This is going to be long, but i am just DESPERATE for advice regarding DH especially from any doctors on here

[loopylou6]

First off he started having stomach problems about 6 years ago, complaining he was burping to much/having trouble burping, feeling bloarted after meals, sometimes to the point where he puts his fingers down his throat to throw up to relieve the bloating then gradually he started getting worse so he went the docs and he was found to have helicobacter. Great we thought, medication will solve it, it didnt, numerous doctors visits followed, in the mean time, hes practically stopped eating apart from a sandwich at tea, consequently he weight dropped from 13s tone to about 11 and a half, docotrs prescribed peppermint tablets, zoton etc nothing helped, now heres where im gonna sound a cow how can someone with stomach problems eat donner meat and chips with loads of chilli and feel ok, but then eat it again the next week and feel ill, even proper homecooked meals like shepards pie, he would eat them and be ok, but the next time they made him ill Hes cut out all dairy from his diet as he says it makes him bloated (but he can eat chocolate no problem, and lots of it)he suvives on pasta and sauce as he can cope with that and chicken sandwiches and that just about sums up his diet, oh and he refuses to take any medications thata re caplets as he says they irratate him. I tried tactfully mentioning that maybe its in his head but he insists its not and he wouldnt make himself miserable if theres no need, plus he says he would love nothing more than being able to eat whatever hew ants without feeling ill after it.In his defence, he doesnt suffer any mental problems and is normally laid back which is why i dont understand his behaviour. Hes had all bloodwork done all fine, hes had a barium xray, came back fine apart from a slightly dilated duodenum which no one seems to know or care about, he has now been referred to a gastroenterologist as the doctors dont have a clue what the problem is apart from feeding him more helicobacter eradication meds 2 weeks ago which did nothing, can someone please help with any ideas or experiances PLEASE
and thank you for reading, thatw as quite an essay

I'm not a medic, but sounds like the docs have it covered. Gastro will prob due an endocscopy (camera tube down throat) and biposy his duodenum to see if he has coeliac disease, plus a close look to see if there are any tumours (sorry, it's a possibility). He'll prob get the same but from up the bum to identify probs in colon.

Before seeing gastro, DO NOT alter his diet as that could affect his diagnosis

hi HL thanks so much for replying. Yes we pretty much suspected the camera thing, hes that fed up now though that he just wnats it gone so will do anything, do u have any thoughts on why he can eat sometiems but not others? this is really confusing me.

desperate bump

another shameless bump for evening crew

might be psychosomatic to an extent, sounds like a very limited diet which is not very nutritious which might well be making him feel crap anyway..

no fruit, veg is not good

his energy might well be flagging from that

cutting out all dairy is not good , men can get osteoporosis too

if he has no pyhsical symptoms on the tests, then he might need to rethink things...

might be IBS?

thank oyu for replying i have casually said that if the cameras dont find anything he may find CBT useful, i do feel a bit mean but things dontadd up, i think u may have a point about IBS thoguh, the doc doesnt think so, but am sure the gastro will look into it?

i thikn IBS can cover so much

bloating, wind, upset tummy etc

and peppermint tablets can help with that

cutting out an entire food group is not good.

it;s lulumama by the way!

ahhh lulu, u had me fooled there i think she should have a colonoscopy because he does have bowel problems aswell which could be linked and i totally agree, his diet is AWFUL i mean the bloke has lived on pasta and stir in dolmio sauce for months now really not good. He has an appointment with the gastro doc at the hospital on the 24th april so hopefully he will get to the bottom of the problem

sounds like maybe because he had negative reactions to eating certain foods it has been instilled in him that it is always negative. it does happen. but then it may actually be becasue of his situation.

hi beth, i think to a certain degree this is the case,he has cut out milk and cheese, but goes to bed and eats a disgraceful amount of kitkats in one sitting, now obviously, kitkats contain milk, so i dont understand how he can eat them and eat them in the amount he does and feel fine??????? this is where i get confused and start doubting that there is an ACTUAL problem, but then i feel guilty and horrible

I know someone with this once (read on below) and it sounds a bit like how these problems started - any doctors care to give an opinion?

Chronic or repetitive burping (Aerophagy)is the excessive swallowing of air, usually an unconscious process associated with anxiety, resulting in abdominal distention or belching, often interpreted by the patient as signs of a physical disorder.

