vomitting for 35 days

[DUPLESSIS]

A friend of mine has a thirteen year old daughter who has been throwing up for thirty-five days now.
She throws up at least once a day, sometimes many times a day. Almost every time she eats, she throws up. She has no other symptoms thought. No nausea, fever, headaches. Nothing. She can be carrying on a conversation with someone and just throw up out of nowhere. She has been to the doctor several times. He has tried several different medications, but nothing seems to work. She has an appt with a different Dr. next week to run some tests, but he said he isn't looking for anything specific,just wants to see if he can find anything (digestive/intestinal). Most of the time she can keep liquids down, so she is not dehydrated. The strange thing is that she doesn't feel bad. No upset stomach. Any ideas anyone?????

[This message has been edited by DUPLESSIS (edited 01-10-2001).]

[Administrator]

Look up Pellagra.
Just a suggestion.

[DUPLESSIS]

Thanks for the suggestion.
I looked up Pellagra a thousand different places and every thing I read lists one of the main symtoms as sores/lesions on the exposed skin. She does not have any sign of sores/lesions. Have you ever heard of a person possibly having this deficiency disease without having the sores?
Also, she had test run today. She drank the white chalky liquid and the Dr. watched it as it when through her intestines and everything. He did not find anything. He finally took blood today. Maybe blood results will show something. She ate a cracker on the way home and didn't make it in the door of her house before she threw it up.

Originally posted by moderator1:
Look up Pellagra.
Just a suggestion.

[This message has been edited by DUPLESSIS (edited 01-11-2001).]

[cmillar]

I'd be concerned about two things:

1) Abdominal obstruction - these can be _very_ difficult to find in some cases. Make sure she gets a CAT scan or MRI to examine the soft tissues. An enclosed pocket of infection in the intestines, appendix, ovaries, uterus, etc could be partially blocking the bowel. As it is enclosed she won't present typical signs of infection (such as fever).

2) Poisoning - Whether intentional or inadvertent. This is _the_ most difficult one to diagnose. Check to make sure everything she puts in her mouth is safe to eat. And, although rare, Munchausen's or Munchausen's by proxy cannot be ignored.

Some folks intentionally hurt, poison or otherwise cause themselves to be sick (Munchausen's) or a child's parent(s) will do this (Munchausen's by proxy) in order to gain attention for themselves or their child.

This does happen. If you suspect it, investigate it. It's all about helping someone.

[Administrator]

Funny, my medical book only defines Pellagra, as vomiting and /or diarrhea brought on by vitamin B deficiency. It said nothing about lesions. It isn't a large book, though.
I did look up the word on the internet, and it also indicated digestive disturbance as a symptom

Perhaps the lesions are the further progression of the nutritonal imbalance that causes digestive disturbances.
I suggest this because nothing else is medically showing up, and certainly taking B vitamins are not toxic or harmful at all. Most people are deficient in B's since the development of refined, fast foods.
It certainly would be worth a try for a few weeks.
Please post how she is doing.



[This message has been edited by moderator1 (edited 01-30-2001).]