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G/F doesn't feel well - Illness?
1ddqd
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Let me preface by saying she's already had a doctor's visit and bloodwork done.
So far, everything has come back normal. It started a week or two ago - she can't really go long distances in a car without needing to use the bathroom. Thereafter, she stopped feeling so good - just general loss of energy, and she started complaining of a vague pain in her right abdomen.
We went to the doctor and had the above mentioned tests run. Everything came back normal. Noteable history: she was born premature (a week or two early), had kidney stones in high school, drinks ONLY water (& the occasional Gatorade), and has a healthy diet. The doctor suggested that if it's not a flu or stomach bug, it could be something with the gall bladder. He wanted to wait for the bloodwork.
Well, like I said, it all came back normal. I've told her to make an appointment at her Dr's office, but in the meantime, what do you guys think? Appendix? Liver? I don't see any other symptoms (no skin discoloration, eyes look fine, no dry skin, etc).
So far, everything has come back normal. It started a week or two ago - she can't really go long distances in a car without needing to use the bathroom. Thereafter, she stopped feeling so good - just general loss of energy, and she started complaining of a vague pain in her right abdomen.
We went to the doctor and had the above mentioned tests run. Everything came back normal. Noteable history: she was born premature (a week or two early), had kidney stones in high school, drinks ONLY water (& the occasional Gatorade), and has a healthy diet. The doctor suggested that if it's not a flu or stomach bug, it could be something with the gall bladder. He wanted to wait for the bloodwork.
Well, like I said, it all came back normal. I've told her to make an appointment at her Dr's office, but in the meantime, what do you guys think? Appendix? Liver? I don't see any other symptoms (no skin discoloration, eyes look fine, no dry skin, etc).
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Though the frequent need to pee makes me think of something pressing on the bladder. Perhaps a swelling somewhere.
Of course, this is only a suggestion and please don't take it as 'normal' doctor info.
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Just throwing that out there..
My friend was pissing like a racehorse before he was diagnosed with Type 1.
its often overlooked for a normally healthy person.
My friend was diagnosed @ 27. One of the most active people I know, healthy diet etc..
Just saying.. doesn't hurt to check.
go to a trader joe's or health food place and look for 100% cranberry juice, and dilute it with some of the grocery store juice yourself if its too strong.
check for diabetes! peeing+fatigue=BAD
Murphy's Paradox: The more you plan, the more that can go wrong. The less you plan, the less likely your plan will succeed.
That is what House taught me! Does she drink lots of water? Like, an inordinate amount?
but they're listening to every word I say
"So alternate, against the grain, anti establishment - so you're just a regular joe again, right?"
Anyways, she herself has always bought the 100% juice stuff. Like I said we have a healthy diet (shop for fresh fruits and meats at Central Market, a whole foods place owned by H.E.B.). I suppose she doesn't exclusively drink water, she does drink our assortment of apple juice (Simply Apple), OJ (same brand), and Cranberry (100% Cranberry Ocean Spray - no cocktail, no dilution).
She's even brought up "I could have diabetes, it's on both sides of my family" but so far, there's been no sign when the doctors run tests. Do they need to run a specific test? Because if so, I'm going in there with her and telling them to run it.
That doesn't rule out something like iron deficiency or anemia though. Are you sure the pain is on the right side? If it were on the left it could be her spleen which is a symptom of severe anemia, and mono as I pointed out above.
Also don't rule out that they're not related at all. She may just have a UTI that's compounded by a gall stone or something.
Note: ENDOMETRIOSIS DOES NOT PRECLUDE THE POSSIBILITY OF PREGNANCY. This is just an FYI. I have a friend with endometriosis who was always told that because of this she would never be able to have children. Imagine her surprise when at about the age of 24 she found out she was pregnant! Endometriosis and infertility are correlated, but having one doesn't necessarily mean having the other.
*edit endometriosis* Yes, that's the disease, and yes, we know there's still a chance, so we use condoms. Thanks for the heads up to those out there that don't know. It is VALUABLE "don't be stupid" info!!
Poop.