In this case air is not swallowed into the stomach but sucked into the gullet and rapidly expelled. Repetitive belching like this can last for minutes at a time and is very embarrassing. It is nearly always due to stress or anxiety. There is no medical treatment, and the cure lies in realising the cause. Air cannot be sucked in when the jaws are separated, so repetitive belching can be temporarily controlled by firmly clenching something like a pencil between the teeth.

Some people develop aerophagy because of discomfort in the chest. If you develop belching associated with chest discomfort - especially discomfort associated with exertion - or if you have difficulties in swallowing - you should seek medical help promptly.

not eating proper meals and then eating loads of chocolate is not good

really, it isn;t!

i bet that if he actually started eating 3 proper meals and healthy snacks a day he would feel better

anyway, he shouldn;t eat kit kats, nestle make them

thanks for that gagarin, might be worth looking into lulu am gonnatry and have him eating 3 small but regular nutricious meals, its like having 3 kids instead of 2 agree on the kitkat theory aswell

All sounds a bit odd to me to be honest.

Coeliac disease needs excluding, although I'm guessing that he may already have had the antibody tests.

If anyone will get to thye bottom of it (excuse the pun) the gastro bods will.

IBS sounds most likely with a degree of psychological overlay- although IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion once serious underlying illness has been excluded.

thanks emma, your input is very much appreciated

plus i have to admit, they are my thoughts but i think i needed to hear it from people in the know, it became more clear when at the docs on friday when we got the referral to the gastro, he asked the doc for more zoton, but he asked for the fast tabs, when she asked why he said because the caplets irratate his stomach...she did give him a funny look and said she'd never heard of that before question is, if it is in his head what can i do coz it is literally destroying his life, i know i sound dramatic but he eats barely anything and is constantly saying how ill he feels, and he refuses to believe its in his head because hes normally so, well, mentally strong

I have no knowledge on this other than to say my stepmum has something that sounds similar and there is no rhyme or reason to it - she can eat something one day and be fine and the next week eat the same thing and be a mess. It's not psychosomatic with her - just a complex thing that we can't work out.

So don't jump to the conclusion that he's just being neurotic because these things can be very variable.

This is probably an unlikely cause for his symptoms, but Crohns is a gastric condition where you can have flare ups, so that might explain why things are fine one week and not the next. I think that chronic diarrhoea would be usual with Crohns though. camera type investigation would look for Crohns as a matter of routine.

thats a very valuable post MAJ, can i ask if your step mum has had many tests and what her symptoms are?

TC with chrones, isnt a symptom blood in the stool? he doesnt get blood, but does suffer with bowel cramps and his toilet habits are very hit and miss, sometimes loose, and sometimes he cant go for days

She has had lots of tests, all negative.

She feels very bloated and sick and as if she's very hungover. Sometimes lasts for a couple of days after she's eaten. It really does come and go - she used to think it was related to alcohol (she didn't drink much but one glass could set her off). Now it happens even without drink.

It's usually dinner that sets her off so they always eat really early. She is also very thin because is now very careful about what she eats and although she doesn't particularly avoid any one type of food, just the general process of being careful about what she's eating and when has made her quite control freaky about it. Sounds like your DH. But understandable when they feel so grim.

Have they looked into his liver and gall bladder function?

Must confess I am not sure Loopylou, as the person I know that has this has never mentioned blood in stools, but she may not want to talk poo to me iyswim! Her main symptom seems to be loss of appetite/feeling nauseous rather than bowel symptoms.

Can you and he note down what he eats and what reactions he gets, plus times of day, so you have some data to work from?

My son has had a number of digestive discomforts and it has taken ages to work out what different things were upsetting him.

It really helped me and him to clearly say that I am listening to him and am believing all he says. I told him I was 'on the case' even though I didn't know what the answers were. He has been open and honest with me and we have had a laugh when things we thought were troubling him turned out to be innocent!

MAJ that sounds exactly like my dh, even down to the alcohol, he used to love a drink but has stopped completely becasue he believed it was making him worse, sad thing is though if they have the same condition, it looks like the docs dont know what it is, therefore there is no cure to make them feel better , i will be sure to keep you updated on his gastro appointment in the hope that if they do find a reason for the problem i can pass any knowledge onto you for your stepmum
TC i will google chrones now and see what the symptoms are, thank you M they did blood tests to check his liver, but i dont think anything has been looked into regarding his gallbladder, will also google that, and the diary keeping is a good diea, will tell him

loopylou - hope you find something out. Would love to tell my SM so we can stop eating dinner at 5.30

My stepmother has had this problem for about 15 years so it would be great to know if there's anything she can do