Hello,
I am having so many digestion related issues, it's hard to know where to begin. I would be so grateful for any advice, I just feel really desperate with my condition.
One of my biggest issues currently is that I am having instant stomach pain when I drink any fluids including water, even a sip of water. I have tried many types of liquids, at different temperatures but I always feel this sharp pain straight away after even a sip. I also feel a sensation in my intestinal area at the same time as soon as I take a sip. Even a bit of water, fresh fruits and certain vegetables particularly green veg and those with seeds give me an instant coldness throughout my body and makes me feel a bit dizzy. I spoke to my doctor about the issue with pain and water and he reckons I have inflammation in my stomach so just prescribed me PPIs but I am not taking them. I just can't figure out what might be causing this.
I was diagnosed with a 2cm sliding hiatus hernia and non-erosive duodenitis a few months ago, but the upper GI endoscopy found normal villous, no diagnoses of coeliac disease and no active inflammation. There was no evidence of neoplasia and no parasites. I also had a CT scan which didn't find anything.
My health has been very poor over the last year and a half, as I stopped eating so many foods due to lower abdominal pain that I was only eating white rice and carrots until 4 months back. I had no appetite at all. At this lowest point I was 29kg and my height is 5'5. I was losing a kilo every couple of weeks, I felt I might die soon. I have since started refeeding alone, determined to eat again, and introduced some variety of foods again in my diet. By having small frequent meals every 2-3 hours, my appetite has increased a lot. But I cannot eat too much in one go due to my hiatal hernia and I feel nauseas if I consume too much fat. My weight is now 42kg and most of the gain was due to eating a lot of wheat flatbreads, but I have gone gluten free with millet flatbreads since I was diagnosed with a wheat allergy through a blood test at the end of December. The reason I had the allergy test is because my legs and abdomen became very swollen, I had pitting edema. Since stopping wheat, the swelling has almost gone but it is still around my belly.
I have poor digestion and struggle with too much fat or protein. I cannot tolerate raw, cold foods. I tried coconut oil but that just feels too heavy in my stomach and kills my appetite, even with a tiny amount.
My weight gain was mostly over the first 2 months, it seems to have stabilized but I still have a long way to go. I have been experimenting with milk - both raw cows and pasturised goats, but both make me feel very fatigued with my head and eyes aching. Sometimes I feel nausea from milk. I sometimes feel as though I'm drunk after drinking milk! I am waiting for an allergy test for dairy and nuts. I have been a vegetarian for years, but have recently reintroduced eggs and a bit of chicken for the protein. I don't know if in the meanwhile I should persevere with the milk as I don't know if I have an allergy, but it's difficult to function in the day with that kind of fatigue.
Whilst I was refeeding, any sugars would make me feel dizzy and my tongue had white patches and became sore. My doctor did a swab test which came positive for candida and gave me oral thrush medicines which they give to babies, but I stopped this after taking it for a day as it gave me stomach pains, and I read that it can kill the good as well as bad bacteria. So I suspect I also have a candida issue. Is it possible that I might have candida in my stomach which could be causing the issue with drinking liquids? But I find it strange that I can tolerate dry foods, it's just liquids I have issues with, including food in liquid form like soup. I have been eating more dry foods and feel a bit warmer than when I was having soups over the last few weeks.
My white tongue has gone since I have eliminated sugars, even natural ones like fruit. But if I do have anything sweet, including a bit more milk, my tongue becomes sore and starts bleeding the next day. I have had blood tests for blood sugar but that has been normal.
I have been taking probiotics slowly but am thinking of increasing the dose if that will help build up the good bacteria quicker. I am taking transdermal vitamin D and magnesium. I am not taking any other supplements.
My blood tests showed that my ferritin is really low at 9. I have struggled with this in the past because I cannot tolerate iron supplements. I am considering trying ionic iron. I tried eating more spinach and greens but that made me feel so cold and uncomfortable. Not surprisingly, I have not had a period for 1.5 years given my low weight and iron. I have previously been diagnosed with PCOS around 10 years ago, when I weighed around 60kg, ate a lot of junk food. It's after this point that I changed my diet to a 'healthy' one, which reduced my appetite and I feel lowered my metabolism so much. I am constantly cold, with cold hands and feet and feel I may have hypothyrodism even though my thyroid tests are always normal.
My bone profile showed Serum adjusted calcium concentration 2.15 mmol/L [2.2 - 2.6] so a bit low.
Red blood cell count 3.89 x10^12/L [3.9 - 5.6]
Haemoglobin concentration 119 g/L [115.0 - 165.0]
Haematocrit 0.392 L/L [0.37 - 0.47]
Mean cell volume 101 fL [80.0 - 99.0]
igA test results were normal
Many foods like any fruits with a sour taste, yogurt, salt, spices, give me a burning sensation in my stomach, so I am not taking these.
Sleep is a real problem as whenever I try to go to sleep early, I end up having to eat something just before as I feel so hungry. Once I go to bed I get to sleep straight away from the exhaustion but I cannot get more than around 5 hours of sleep even though I eat as much as I can during the day. My hunger wakes me up very early. I have tried catching up with a bit of sleep during the day but I find it difficult as I sometimes feel nausea from laying after eating, and I find I end up eating less if I sleep during the day. So I would really like to sleep more at night.
I just feel very tired all day, every day. I am trying my best to eat and drink as best as I can, but it's so disheartening when I seem to react to all foods and even water. It's a struggle to get enough calories. I am really concerned about the discomfort I feel from drinking water. Does anyone have any idea what this could be?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my issues. Any advice would be very much appreciated!
