Extreme Vomitting For Over 24-Hours

[crick3t]

I have not yet been officially diagnosed with Celiac, but am currently researching due to several doctors' recommendations.  About a month ago I started feeling extremely nauseas and sometimes vomiting directly after a meal.  I visited my primary care physician, and she suggested I try an exclusionary diet.  Silly me, two days ago I went out for McDonald's and had a beer.  About an hour after the beer I started feeling sick.  I vomited between seven and ten times that night, then woke up and immediately began vomiting again, nonstop, for hours.  I had to go to the ER.  Several people are now very convinced this indicates Celiac and that I need to switch to Gluen-free.  I am completely fine with this if it stops me from ever having to live though yesterday again!

 

I don't know anyone with Celiac, but do know one person with a gluten intolerance who said he feels lethargic and just "wrong" after ingesting gluten products.  That sounds much to mild to be what I experienced over the last 24+ hours.

 

Here is my question.  Has anyone else experienced severe symptoms like this before?  Or heard of someone who did?  I am at a loss here.

[Brandiwine]

I had what was like the stomach bug on steroids before I went gluten free, it was horrible! Have you had any tests done? How where you feeling before all the vomiting? What other symptoms do you have?

[kareng]

Sounds like it could be food poisoning. Extreme vomiting isn't a common symptom of Celiac. I assume, since you went to the ER, they did a pregnancy test?

[shadowicewolf]

Yes, one of my symptoms was vomiting before i was diagnosed, but mine wasn't as bad as yours is. It was regardless of what i ate and it would happen at least once a day, not long after i ate.

[crick3t]

It started as vomiting after meals, for over a month, and then suddenly this happened.  I was feeling just fine before I started getting sick, just like all the other times.  It shouldn't be food poisoning, or else it's the most extreme case ever, since I've been having these symptoms for a month.  I'm not pregnant because I've had three pregnancy tests done since the symptoms started.  A stomach bug on steroids certainly sounds right.  I know it's not a common symptom, but is it a symptom at all?  

 

As I said before, I too was getting nauseated after ever meal (unless the meal was gluten-free, like veggies and hummus).  The vomiting was after eating things like pasta, tacos, drinking beer, or eating fast food.

 

This bout of vomiting was also accompanied by severe stomach pain, to the point where the ER had to give me an anti-nausea and then a painkiller.  What kind of symptoms did you all get?  Really, has anyone at all ever experienced symptoms like this?  Usually it was just a few hours of nausea and vomiting and then I was fine.

[psawyer]

Nausea and vomiting were among my symptoms prior to dx, but never like what you describe. I am thinking along the same line as Karen--this sounds more like food poisoning than a gluten reaction.

[Brandiwine]

Everybody does react differently and if you don't get sick while eating gluten-free sound like a the best reason to stay on a GFD. No two Celiacs are the same, we all have different reactions and different diets and food sensitivities and allergies. I had chronic D before, I kept myself from vomiting as much as possible, your case sounds extreme but I don't feel like you could mark it off the list of possible symptom at all.

[Ollie's Mom]

I used to have what I called my days from hell where I'd have a terrible migraine, and I'd vomit almost continually all day long. It was not food poisoning, but it was always coupled with a migraine and a weird kind if diarrhea. The first few times I had that reaction, it was after I had had a beer or two the night before. Then it started happening more frequently, and seemingly rabdomly (although I now know the culprit was gluten).

I've also had food poisoning in my time, and the town are totally different feeling, although on the surface the symptoms sound similar (headache, vomiting, diarrhea). With food poisoning, I just prayed for it to be over quickly. With the gluten induced days from hell, I remember thinking to myself a few times that dying probably wouldn't be so bad, I actually felt that bad.

[Brandiwine]

I too can remember getting so sick that I felt like dying might not be so bad compared, that's just how bad it gets plus the mental and emotional effects gluten has. Thank God we know better know!!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel just hang in there!

[crick3t]

I know this is an old post now, but I wanted to share this in case someone else comes to this forum for help with similar symptoms.  It turns out that you folks were both right, and wrong.  My case was too severe to be Celiac, because it wasn't.  It also wasn't food poisoning.  I had a benign tumor called Focal Nodular Hyperplasia.  It's a tumor on the liver, and usually causes no symptoms.  However, since mine was large (6-7 cm) and in the exact right spot, it pressed on my stomach and caused "false satiety," meaning that I'd eat once slice of pizza and feel so full it was disgusting and painful.  That would be followed by nausea and eventually vomiting.  Shortly after I posted this question, I was admitted to the hospital for a week because I literally could not stop vomiting.  They figured out what was wrong, thank God, and I have since had surgery to remove the tumor.  I am fully recovered and feeling better than ever.  Thank you everyone for your help, and thank you for continuing to insist that my symptoms were too severe to be Celiac, because you were right!