Can't Keep Food Down

[Tyler]

I was diagnosed about 5 months ago and have been doing much better now that I've cut out all gluten related foods. There are still those times that I slip up and don't realize it (did you know chilis uses the same oil to cook their chips as the rest of their food!?). However these last two weeks I've been unable to keep any food down. A couple days after Thanksgiving I started feeling queasy after eating anything. I just ignored it since I'm not used to eating as much as I did on Thanksgiving since going Gluten-Free.

However since Monday 11/26 I haven't been able to keep any food down. No matter what food I try it just comes back up 5 minutes later. I've been writing down everything I eat to see if there's any kind of pattern in ingredients and can't find anything. It's gotten to the point where extremely strong food smells make me throw up. At this point it's been a week since I've kept anything down and have moved to a liquid diet of Gatorade/Pedialyte to stay hydrated and out of the hospital. I have no stomach pain or any other symptoms, I feel completely fine until I eat something.

I've met with my regular doctor and went through a list of possibilities. There's no stomach bug to speak of. He gave me some anti-nausea medicine that hasn't helped at all. I've got an appointment with a GI specialist Wednesday but I'm curious if anyone else has had this problem related to Celiac.

[mommida]

My daughter had symptoms that caused her to vomit up to 5 times a day. It seemed like she was having a gluten reaction. (She was diagnosed with Celiac when she was 17 months old and did vommit a lot as well as "D". She was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophaitus when she was 6. There is a knwon connection between EE and Celiac.

I also had gall bladder issues after being on a gluten free diet for years. That caused a lot of nausea and vommiting until I had it removed.

For diagnosing EE a scope with biopsy was done. (this can also rule out or diagnose a lot of issues that present with the same symptoms). For diagnosing a gall bladder problem a HIDA scan, gallbladder function testing was done.

My thoughts and prayers go out to you for a speedy diagnoses and recovery!

[flagbabyds]

It could be a lot of different things but for some short term relief I would ask your doctor about sublingual Zofran, it's the antinausea medicine that he/she may have prescribed for you but it'll dissolve under your tongue instead of you having to swallow it, it'll enter your bloodstream and since it's not entering your GI system should actually help with some of your symptoms (when I'm in the same place that you are the meds I take I just throw them back up...)

It is possible it is just an AWFUL reaction to gluten (I've had ones like this that last up to 2 weeks...) but it's good that you are seeing a GI doc.

Hope you start feeling better soon!!

[mommida]

If you really aren't keeping anything down, they can give you a shot of it. It has really helped my daughter a few times. (kept her from needing an IV)

[Tyler]

Thanks for the help. I actually just got back from the ER

Got some much needed IV fluids which has helped a lot for the night. They did a CT scan to rule out any neurological problems, and found evidence of an Arnold Chiari Malformation, however they don't think that is causing this as it's just a small malformation.

So they gave me a prescription for protonix to see if that'll help with my symptoms and try to treat a possible Ulcer.

I do have my appointment with my GI specialist tomorrow so hopefully I'll learn something.