Other news of suck

[cathyr19355]

As if it weren't enough that my desktop machine chose this week to die, esrblog spent a large chunk of Sunday afternoon in the emergency room of our local hospital.

On Saturday, he was fine. Better than fine, in fact, having accomplished a long, fruitful hacking run and having seen "Iron Man" with me and several friends. But on Sunday morning, he awoke with lower back pain that quickly transformed into a repeat of a malady he has suffered from several times over the past two years or so--severe stomach pains that go on for hours, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, that are alleviated only by burping. This time, a low-grade fever and chills were added to the mix.

The long-suffering medical staff at Paoli Hospital hooked him up to a heart monitor, x-rayed his abdomen to check for obstructions, and took 5 or 6 vials of his blood for lab tests. All came back perfectly normal. Finally, after about three and a half hours, he begged them for some pain killers and nausea medicine he could take by mouth (he'd refused to let them put in an IV drip) and to let him go home. Having no better ideas, they gave him a prescription for Percoset and for an anti-nausea medication and discharged him.

At home, the medicine at least allowed him to get some rest until the pain actually subsided late last night. A visit to his MD got us another prescription for nausea but no further clues.

He spent most of today resting, and finally got back enough appetite for chicken soup and crackers about an hour ago. Now he's in bed, getting further, desperately needed rest.

If only we could figure out what causes these episodes. Since they've started after he'd eaten different foods at different restaurants, food poisoning is beginning to seem unlikely. His doctor thinks it might be caused by a virus. None of this guarantees freedom from future episodes.

Comments

[sheilagh.livejournal.com]

ugh! I'm sorry to hear that :( mystery pain, worse when emphasized by nausea, is the PITS :(

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the sympathy. He's fine now, thank heaven.

[flaviarassen.livejournal.com]

It almost sounds like abdominal migraine.

[blue-duck.livejournal.com]

Food allergies or sensitivities, perhaps? Yuck, I hope he feels better....

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Food allergies/sensitivities are unlikely, because he's had the same symptoms after eating a variety of different meals at different restaurants--and in almost all of the cases, they are meals and restaurants he's enjoyed without incident for years.

He's back to normal now, but thanks for the sympathy!

[driia.com (from livejournal.com)]

Sounds - very unpleasant.... hope this doesn't come back - again.

Did they say if they thought it might be gas pockets in the digestive system? As there is nothing "firm" the gas sits in the intestines and pressure behind it makes the forward movement (or down rather) long and painful.

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DG/00014.html

I had something similar last May that hurt - OMG - like the worst cramps in the world with the added feel of a dizzy / nauseous migraine to boot. Took things the better part of 15 hours for things to calm down. AND it raised my BP up to fairly dangerous levels - tell Eric to keep a watch on that if he gets another bout - lets hope he doesn't.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

esrblog thinks it's gas, because it changes over time and he gets relief from burping, but his MD thinks it's some kind of virus or other infection causing gastric distress.

While he was recovering, he noticed that his colon had been in spasm (which he noticed only when it began to relax and he developed a brief case of the runs).

However, he doesn't get a migraine or other headache with it; just the abdominal pain and nausea/vomiting. His BP when they monitored at the hospital was elevated but not shockingly high. Thanks for the info, though.