Need Help

[cj503]

Hello, all! First off I guess you could say I'm coming here because I don't know what else to do.... My husband has been having stomach problems for almost two years now. It started a couple years ago, when my husband said he just feels so bloated all the time and like the acid is eating away at stomach and insides....he said it feels like a monster in my stomach. When he started having stomach problems he weighed 350 pounds he's now 160. It's like my husband is a different person now...not just in his weight

Now, my husband is the kind of man that doesn't like going to doctors...and when he went to the dr's two years ago, the doc told him your stomach is that way because you are fat and told him to lose some weight....well, he slowly started dropping the pounds...but it was because he was sick. He's always in the bathroom throwing up this sticky phlegmy yellow stuff, he still is...everyday a couple times a day.

Last Thanksgiving was my husbands D-Day....he stomach hurt so bad he went to the er and was told it was gas.... He followed up with a gastrointestinal doctor and after being scoped in every direction it was found that he had H-pylori...some bacteria that I guess we all have, but only bothers some. My husband finally got some hope, but even after the med cycle he was still sick, throwing up, being able not to poop, to pooping uncontrollably, the snake alive in his stomach. Well, after another bout of pain he noticed when he went pee it was darker, we went to the Dr. later and found out he had gallstones....again, my husband finally got some hope that this would end his stomach problem... So, after his surgery his dr put him on protonix's to help with the acid.....wow, was my husband so happy...he felt normal for a change.... But when his insurance changed so did his script and he tried Nexuim, prevacid and another one....he's currently on the prevacid and it's not working too well...he's been on it for over a month, so I suggested that he go back to his regular dr. That's when he told the doctor what has been going on and he diagnosed him on the spot with ciliac...again my husband has hope, but it's only a little...I can tell each day that goes by he expects to feel a little better and he's not... My husband told me last week that if he hadn't gone to the doctors that he made arragements with his friend to take of me and kids, because he was going to end it...my god I'm so beside myself.... He tells me he wants me to understand and I'm trying to, but I don't know what to do, I thought I understood the hell he's going through, but he's insistent that I don't.. He says he wants things normal here and not to be treated different...and we're trying, but he's so different too... I don't know what to say to him, without him snapping..I know he's pain...that's why he snapped...so I don't say anything....I do everything I can to make sure our home is stress free him....but god....I'm just gonna come out and say it...I feel so alone! Where is my husband that I knew? It's like he's disconnecting from everything and we're losing him.... Please, what do I do? Everyday I've been trying to figure out how I can help him...how to just make him smile again, or laugh? I want to stand beside him with this....I love him...we love him!

[GFinDC]

Hi and Welcome!

Maybe you could get him to come here and read some of the signature lines of people who have taken years to get diagnosed with celiac disease. If he does have celiac, and he switches to a gluten free diet, he may start feeling better in a few months (or faster in some cases).

Celiac can affect people mentally as well as physically. The gliaden protein can get into the blood stream and affect the brain. That can cause various symptoms, and depression could be one. Insomnia, brain fog, tiredenss, there is a long list of symptoms that celiac can cause. But it one disease where the power to change the symptoms is in our control, without a lot of medicines or surgery etc. Just change the diet.

Has he had the celiac blood test panel? If he had positive results on the blood test then he should definitely try the gluten-free diet. One affect of celiac is malabsoption of nutrients. Malabsorption can lead to weight loss and also vitamin and mineral deficiency. Just the vitamin deficiency by itself can cause major physical symptoms, and mental symptoms too.

Celiac can also be pretty darn painful especially when untreated by the gluten-free diet. There can be lots of gas and bloating in an already inflamed and irritated gut. That does hurt.

There are lots of people here going through the learning phase of adapting to he diet. There is also a pre-diagnosis screening forum for undiagnosed people. If he has celiac the diet is the thing to do, as it makes all the difference in the world for how we feel and how healthy we are.

[luvs2eat]

I used to say it sounded like wolverines were trying to fight their way out of my intestines!! I was lucky, in that I was diagnosed very quickly... only about 3 months after developing unrelenting diarrhea. I never had any other issues... no tummy aches, no nausea, no weight loss (dang... I could have used a little of that one!).

I will tell you that it took an entire year for my bowels to be back to what I considered normal. I made mistakes in the beginning of my gluten free adventure, but I sure don't make mistakes now, as my "glutened" symptoms are much worse the longer I'm gluten free. But, it's not hard to be gluten free!!

As the previous poster said... this forum is my sanity. I can find an answer to ANY celiac-related question here from all those who suffer exactly what I do. I hope your husband finds his way here.

Perhaps an appt. w/ a gastroenterologist who's really versed in celiac disease might help... or finding a celiac support group in your area?