I am having so many digestion related issues, it's hard to know where to begin. I would be so grateful for any advice, I just feel really desperate with my condition.
One of my biggest issues currently is that I am having instant stomach pain when I drink any fluids including water, even a sip of water. I have tried many types of liquids, at different temperatures but I always feel this sharp pain straight away after even a sip. I also feel a sensation in my intestinal area at the same time as soon as I take a sip. Even a bit of water, fresh fruits and certain vegetables particularly green veg and those with seeds give me an instant coldness throughout my body and makes me feel a bit dizzy. I spoke to my doctor about the issue with pain and water and he reckons I have inflammation in my stomach so just prescribed me PPIs but I am not taking them. I just can't figure out what might be causing this.
I was diagnosed with a 2cm sliding hiatus hernia and non-erosive duodenitis a few months ago, but the upper GI endoscopy found normal villous, no diagnoses of coeliac disease and no active inflammation. There was no evidence of neoplasia and no parasites. I also had a CT scan which didn't find anything.
My health has been very poor over the last year and a half, as I stopped eating so many foods due to lower abdominal pain that I was only eating white rice and carrots until 4 months back. I had no appetite at all. At this lowest point I was 29kg and my height is 5'5. I was losing a kilo every couple of weeks, I felt I might die soon. I have since started refeeding alone, determined to eat again, and introduced some variety of foods again in my diet. By having small frequent meals every 2-3 hours, my appetite has increased a lot. But I cannot eat too much in one go due to my hiatal hernia and I feel nauseas if I consume too much fat. My weight is now 42kg and most of the gain was due to eating a lot of wheat flatbreads, but I have gone gluten free with millet flatbreads since I was diagnosed with a wheat allergy through a blood test at the end of December. The reason I had the allergy test is because my legs and abdomen became very swollen, I had pitting edema. Since stopping wheat, the swelling has almost gone but it is still around my belly.
I have poor digestion and struggle with too much fat or protein. I cannot tolerate raw, cold foods. I tried coconut oil but that just feels too heavy in my stomach and kills my appetite, even with a tiny amount.
My weight gain was mostly over the first 2 months, it seems to have stabilized but I still have a long way to go. I have been experimenting with milk - both raw cows and pasturised goats, but both make me feel very fatigued with my head and eyes aching. Sometimes I feel nausea from milk. I sometimes feel as though I'm drunk after drinking milk! I am waiting for an allergy test for dairy and nuts. I have been a vegetarian for years, but have recently reintroduced eggs and a bit of chicken for the protein. I don't know if in the meanwhile I should persevere with the milk as I don't know if I have an allergy, but it's difficult to function in the day with that kind of fatigue.
Whilst I was refeeding, any sugars would make me feel dizzy and my tongue had white patches and became sore. My doctor did a swab test which came positive for candida and gave me oral thrush medicines which they give to babies, but I stopped this after taking it for a day as it gave me stomach pains, and I read that it can kill the good as well as bad bacteria. So I suspect I also have a candida issue. Is it possible that I might have candida in my stomach which could be causing the issue with drinking liquids? But I find it strange that I can tolerate dry foods, it's just liquids I have issues with, including food in liquid form like soup. I have been eating more dry foods and feel a bit warmer than when I was having soups over the last few weeks.
My white tongue has gone since I have eliminated sugars, even natural ones like fruit. But if I do have anything sweet, including a bit more milk, my tongue becomes sore and starts bleeding the next day. I have had blood tests for blood sugar but that has been normal.
I have been taking probiotics slowly but am thinking of increasing the dose if that will help build up the good bacteria quicker. I am taking transdermal vitamin D and magnesium. I am not taking any other supplements.
My blood tests showed that my ferritin is really low at 9. I have struggled with this in the past because I cannot tolerate iron supplements. I am considering trying ionic iron. I tried eating more spinach and greens but that made me feel so cold and uncomfortable. Not surprisingly, I have not had a period for 1.5 years given my low weight and iron. I have previously been diagnosed with PCOS around 10 years ago, when I weighed around 60kg, ate a lot of junk food. It's after this point that I changed my diet to a 'healthy' one, which reduced my appetite and I feel lowered my metabolism so much. I am constantly cold, with cold hands and feet and feel I may have hypothyrodism even though my thyroid tests are always normal.
My bone profile showed Serum adjusted calcium concentration 2.15 mmol/L [2.2 - 2.6] so a bit low.
Red blood cell count 3.89 x10^12/L [3.9 - 5.6]
Haemoglobin concentration 119 g/L [115.0 - 165.0]
Haematocrit 0.392 L/L [0.37 - 0.47]
Mean cell volume 101 fL [80.0 - 99.0]
igA test results were normal
Many foods like any fruits with a sour taste, yogurt, salt, spices, give me a burning sensation in my stomach, so I am not taking these.
Sleep is a real problem as whenever I try to go to sleep early, I end up having to eat something just before as I feel so hungry. Once I go to bed I get to sleep straight away from the exhaustion but I cannot get more than around 5 hours of sleep even though I eat as much as I can during the day. My hunger wakes me up very early. I have tried catching up with a bit of sleep during the day but I find it difficult as I sometimes feel nausea from laying after eating, and I find I end up eating less if I sleep during the day. So I would really like to sleep more at night.
I just feel very tired all day, every day. I am trying my best to eat and drink as best as I can, but it's so disheartening when I seem to react to all foods and even water. It's a struggle to get enough calories. I am really concerned about the discomfort I feel from drinking water. Does anyone have any idea what this could be?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my issues. Any advice would be very much appreciated!
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