Hiya, as this is my first post on this forum - hello to every one!
My gf was diagnosed with MS 13 years ago and she’s a very strong person. Over the years she’s also acquired other illnesses like optic neuritis, asthma and helicobacter disease (which doctors think they got rid of it).
About 13-14 months ago, my gf started vomiting quite severely. The sick feeling would come spontaneously and would make her end up in the toilet for 2-3 straight hours vomiting. This would happen perhaps once a week in the beginning, and over the months it was getting more frequent to the point where it had started occurring every other day and then eventually every day.
The pain whilst being sick has gotten much worse at this point which was often accompanied by frequent diarrhea. In fact, loose stools have been a normal thing since the vomiting started. The time of being sick at a time has also lengthened. When my gf was admitted to hospital last year in June, the doctors found hernia hiatus. We don’t know if the hernia was there before the vomiting started and then worsened or the vomiting itself was the cause.
She was on Cyclizine anti-sickness, Lansoprazoleas, Esomeprazole, morphine sulfate and Dihydrocodeine. None of them helped in terms of stopping being sick or getting rid of the pain. Dihydrocodeine sometimes would help temporarily with the pain but only for about half an hour.
We researched this and other MS forums and suggested Zofran (Ondansetron) to her GP. He prescribed it and it was helping for about a week, but then made my gf really consipated to the point where she doesn’t go to the toilet for a week now and when she finally goes she screams in pain and there’s nothing.
We ended up a few times in A&E because the pain got to the point where my gf was passing out from screaming and crawling on the floor which was interrupted by violet vomiting every 10-15 minutes.
These situations still last for about 4-5 hours which basically knock my gf out cold to fall asleep out of exhaustion. The worst part is that my gf can’t eat. She hasn’t had a solid meal in about 6 months without vomiting it out which caused a rapid weight loss and this still continues today. A snack, plain bread or a full meal, it doesn’t matter. As soon as it goes in it also comes out after 10-60 minutes. My gf lost about 4 stones in 6 months.
She was referred by her MS doctor to the gastro expert which we met and had a long chat about what’s been happening. He suggested 6 different gastro tests for January this year. I’m sorry I don’t have access to the actual test names, but it was a tube down the throat for 24 hours to record what happens when foods and drinks are consumed, breath test, colonoscopy, anal-rectal exam, mri on the lower bowel, and various blood tests. We are now waiting for the appointment that’s happening in April.
The colonoscopy, breath test and the tube test came back as normal. The other 2 will be confirmed I think in April at the appointment.
6 weeks ago we had to go A&E as the vomiting and pain were getting close to 8 hours straight causing breathing problems. She had her bowels x-rayed and it was confirmed that there’s a blockage in her upper bowel but it’s nothing serious and Movicol for the blockage and Paracetamol 500mg for the pain will do the trick. We went straight to the chemist to get it, but Movicol didn’t help and Paracetamol cause the below:
4 weeks ago we went to A&E again for the same problem as above. Just water but even that didn’t stick too often. It turned out that Paracetamol caused the jaundice (yellow eyes), inflammation of pancreas and liver (according to blood tests). She was eventually admitted where they took out Paracetamol from her system, but also discovered air on the lungs and a small tear of the esophagus. After a week of being in hospital we had to discharge ourselves due to various reasons.
This continues today and we are desperate for help as the doctors don’t do much once they hear about the gastro appointment this April.
If you have any suggestions or maybe an idea on how to stop the vomiting and the pain we would appreciate it greatly!
Thank you so much.