My brother is 27 years old and for the third time this year he has gotten sick. His symptoms are always the same and get increasingly worse over the course of a few days until he is so dehydrated we have to take him to the ER. It always comes on suddenly. He vomits excessively, every hour or so-losing up to 15 lbs in the matter of 3-4 days. He can not keep anything down except fruit water we put in the blender with ice. He has extreme stomach pain including muscle spasms/cramps (you can literally see the muscles contracting). Within a day of getting sick his face is sunken in with deep dark circles under his eyes, he is stark white. He sits in a hot bath and turns on the heater over 80 degrees but is still chilly. No medicine seems to help and we dont know what is causing this. This is the third time this year he has gotten sick like this. Once we thought he had salmonella poisoning from handling an iguana but we have since gotten rid of the lizard. This is no flu and no food poisoning. He does not drink alcohol but he does smoke. Does anyone know what this can be?
I guess the first question i have would be just what did the hospital have to say about it and just what tests did they run on him? you need to also obtain any and all medical records pertaining to this reoccuring illness.that includes all ER vists and any testing that was done and just go thru them to see what they have to really say.
i am rather suprised given the fact that your brother has been to the ER several times with this same thing that they haven't reccomended he be referred to a GI doc yet.that really would be his best bet at actually finding out what is causing this all to occur in your brother.having all of that ER info,mostly the testing results will be very important gfor a new GI doc to actually see as this would tell him just what specific levels of certain labs were at the time the illness was present.
unfortunetly,there could be possibly hundreds of basic explanations for the actual symptoms your brother has been having.this is why you really DO need a doc who specializes in the GI tract to evaluate him and do some of his own specific type of testing to try and come up with a possible cause here.i realistically don't think you will be able to get to the bottom of this unless you see the right type of doc first.the ER quite obviously wasn't able to give you any real Dx of his actual condition or the cause of the sudden onset illness.seeing that GI possibly would,or it would be the best possible chance at actually finding out anyway.
just have your brother follow up with his primary(who should have also sent him off to a GI doc by now too)and have him refer him to that GI doc.i do wish you all luck and hope that a reason can be found for this.please keep us posted,FB
Sounds like some sort of stomach virus. If it is a virus, then there is no med for it. Try some Gatorade or other sports drink. Also, ginger is good for stomach issues - either ginger ale of just chew on a piece of fresh ginger.
My friend's husband was very sick. At Irvine hospital, his condition was worsening. My friend then transported him to a Los Angeles doctor who does research in unusual diseases and was able to treat him successfully. You have to find a doctor who is research oriented. You may have to do reseach yourself also.
A co-worker of mine had similar symptoms and tried to deal with the problem on his own - TUMS, Peto-Bismol, lots of fluids, bed rest, .... we finally told him to see a doctor who prescribed medication (don't know what but it didn't help anyway). Finally we told him to see an Internal Medicine Specialist who send him for an MRI and they found a tumor in his stomach. Tumor was removed and he is back to normal.
I am not a doctor - get your brother to an internal medicine specialist for tests.
Brother sick needs help! 
