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Vomiting - I can’t be the only one

SDSue

Southeast
Messages
1,066
Can we talk vomit?

I’m back in a cycle of vomiting, and can’t find much written in ME/CFS circles about this troubling symptom. By evening my stomach is a fiery mess. I go to bed, head and torso propped up by pillows, and within a couple of miserable hours I’m up vomiting. This is all accompanied by gas and serious bloating, which are both new to me.

*Graphic detail alert* Not much food comes up - just dark (not blood) fiery fluid. It feels like I’m an 8 year old who’s gone to the circus and eaten too many hot dogs and cotton candy.

I’ve had food allergies tested and am on a very limited, 4 day rotational diet. If I had any hunch, it’d be that I can’t tolerate fats when this happens. Am I alone? Is this an ME/CFS “thing"? Suggestions? Causes?
 

Misfit Toy

Senior Member
Messages
4,178
Location
USA
Have you gone to a GI doc? I used to not be able to lay down due to gastritis and then I would be up vomiting for all hours. It seems you may need a possible endoscopy. A tube that goes down into the stomach. I am not sure.

My stomach has been a mess. I can't eat really and have become super skinny but also have gastritis. I have constant bile going on in the back of my throat.

I wish I could be more helpful.
 

SDSue

Southeast
Messages
1,066
Do you get any pain radiating into you back when this happens?
No radiating pain. Were you thinking gallbladder, especially with the intolerance to fats?
Have you gone to a GI doc? I used to not be able to lay down due to gastritis and then I would be up vomiting for all hours. It seems you may need a possible endoscopy. A tube that goes down into the stomach. I am not sure.

My stomach has been a mess. I can't eat really and have become super skinny but also have gastritis. I have constant bile going on in the back of my throat.

I wish I could be more helpful.
Thanks so much for your response. I am way overdue for a scope. Well, that and a million other “routine” medical things like dental care, mamos, etc. - like the rest of us, I’m pretty sure. Uggghh.

Sounds like you did the vomiting thing, too. What finally helped? Did you end up doing a scope and getting some sort of treatment?
 

whodathunkit

Senior Member
Messages
1,160
No radiating pain. Were you thinking gallbladder, especially with the intolerance to fats?
Yeah, or (god forbid) pancreas. I've had some issues with one or the other lately (doc thinks gb), possibly due to recent weight loss.

Since "radiating" might be a subjective word, maybe I could ask (for clarification): Does your back hurt at all during these episodes, esp. in the mid- or lower-thoracic area? Sorry for seeming to belabor the point.
 

Misfit Toy

Senior Member
Messages
4,178
Location
USA
Sue, I was so sick from it that I had to go into the hospital for a month! It turned out I had really bad Gerd along with such an inflamed esophagus and stomach. My stomach was a bright red. I could not hold any food down at all. Any kind of medication they gave me, I threw it right up.

By the way, I have no idea what brought this on other than chronic fatigue syndrome/ME. This was in 1990.

I am not having vomiting now but horrible GERD and I know Prilosec is horrible but it's what I take when it's out of control. I am so sick of that nauseous sick burning feeling.
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
@SDSue So sorry! :(This is miserable, but unfortunately others get this too for varieties of reasons, some described above. Another route would be a good stool test to see if anything is growing wild down there.
 

SDSue

Southeast
Messages
1,066
Yeah, or (god forbid) pancreas. I've had some issues with one or the other lately (doc thinks gb), possibly due to recent weight loss.

Since "radiating" might be a subjective word, maybe I could ask (for clarification): Does your back hurt at all during these episodes, esp. in the mid- or lower-thoracic area? Sorry for seeming to belabor the point.
Belaboring is OK! I wasn’t really clear. I can’t say I really have pain except for, as @Misfit Toy describes, a nauseous, sick, burning feeling.

@Misfit Toy You had it bad!!! Seems any little thing can go from mild to severe with us as our bodies are so broken.
I’m afraid what a scope will show after so many years of GERD. When I was healthy, i’d awaken with horrid reflux - coughing and gagging after inhaling the reflux. Now, because I require so many drugs to get any sleep, I sleep thru the reflux which is scary. Can’t win, can we?

Meanwhile I’m back to rice and applesauce trying to rest my GI system. Needless to say, my POTS is out of control cause I’m dehydrated. Called my doc hoping he’d approve a few more saline IV’s to get me over the hump and was told to go to the ER. No thanks. And so it goes.
 

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
@SDSue, please take yourself to a GI doctor. many things can go wrong, but it concerns me that you have dark (not blood) content that you are retching up, which may mean you are bringing up old blood, from Gi tract bleeding.

Take pictures of what you are throwing up.

i am also concerned about your dental and oral health as vomiting gastric content is acidic and is not good at all for dentition and mouth health.

Sometimes, just an easy med can make a huge difference, but you won't know until you are working with a GI physician who can make the right diagnosis.

Let us know how it goes, good luck.
 

Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,444
Location
USA
My OI I get exaggerated gag reflux. End up dehydrated and in the ER. I was in a
Roll a few months because I get dehydrated so not good for the POTs.

I got some cancer nausea meds and been ok since then if I stop it before is horrible.
 

SDSue

Southeast
Messages
1,066
@SDSue, please take yourself to a GI doctor. many things can go wrong, but it concerns me that you have dark (not blood) content that you are retching up, which may mean you are bringing up old blood, from Gi tract bleeding.

Take pictures of what you are throwing up.

i am also concerned about your dental and oral health as vomiting gastric content is acidic and is not good at all for dentition and mouth health.

