My son is 33 years old. I am American but live in the UK and he lives in the US. Recently my wife and I got a call from his wife saying that he was very ill. Recently, he started vomitting and having bad diarrhea. He thought it was just a stomach flu and tried to tough it out and use OTC medicine but it got worse and worse. He called a doctor and the doctor said that "it is just a little stomach bug" and told him to take Pepto Bismol and drink clear fluids. He could not keep anything at all down and felt very weak and had stomach pains. About 2-3 days after it first began, he suddenly began having blood in the vomit and bloody diarrhea and he fainted. His wife called the ambulance.
I was told he went into shock probably from massive fluid loss/intense pain (he was having bad pains in the stomach). He doesn't seem to be improving at all and is getting sicker and weaker and is having trouble breathing, having pains in the stomach. My wife and I took a plane to the U.S. to be with him because we are not sure how this is going to turn out. When I first came into his hospital room, he was hooked up to all of these machines and had IV bags and tubes everywhere. His eyes were swollen shut and the skin on his mouth was turning white and peeling off. He cannot be given anything, not even water by mouth because it will come right back up.
What could be the problem? Doctors do not think it is a virus because his wife never caught it and if it were just a virus, he'd be better by now. We don't know what is going on. What can we do?
Have the doctors searched for possible toxins? I would assume they've explored these areas but.... Is your son exposed to toxins at work? Has he been out of the country? Certain seafoods, mushrooms, pesticides, heavy metals, etc. all can produce severe vomiting.
If there is fever, chills other signs of infection a virus could still be the culprit. Wish you luck, sounds scary...
To help with the nausea, make sure that he doesn't move his head much. Keeping the head still while laying down will help with the nausea.
If he's lost this much blood, he probably feels very cold. Unless he is running a temperature, he should be kept warm with blankets.
If he is running a temperature, cool compresses on the forehead and wiping his face down periodically with tepid water will help keep him more comfortable.
I am really not sure what he has, but I hope that he starts feeling better soon.
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If majority ruled, the Earth would be flat.
Have the doctors searched for possible toxins? I would assume they've explored these areas but.... Is your son exposed to toxins at work? Has he been out of the country? Certain seafoods, mushrooms, pesticides, heavy metals, etc. all can produce severe vomiting.
If there is fever, chills other signs of infection a virus could still be the culprit. Wish you luck, sounds scary...
He has been out of the country traveling because of work. The doctors ran a lot of tests. They said that he had a bacterial food poisoning that got out of hand. Normally, a person would be sick but be able to fight it off. The bacteria produced toxins and he ended up with sepsis (blood poisoning). On top of that, they found out that he has multiple ulcers in his digestive tract (which had started before the infection) and inflammation of the digestive tract and severe stomach cramps and pains. It is just a lot of things that added up to get the best of him. During the worst of it, he was not conscious.
He seems to be less delirious today...he looked at me and his mother and asked us when did we get there even though we've been here for some days already. Goes to show you just how out of it he was. The constant vomitting and diarrhea has stopped. He still has not had anything by mouth yet...he is being given IV fluids. He cannot stand and cannot sit up without help. He had to be carried to the bathroom to be bathed on a bench in the shower to get all of the vomit and sweat off of his body and to get the vomit out of his hair. Everyone takes good care of him but it is difficult to keep a patient clean when they are constantly throwing up everywhere....10 minutes after his face would be washed, he'd be seized by another vomiting fit and would vomit about 12 times an hour.
His wife told me that for the last couple of months, he'd been getting sick very frequently with sore throats and colds and stomach flus and other things
that no one else seemed to catch. I think he is very run down which is why things got so bad with him now and he didn't fight this off like people normally do with stomach problems. The doctors stress that he will need plenty of rest.
Glad to hear your sons health is improving. It does sound like he got very run down and things just got out of hand..
Thanks.
He has always been a very driven person and always wanted to make us proud. He had been taking on too many projects and not resting enough and was worried too much about beng everything to everyone. It's strange and kind of scary how things can get out of hand very quickly when dealing with your health and people don't pick up on cues the body sends when they are very busy.
The doctors and nurses are still monitoring him and taking good care of him. He is still extremely dizzy and sore but he was able to keep down a little rehydration drink today without gagging which is good. He says that even thinking about food makes him nauseous though.
I am thankful that my son is doing better. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Son Very Ill 
Re: Son Very Ill 
