Well, for those of you who have been following my latest saga of GI issues, I wanted to give an update. (For those of you who haven't been following it here's the short version - after almost 3 months of IV Rocephin I had what felt like a gallbladder attack (lost my gallbladder two years ago, though). Since then I've had nausea and general abdominal pain, loss of appetite, lost about 15 pounds, etc. Had bad visit with a bad GI dr. who laughed at my Lyme stuff (not professional at all IMO).)

Okay, so today I had an appointment with a GI dr. that the nurse practitioner at the walk-in clinic I've been to a few times recommends. She got me an appointment for today (she only called on Friday so this was great). I liked this doctor a lot. He was very nice, with a good sense of humor but very professional also. He knew a lot about what Rocephin can do, even if you don't have a gallbladder.

Basically, he thinks the first "attack" was from Rocephin sludge or crystals. He thinks that since I've stopped the Rocephin I probably won't have any more problems with this but if I do we may have to do something about it. For now, though, he doesn't see that as a big issue as long as I never go back on Rocephin. That's fine with me. So, those of you without a gallbladder who think Rocephin can't cause problems, think again. Be wary of it. I think that with people with past gallbladder issues who may or may not have had it removed, Rocephin is not the best choice. Afterall, something about us probably makes it easier for these things to happen, with or without a gallbladder to contribute.

Anyway, he thinks part of the problem is that I may be constipated. He thinks that might be causing or contributing to the nausea. So, I'm on Milk of Magnesia once a day or every other day to see if that helps. I'm also scheduled for a stomach endoscopy a week from tomorrow to see if he can find anything in my stomach causing the pain (it was tender when he pressed on my abdomin in the stomach area).

I'm happy with this plan and I think it'll be a good start to figuring this out. Now I just have to get in touch with my LLMD to see what she'll want to put me on next (I've been off all meds for about a month and I really don't want to be off much longer). Her plan was to take me off everything just long enough for it to clear up and then she was just going to put me back on the Rocephin. I'm not altogether happy with how she's handled this situation so I'm not sure if she'll be my LLMD much longer, it'll all depend on what she has planned for me next.

I'll let you all know if the endoscopy shows anything. I just want to get over this whole thing and get on with my treatment. Fortunately I have been able to eat some solid foods lately which is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, it seems that if I eat very much I get bad pain and the nausea gets worse so I think I'm going to stick to easy foods for a while longer.

Peace and healing,
Annie

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``The best way out is always through.'' -Robert Frost

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The "stomach" probs you mentioned sound similar to Gastritis, (inflammation of the stomach lining). Has your doctor mentioned that?

Reason I ask is because a few yrs ago I started drinking a cranberry "wgt-loss" tea.
It tasted good, and it had a diuretic action, but it hurt my stomach more each time I drank it. Like a dummy, I kept on with it because it made me nauseous and so I ate less.(the wgt loss effect)--I know, not too bright--live 'n learn.

A few wks passed and got to the point where I could only eat very small amts of food at a time, or it would hurt more.

Finally went to a doctor who diag. "Gastritis" She explained how the tea was repeatedly irritating a weak part of my stomach lining,(it hurt and itched at the same time). So I basically had an open wound in my stomach--which explained why it hurt more when I ate--the stretching of my stomach stretched the wound.

I threw the tea away, ate a bland diet for a month and took Tagamet until it healed.

It was the weirdest thing--the nerves in our stomach that tell the brain that we're "full" got all screwed up. I felt dizzy and nauseous.

Not trying to diagnose you, y'know.
Just sayin'.

Kitsicox, my LLMD thought it might be gastritis so she put me on Nexium. I've been on it for two weeks and I haven't noticed improvement but it might be too soon to tell. Or, it might not be that at all. I'm not sure at this point so I'm just taking the meds, going to the doctors I'm being sent to, getting the tests done, and hoping everything gets figured out soon. Fortunately I am able to eat a little now so I'm not losing more weight, I've at least stabalized that which is a step in the right direction.

Joe, thanks for the response. Yeah, I may talk to Dr. H about Claforan. I definitely want to try another IV med right now as I just don't think I could tolerate orals (and they haven't proven helpful in the past). I'm sorry you've had such trouble withe the IVs getting set up. I don't have an HMO, I have a PPO so nothing had to go through my PCP, I could just set it up with Dr. H being the prescribing doctor. I hope everything gets worked out for you soon.

Peace and healing,
Annie

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``The best way out is always through.'' -Robert Frost

Click to join Lyme_Camp

Click here to see my Lyme journal.

I've had 2 endoscopies done! 1st one shown this "unknown growth" .. so they redid it 6 months later still not able to find out what it was!

Then they found a colon polyp at the end of the bowel which couldn't be cut off during exam, so I had to have surgery! So they cut that out, removed my appendix still it was still in there....gallbladder gone since 79.

I had asked them to check out this unknown growth in the chest area....FATTY TISSUE!

u can have this problem without pain meds but pain meds are what made mine a real problem...

its called gastroparesis whcih means your stomach digests to slow.... a dr should be able to diagnosis this from an endoscopy.

i couldnt eat at all for awhile... after 5 days of no food just water i tried ensure...
the pain from the insure was tolerable...

my pain started out like a gullbladder attack then radiated to my other side and as I would get worse it would radiate thru the back as well.

from the gastroparesis going undiagnosed for so long my stomach was inflamed and it took a couple months for it to feel better with the treatment.

they give you reglean for it i take 10 mg 4 times a day....

if that doesnt completely fix the problem there is a diet you can follow.

I need to take the med and adhere to the diet.. although i can now eat a little bit of a couple things im not supposed to.

I hope the endoscopy gives you an answer.

Primal defense is expensive, also GI doc gave me Zelnorm which I was reluctant to take, but did wonders, did it for a month and can take it when i feel I need it. Also bulk fiber, like metucmmucil and flax seed powder has helped.

I never got much answers from the doc, and my stomach was blowing up to pregnancy porpoetions and there was concerns that I had malabsorption and parasites, but of course nothing shows up on tests, and they disregard it, but if you looked at me then you would know I wasn't absorbing my nutients properly, so I have had to go my own route, and go with what I know works.

I am currently waiting on pancreatic testing to have results.