Serum iron isn't worth much, especially in a female of childbearing age with endometriosis (if she really has that... endometriosis can only be confirmed through abdominal surgery). If she was anemic due to iron deficiency, it would show up on her blood count differential. Endometriosis can cause severe cramping and abdominal pain, although it probably would have shown up earlier (as it is the hallmark of the disease).
On an unrelated side note, 100% juice is still sugar water. It's just sugar water that's more palatable for people who don't like soda.
She says it's general abdomen pain and she gets really hot, then nauseous, and it seems triggered by fatty foods - she had part of a candy bar and a half hour later she was reeling. Doctor's appt is Thursday at 9:30AM, I'll let you know if they diagnose it - it's like real life House!
The after fatty foods thing sounds like Gall stones to me. My dad had the same symptoms after he ate fatty foods. Yet it sounds like kidney stones too, however I think you'd be in an emergency room right now if it was that.
http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/gallbladder/a/gallbladdissymp.htm
Now I am thinking Crohn's
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohns
Doesn't really fit with the urination, but you never really said that was happening. You just said she went to the bathroom a bunch. It fits the other symptoms though.
but they're listening to every word I say
Would be best if she at least had a weekend home or so. Can return to work/school as long as its mainly sitting within a few days even in most cases with no complications.
I'm kind of curious why the doctor is going straight to gall bladder removal though. Regular gall stones can be removed through a simple laparoscopic procedure (just a small hole to insert a probe), or even through various non-surgical procedures.
My girlfriend had her gall bladder removed because she had an unusual type of gall stone formation. Her stones were literally stones (regular gall stones are actually rather soft) and she had dozens of them. They tried to remove them via a laparoscopic procedure but it wasn't successful and ended up inflaming her pancreas (which is very serious). They ended up removing the gall bladder to prevent future stones from becoming large enough to block the bile duct before they pass (as without your gall bladder, bile flushes more regularly).
If anyone is curious, this seems to be what my girlfriend had.
http://www.hkmj.org/article_pdfs/hkm9709p302.pdf
This is why they don't want to attempt it. I doubt it'd be pleasant to routinely have these removed, as well as living with the side effects of having such stones form. She's in (quite literal) pain, nauseous, and sick all the time now. She is the one that wants it completely removed, I think the Doctor only presented it as an option.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I suppose it depends on what type of stones they are, and how quickly they are forming. If they are cholesterol stones (the soft ones), removing them is fairly easy. In my girlfriend's case, they were pigmented stones (hard ones), there were tons of them, and the backup of her bile duct was already interfering with her liver function.
Also, I believe the cholesterol type stones are easier to control through diet (which she'll need to be more wary of anyways if she has her gall bladder removed). If she has that type of stone, it seems like gall bladder removal might be overkill.
I have this. When untreated it causes really severe abdomen pain and running back and forth to and from the bathroom. Also consider other inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis is very similar to chrons. Gluten intolerance also fit more or less to the bathroom aspect.
If the pain is concentrated on the right side, liver or gall bladder might be involved. A good way to notice if anything is wrong there is to take detailed liver value readings via blood tests. Diseases that disrupt the liver functions can cause all kinds of nausea due to not breaking down toxins.
A lot of the symptoms also remind me of Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, which I also have. A liver disease that when in a bad state can cause sharp pain in the upper right quadrant, fatigue, itching, formation of gall stones, jaundice, digestive problems etc. (or a few, or none of the above; very individually differing symptoms).
I'd say she should definitely have detailed liver readings via blood tests if that's not been done, as the pain is located on the right side.
A colonoscopy might reveal if the intestines are inflammated.
Edit: Just as a side note:
Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis often come hand in hand with either Chrons disease or Ulcerative colitis as well as gluten intolerance. So the symptoms of them can combine, causing confusion when attempting to diagnose it - as one is only looking for one disease that fits all the symptoms. That's why it took almost a year to find that I had all three, blood work and colonoscopy sealed the deal in the end.
Well, it depends on whether Jaundice is a large symptom in that disease. She isn't experiencing that, nor itching. Good to know that there are other related diseases, but we'll know soon enough. I'll make sure to update.