Sometimes, just an easy med can make a huge difference, but you won't know until you are working with a GI physician who can make the right diagnosis.

Let us know how it goes, good luck.
Thanks so much. I’m now working with a GI doc and started taking omeprazole. That’s made a huge difference. Not vomiting and am sleeping better as a bonus. I was scheduled for a scope, then that GI center stopped taking BCBS after a lengthy battle over rates. Crazy. Currently looking for a new doc.
 

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
Thanks so much. I’m now working with a GI doc and started taking omeprazole. That’s made a huge difference. Not vomiting and am sleeping better as a bonus. I was scheduled for a scope, then that GI center stopped taking BCBS after a lengthy battle over rates. Crazy. Currently looking for a new doc.
Great news @SDSue, glad you are no longer vomitting. Sending you best wishes in finding a new GI doctor.
 

Sea

Senior Member
Messages
1,286
Location
NSW Australia
Thanks so much. I’m now working with a GI doc and started taking omeprazole. That’s made a huge difference. Not vomiting and am sleeping better as a bonus. I was scheduled for a scope, then that GI center stopped taking BCBS after a lengthy battle over rates. Crazy. Currently looking for a new doc.
Please make it a priority to find out what is going on and not just accept the status quo now that the medication is helping you feel better. The medication you've been given reduces stomach acid, which reduces the reflux and vomiting and makes you more comfortable. It is probably the right treatment if you have excess stomach acid, and it's possibly the right treatment for now while you find out what's going on.

The problem with leaving it there though is that it is becoming recognised that many people have reflux and vomiting because they have low stomach acid. We need a certain level of acid to properly digest rather than ferment food and to trigger the lower sphincter to release the digested stomach contents into the intestines. Low stomach acid symptoms are actually very similar to excess acid symptoms. Treating low stomach acid with a medication to lower stomach acid is not a good idea, even though it can result in feeling better.

Long term, low stomach acid interferes with nutrient absorption, especially B12, and leads to a raised risk of Osteoporosis. Also there is increased risk of leaky gut when food is not digested properly. My daughter was treated for 2 years with Nexium (an acid reducing medication). Although it made her feel better she began developing food intolerances. For a year all she could eat were 2 foods. With prebiotics, probiotics and digestive enzymes she has been able to expand her range to about 8 foods. Each time she gets sick or has to take antibiotics she is back to 2.

Also, as uno said, consider gastroparesis. In a POTS group I am part of I am seeing that gastroparesis is quite common in people with autonomic dysfunction. Treatment for this would be medications that move the stomach contents along more quickly rather than lower stomach acid.

Have you ever heard of the burp test or low stomach acid test?
 

kangaSue

Senior Member
Messages
1,851
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Also, as uno said, consider gastroparesis. In a POTS group I am part of I am seeing that gastroparesis is quite common in people with autonomic dysfunction. Treatment for this would be medications that move the stomach contents along more quickly rather than lower stomach acid.
Try telling that to the G.I. specialists, their quick to get you out the door with a script for PPI's as their first plan of attack in g.i. dysmotility.

By the way @Sea, there is another common link with POTS, gastroparesis and other autonomic dysfunction - they can all be as the result of having Autoimmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy, either all together or any one in isolation.
 

kangaSue

Senior Member
Messages
1,851
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Thanks so much. I’m now working with a GI doc and started taking omeprazole. That’s made a huge difference. Not vomiting and am sleeping better as a bonus. I was scheduled for a scope, then that GI center stopped taking BCBS after a lengthy battle over rates. Crazy. Currently looking for a new doc.
I've just remembered that omeprazole and other PPI's also have a powerful anti-inflammatory action, something not well known outside of the medical profession so still pursue a reason for what's going on with your g.i. symptoms and don't let them keep you on PPI's long term without a manometry test to show that excess stomach acid is actually the problem. In an ideal world, that would involve a "smart pill" test.

http://www.jsirjournal.com/Vol3_Issue3_13.pdf antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of omeprazole
 

Nickster

Senior Member
Messages
308
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Please make it a priority to find out what is going on and not just accept the status quo now that the medication is helping you feel better. The medication you've been given reduces stomach acid, which reduces the reflux and vomiting and makes you more comfortable. It is probably the right treatment if you have excess stomach acid, and it's possibly the right treatment for now while you find out what's going on.

The problem with leaving it there though is that it is becoming recognised that many people have reflux and vomiting because they have low stomach acid. We need a certain level of acid to properly digest rather than ferment food and to trigger the lower sphincter to release the digested stomach contents into the intestines. Low stomach acid symptoms are actually very similar to excess acid symptoms. Treating low stomach acid with a medication to lower stomach acid is not a good idea, even though it can result in feeling better.

Long term, low stomach acid interferes with nutrient absorption, especially B12, and leads to a raised risk of Osteoporosis. Also there is increased risk of leaky gut when food is not digested properly. My daughter was treated for 2 years with Nexium (an acid reducing medication). Although it made her feel better she began developing food intolerances. For a year all she could eat were 2 foods. With prebiotics, probiotics and digestive enzymes she has been able to expand her range to about 8 foods. Each time she gets sick or has to take antibiotics she is back to 2.

Also, as uno said, consider gastroparesis. In a POTS group I am part of I am seeing that gastroparesis is quite common in people with autonomic dysfunction. Treatment for this would be medications that move the stomach contents along more quickly rather than lower stomach acid.

Have you ever heard of the burp test or low stomach acid test?
I saw this older post on nexium and was wondering if your daughter still takes nexium or what treatments she is taking today.
My son takes omeprezole which is similar and takes away the acid.
I hope that she is improving.