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JoanDublin - I've been looking through your posts, trying to find a clue as to what's really going on here. As I looked through your other thread that you linked to, one thing jumped out at me:
For fecal matter to be present in vomit implies more than slow motility - it implies reverse peristalsis, a known phenomenon.
The underlying condition here would be SIBO - small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. This can happen when bacteria from the large intestine, which form the bulk of feces and are responsible for its characteristic smell, make their way into the small intestine, which is relatively sterile. All sorts of nasty things can happen at this point, including dysbiosis. Bacteria that have migrated from the large intestine can produce hydrogen and methane. Research conducted by Mark Pimentel, MD, director of the gastrointestinal motility program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and author of
A New IBS Solution, indicates that increased intestinal transit time associated with methane isn’t due to decreased motility but rather to hyperactive reverse peristalsis.
Fortunately, you can have your son do a simple breath test for the presence of hydrogen and methane. In the U.S., the test is available from
Genova Diagnostics in Asheville, NC (1-828-253-0621 or 1-770-446-5483) and costs $130. Complete directions come with the test kit. If your son tests positive for either hydrogen or methane, then this is considered confirmation of a diagnosis of SIBO. First line treatment for SIBO is antibiotics, often accompanied by or followed by probiotics. It's important to emphasize that SIBO is a very treatable condition. As dysbiosis can cause a very large number of problems (including, according to some experts, ME itself), clearing it up may have a profound effect on your son's health.
But first you would need to get the breath test done. I would think you could order it from Ireland, but I'm not sure. If not, you would have to find another source for it.
I found most of this information in
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Treatment Guide, 2nd Edition, which you can get in electronic form from Amazon for $4. (There is no print version.) Specifically, this information can be found in the section, "GUT FERMENTATION AND SMALL INTESTINE BACTERIAL OVERGROWTH (SIBO)". There is a lot of additional useful information about SIBO and its treatment here.
I hope this helps...