recede.

I don't have any dizziness, haven't had an ear infection to my knowledge; I am not pregnant; I have been quite stressed recently, home and work worries; no unexplained weight loss; I am 47, pre-menopausal and my mirena coil is coming to the end of its 5th year . Could it be hormonal?

I have mentioned it to GP but was dismissed, just idly wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar?

Darkness and sleep helps, I've noticed - just closing my eyes can make it recede a little.

Although I've woken with a horrible vinegary taste in my mouth, what feels like an unswallowable lump in my oesophagus/throat, and that empty sicky feeling is waiting in the wings, I can feel it. I've had a swig of Gaviscon but I already take lansoprazole. I've never been tested for helicobacter.

You really do need to be tested for HPylori. It is a stool test and really simple for your gp to arrange.

Also, lanzoprazole and metoclopromide can both cause nausea. Look up the side effects. Both those drugs will allow an H Pylori infection to get worse.

Oh, do they? Bugger. Well I'm off sick at the moment after minor surgery (entirely unrelated) so plenty of time to see GP I suppose. I have wondered about H Pylori many times but figured if they thought that was an issue, they'd mention it!

My surgery is pretty good, but GPs are so busy these days, things get missed. The stool test isn't expensive, so don't be fobbed off.

Food intolerances or alergies can cause this.

I'm surprised they don't look for it as standard really. But worth looking at, thank you!

Ugh. I had a cup of tea, a banana and an orange for breakfast and I feel sick again already. I've had a few hours off since I woke up.

It could be gastro oesophageal reflux disease (GORD/GERD). The sour mouth and throat lump are typical symptoms.
Have a look at this link if you think it fits: chriskresser.com/how-to-cure-gerd-without-medication/

I've had reflux for as long as I can remember - even as young as 25, when I was fit and not overweight, I've had it forever. I also get oesophageal spasms (corkscrew oesophagus), the first incident with that was when I was 12. But I've never had a gastroscopy, I've never been referred - just been loaded up with omeprazole or lansoprazole, and anti-spasmodics.

But I've never had this unrelenting nausea before. Well, I did when I was pregnant once, for a very short time - morning sickness is exactly what it feels like. That's why I wondered hormonal...

What about post nasal drip? I've had a dodgy throat for a couple of weeks and it has coincided with that.

I mean, this latest bout has coincided with the bad throat. But I get spells of it periodically, have done for a few months - usually only for a few days, this episode is coming up to a full week.

If you can possibly afford it, go and see a gastroenterologist privately. It sounds as if you have never been properly investigated.

Inner ear infection?

Well, yesterday afternoon I miserably curled up on the sofa wondering if it would ever lift, and shut my eyes for 30 minutes. When I woke up, it was gone...I was able to travel as a passenger in the car to the shops and to visit my mum without feeling desperately sick, ate a normal evening meal, had no significant reflux overnight (only one mild surge) and so far, the nausea and the cold sensation in my stomach has stayed away.

Maybe this spells the end of this episode, I certainly hope so. I know I should get it investigated properly, but I'm partly nervous (horror of a gastroscopy) and partly lacking motivation because I'm already taking most of the standard remedies for GORD, and it can't be anything sinister as I've had symptoms for over 20 years. And I have no unexplainable weight loss.

I have IBS as well - when I was initially investigated for crippling chest pain back in 2000 which turned out to be oesophageal spasms, I was told I had "dysfunctional intestines".

Why, thank you.

Apparently, GORD and IBS are often linked, because GORD often leads to food intolerances causing your guts to complain. I think I have this too, have had IBS for years, and went low carb 4 years ago which did help enormously with bloating and heartburn, but I still seem to have a lot of problems.
I refuse to take PPIs, because they reduce your stomach acid to virtually nothing, and lead to malabsorption issues, causing problems down the line, so I try to increase my stomach acid by taking digestive enzymes and Betaine HCl, as described in the link I gave above. (I'm 72, and stomach acid decreases with age).

Hmm digestive enzymes is a good shout. I did have some malabsorption symptoms before but was found to have gallstones, which might have caused some of those - once I had my gallbladder out I've not really had them (apart from dumping syndrome, which is self inflicted if if you throw a load of fatty food into an empty stomach with no gallbladder)!

I started feeling sicky again at lunchtime when I was empty so I ate some food. Its mostly passed now but things just don't feel right. My throat feels a bit scratchy, which has been going on for 3 weeks. I think reflux can do that as well. I suppose it can be enough of an irritant to create post nasal drip too, which can make you nauseated...

IBS I'm well accustomed to, nothing ever surprises me in that department!

Please please please push for any endoscopy.

A much more benign possibility - do you take multivits or any other supplement with iron/ferritin in? I had nausea like you describe until my Dr housemate suggested that could be the cause. I now know I need have to have a very full stomach to tolerate any kind of iron supplement.

Blimey I was only anaesthetised for a procedure on my leg 6 days ago (cutting a tight tendon), I wasn't about to rush into another one! Mind you, the experience was fine so I don't mind deep sedation...

If it hasn't passed by next week I'll go to GP.

No, I don't take any supplements at all. I was light on folates for a while and had an odd liver result a year or so ago, so took folic acid for 3 months, but the follow up test was fine.

This happens to me at key points in my menstrual cycle. Hormones are often behind nausea ime.

It feels so similar to morning sickness, and the kind of nausea associated with taking the pill - and I have experienced both - that I can't help but think the same thing.

I did talk peri-menopause with a GP and she just said to go back if the symptoms were unmanageable. If this is one of them, it is becoming difficult to manage!

I had this too, gp blamed it on oestrogen-linked vertigo?

Ooh interesting - off for a (sensible) google. Thanks.

@WhoisitnowRalph - did you ever figure out what this was? I have very similar symptoms and am also thinking it is linked to my cycle (i'm 44 and I think perimenopausal) so am trying to figure out what to do.

Hello @WhoisitnowRalph and @gardeninggirl14

Did either of you find out a cause of your nausea/ anything that helped it?

I have been feeling sick for the last 6 months - at first it was nearly everyday, now it comes and goes with no obvious pattern. I’ve had various tests over the last few months and apart from a slightly raised bilirubin level on one blood test (2 others were fine) nothing has been found so far.
The GP isn’t concerned but it’s making me feel miserable and has caused me to become very anxious over health issues.

As there is no particular pattern I’m not sure it is hormonal, but I’ve had night sweats too for a couple of years now (GP has always dismissed these) so it could be perimenopause I suppose? I’m nearly 43 so it may be a little early.

Any light you can shed would be very welcome!

Could it be labrythinitis?