Nausea/vomiting/bloating - at wits' end

[user4678497]

This is not a post about me, but about my DM (mid 70s). Just clutching at straws in case anyone has any suggestions.

Over the last few months, she's felt progressively iller. Fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss and nausea. Symptoms recently have got worse, with nausea every morning (v like morning sickness), which sometimes passes after an hour so, and sometimes persists all day with repeated vomiting. Bloating after every meal, with very noticeable swelling of stomach, but goes down overnight. Mild discomfort very low down in the pelvis. No history of any digestive problems, intolerances etc.

GP has been bloody useless, but finally sent her for an urgent referral. They did a TV ultrasound, and I was convinced they would find ovarian cancer, as the symptoms fit so well. And they found - nothing. Blood and urine tests also normal. Absolutely nothing to explain her quite severe symptoms. Just a report that tells her to 'go back to the GP if symptoms persist'.

It's utterly weird. She's now going to request a full MRI (and will pay for it if necessary), but I thought I'd post in case this rings any bells with anyone? I'm worried about other cancers (stomach, colon etc), but the symptoms and location of her (mild) pain don't seem to fit.

Gastroesophageal junction cancer? It’s quite rare and there are different types, but symptoms seem to fit. Very distressing time for both of you - it’s lovely you’re supporting and helping your mum. Good luck.

I think a colonoscopy and OGD would be more useful initially than an MRI (MRI is very poor at looking at an unprepared bowel).

Thank you both so much, I'll look into all of those thoughts. Waiting to hear what the GP recommends as the next step.

Ask for an MRI. Could be a partial bowel blockage. A friend has recently been through this. Had a CT, ultrasound and nothing really showed until she had an MRI (after paying for a private consultation) as she was at her wits end and had lost loads of weight as she couldn't eat. She's currently in hospital awaiting emergency surgery

It would be worth asking for a coeliac disease test. Its really common to be diagnosed late in life, and all the symptoms would fit

Your poor mum, that sounds hugely distressing for you and her.

Coming at it from a nutritional perspective, are you aware of any food triggers?

Thanks again everyone. I've been looking at coeliac disease today, and I think it's a real possibility. She doesn't appear to have any specific food triggers, but she's always eaten a pretty gluten-heavy diet, so it's something she'd be eating pretty much every meal. She's definitely going to push for a blood test for it. I don't know long results of that would take, but hopefully they might also refer her for an MRI and/or various 'oscopies' in the meantime. A bowel blockage is another good thought.

Coeliac is something they were looking into for my friend, she had the blood test which was negative but apparently a lot are, you need a biopsy done by endoscopy for a clear diagnosis.

I would push for further testing and in the meantime see what you can do to eliminate any possible dietary causes x

Thanks @rainbowninja. Apparently though, if it might be coeliac then it's really important to keep eating gluten until you get the test, otherwise the test doesn't work (I only just found this out.) Could perhaps try cutting out dairy though.

Meant to say @Tanfastic, I hope your friend's OK.

Ah that's interesting and makes sense. Hope you get some answers, keep us posted!

Thanks again for your advice, I thought I'd come back with an update. DM has had another GP appointment, which she seemed quite happy with (because the GP was very nice and sympathetic), but which feels very unsatisfactory to me. The GP listened to all the symptoms, but didn't make any suggestions. DM mentioned coeliac, and the GP agreed that that was a possibility, and said she would refer her for a blood test. Apart from that, she gave DM the details of a private consultant in digestive issues and recommended that she make an appointment. It feels like the private route is the only possibility of getting something done, which makes me quite concerned, given there's still a possibility it could be something quite serious. It now doesn't surprise me how many news stories there are about late stage cancer diagnoses at the moment.

@user4678497 sorry to hear your mum is still suffering, did they indicate how long the test for coeliac would take? And is she in a position to go with the private consultant?

No, she's waiting to hear when she'll be able to have the blood test at the moment. They don't seem to be doing any blood tests at her GP at the moment, so she might need to go into the hospital to have the blood taken. And yes, she is fortunately able to pay for a consultant appt and at least a couple of initial tests, as appropriate - but it makes me really feel for those who aren't.

Sounds like Coeliac Disease to me. There's usually a wait for blood tests but once they've done it results are v straightforward. They can diagnose without an endoscopy on bloods alone thee days.

And she does need to keep eating gluten until the results are known. If the result is positive they have to do a second one to confirm.

Is your Mum taking any routine medication? I would check with her GP or a pharmacist asap if she is - my Dad was horribly unwell late last year, and it turned out that the hospital had prescribed him a medication that was interfering with one of his routine ones and no one picked up on it.

Have they tested a stool sample? I had very similar symptoms and had giardiasis, also tested for h.pyloris as similar symptoms. Easily resolved with the right antibiotics. The bloating, morning sickness feeling was exactly what it was like - went on for months before got to the bottom of it (no pun intended )

Thanks again for your replies and suggestions. DM got the coeliac blood test done, which was normal (I know they're not totally conclusive). She had the appointment with the private consultant today, and said she finally felt like she was talking to someone who knew what they were talking about. He dismissed coeliac pretty much instantly (he's a coeliac specialist, among other things), and said he was fairly certain it's an issue in the colon. He only mentioned bowel cancer as one possibility, but that's what DM felt that he thought was the most likely outcome. He said she needed a CT scan and has booked her in for one tomorrow morning. I don't know whether that speed is worrying or just normal when you're paying... Very worried now, but I guess no point in jumping to conclusions - it could still be something else. I don't know if they'll tell her anything tomorrow, or it will have to come back via the consultant again.

Thinking of you, @user4678497. Keep us posted - horrible time for you and your mum.

Just read your update OP, please let us know how your mum got on 🤞🏻

Hoping your mum gets a diagnosis, or at least some indication of what's going on.

Well, I'm v happy to report a much nicer conclusion to this thread than feared. The CT scan was clear, and the consultant now strongly suspects IBS. Still a pain, and the beginning of the road in terms of learning how to manage it, but so much better than it could have been. Thank you all again so much for your care and advice. X

That's really good news. You must both be so relieved

Have ulcers been excluded, op?