why are my symptoms not consistent with my diagnosis?
I am a 53 year-old working housewife. Last January, the whole family made a trip out of town. My son and I ate something the others did not. Both of us got sick the next day, diarrhea and vomiting consistent with food poisoning. We were given the same medication; my son got better after 4 days while it’s been 4 weeks for me but my bowel movements still have not gotten back to normal. I don’t have the diarrhea anymore, just soft, unformed stool. Two weeks after the diarrhea episode, I got the flu- fever, coughing, body aches. A week after that, I woke up feeling really sick to my stomach. I was dizzy, nauseated, lots of stomach cramping and gas rumbling. In addition, I was very tired and was having chills. I went to the ER and was diagnosed with diarrhea (which I did not really have anymore) and just “virus” infection and was given Bentyl. The next day, I had a follow-up check with my primary doctor and was given flagyl and diarrhea medicine. He said it was “just virus” I stopped taking the flagyl after 2 days because I was getting more sick in the stomach. My doctor changed my medicine to Nexium, saying I had a lot of acid reflux. Nexium gave me headaches and made the dizziness and nausea worse, so I stopped it after 3 days. I went to see my ENT doctor because I could not sleep at night from post nasal drip and dry mouth and throat. I had redness in my throat and again, he concluded acid reflux and virus. He prescribed saline irrigation and changed my med. to Xantax. Again, the headache reaction was there and Xantax did not really help. I also consulted with a GI doctor and he ordered testing for TSH and H. pylori plus an abdominal/pelvic CT scan. All turned out negative so I was diagnosed again with acid reflux and “virus” that just won’t go away. I made another trip to the ER because I was getting weaker everyday and my blood pressure was spiking (145-150 over 90-100). I was scared. Blood test showed my Potassium was low (3.0), I was given 2 bags of IV and 40 mg. of potassium tablets. Went back to my primary doctor complaining of the same thing, dull headache, dizziness, and nausea especially in the morning. Convinced my doctor that my blood pressure was probably aggravating my symptoms, he gave me Toprol (50 mg) once a day. There are tell-tale signs that Toprol is working, in addition to my nausea, the med. now makes me sleepy and sluggish. There is improvement in my legs from potassium but my symptoms are still here and it has been 3 weeks since I was diagnosed with virus and acid reflux. I do have acid reflux as my ENT doctor saw thickening in my larynx, however, I don’t have the burning sensation as most sufferers do, just a lot of belching and stomach gas. My diet consists of rice, lean boiled chicken, oatmeal, crackers, ginger tea, yogurt, and I am also taking probiotics. I have missed work for 3 weeks now because I can’t get up in the morning. Some days are better and I would conclude that I’ve been healed but the next day, I would be sick again, my symptoms come and go. Today, I saw an eye doctor but he did not find anything wrong with my eyes. I am desperate for a cure, I am tired of being sick, I am depressed and frustrated. Please help me. Thank you.
Tagged with: consistent • diagnosis • symptoms
Filed under: Acid Reflux Infection Diet
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Perhaps you should see a gastroenterologist (GI) doc. Since, your symptoms began with intestinal issues, a GI doc could possibly due an endoscopy; either upper, lower or both. Maybe the virus triggered an autoimmune response. You might want to discuss that with your doctor and he/she could run some more tests with that in mind. After three weeks, I would think one of your docs would order more tests or procedures to determine what the source of your symptoms are. Don’t give up and good luck. I hope you feel well soon.
One thing that can cause this type of problem and which often gets overlooked is an intestinal parasite such as giardia. This particular parasite is very hard to kill in some people, and the symptoms vary. Giardia can cause completely different symptoms in different people, and the symptoms vary immensely in their severity. Two of the common symptoms caused by Giardia are belching and watery stools. You could ask the doc to test a stool sample for giardia, but it’s easy to miss because it has a life cycle where it periodically goes dormant in microscopic cysts that are very difficult to identify, so more than one sample should be tested if the first one is negative. Read up on giardia, and if you think its a possibility, the docs could give you a 10-14 day course of Cipro or some other antibiotic and see what happens.
Your situation is far too complicated for me to even guess. I do mention that it was interesting to me that as I read your question and saw Flagyl giardiasis immediately came to mind. Some years ago everybody in my family but me got it and they were given Flagyl.
Since Formerly Bob thinks the symptoms match and a doctor prescribed Flagyl it may be of some importance. You said that the doctor who prescribed the Flagyl said “just virus,” but I find that unlikely that he thought that or he would not have prescribed Flagyl.
Ironically some years after, my wife and I were prescribed Flagyl for a yeast infection of unknown source. The stuff made both of us nearly sick with weird headaches and stomach distress, but we took them all just as my wife and sons did with the giardiasis. In both cases, in spite of the discomfort, it worked. Maybe you should pick back up taking the rest of the prescription since nothing else seems to work…
I am so sorry this is happening to you and fully understand why you feel depressed and frustrated. I pray you get better quickly. Try the Flagyl and have faith that it will all work out.