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Boompow
02-02-2008, 11:29 PM
I've been a member here for a long time but haven't been around and forgot my login deets..anyway.

I'm a C6/7 quad, almost 7 years post injury and have had relativley few SCI copmplications..just the usual utis' and a prob with hypo and hyper tention (high and low BP) which meds are handling fine.

About 10 days ago, I noticed I was starting to feel that real bloated sensation about 1-2 hrs after eating an average size meal..about the time it takes for the stomache to start sending food toward the small intestine. My first thought..maybe I'm just backed up/impacted. Well over 5 days and 2 bottles of mag citrate (GOT to be the nastiest stuff on earth) along with my usual stool softeners and load of water, I made SURE I was 'empty'. During the clean out I was eating very lite...soups, broths and salad mostly.
Ok...so I'm thinking that whatever the problem was had been 'flushed' away. Wrong.
On day six (by now I'm dying for 'real' food..lol) I decide to ease back into my usual diet with a simple bologna sandwich for lunch. Went down great...no complaints from the stomach, then ~2 hours later the upper-gut ache and bloating came right back just as bad as before (~8 of pain scale), and will ache bad for a few hours and then slowly ease up to about a continuous pain level of 3-4 (never going away totally tho.). Feels like I have a watermellon in my gut but no sign of distention or rigidity of my abdomen. Thru my own research I've ruled out Crohn's (all tho my stress level is about an '8' right now..lol) and IBS for the most part and it doesn't behave like a stomach ulcer best I can tell. Now I'm back to a diet of lite stuff and can only eat snack size amouts at a time or risk the 'upper abdominal bloat'.
So...on to the next possibility, a twisted/kinked intestine. This is my no.1 suspect because as I said I don't get hit with it until 1-2 hours after eating and it slowly seems to dissipate. I have an appointment with my doc but not till next week. I'm sure she'll have me drink some barium and go for an xray.
Can anyone offer any advice or share experiences with a twisted/kinked intestine? Thanx so much....Pow
Broknwing
02-02-2008, 11:43 PM
Don't have any suggestions, but am curious how you ruled out Chron's? That would be one of the first things I'd have suspected...but then again, I know too many people who deal w/it so I'm quite aware of it... :( Could it be a simple case of acid reflux? I know it's a bit delayed reaction, but it's possible that your stomach acid pumps have gone into hyper active mode for some reason.
Boompow
02-03-2008, 12:36 AM
From what I've read, crohns is generally associated with bleeding....no bleeding here tho...
I'll look into it more just in case. TY :)

Is there a medical term for twisted/kinked intestine...would be helpful to know what it's called...:thinking:

Edit: Found this...'The most common symptoms of Crohn’s disease are abdominal pain, often in the lower right area, diarrhea and rectal bleeding.' I have none of the above...thank god.
SCI-Nurse
02-03-2008, 02:35 AM
Have you been evaluated recently (by CT or ultrasound) for gallbladder stones or distention? This is common in people with SCI, esp. at higher levels, and symptoms that occur after a meal (esp. one high in fat) including bloating, nausea or AD should be a key to at least looking into this as a possible cause.

(KLD)
Boompow
02-03-2008, 04:31 AM
Have you been evaluated recently (by CT or ultrasound) for gallbladder stones or distention? This is common in people with SCI, esp. at higher levels, and symptoms that occur after a meal (esp. one high in fat) including bloating, nausea or AD should be a key to at least looking into this as a possible cause.

(KLD)

Never considered that...thank you. It's about time to have my bladder/kidneys checked anyway..might as well have the gall bladder check too.

Is the same ultra sound technique/eqiup for a gall bladder check? Can ultra sound detect distention or just stones? Thx...Pow
SCI-Nurse
02-03-2008, 12:26 PM
We do our ultrasound and CT of the gallbladder annually at the same time we check the kidneys, ureters, and kidney, but the test must specify that we also want to include the right upper quadrant (RUQ) of the abdomen to capture the gallbladder. Both distention and stones can be detected with a good study.

(KLD)
Boompow
02-03-2008, 06:25 PM
Thank you very much for the information. Going to have my doc schedule a CT/US asap. Btw...noticed another reocurring symptom. By the time I go to bed my stomach has usually settled to a semi comfortable level but when I wake up the next morning somehow it's aching just as bad as it does an hour after I eat (as described in my first post). I then do my bowel prog hoping to relieve the massive bloated feeling. After a small bm the ache all but vanishes...until after I eat again. :thinking:
Boompow
02-04-2008, 01:21 PM
Another question...:)

After some thought I realized I've never even had a case of indigestion since my injury. (that I can recall anyway..)

Would my lack of sensation (nipple line down) prevent me from 'feeling' things like heartburn or acid reflux?

Thx...


edit: Looks like you may be right on the money SCI Nurse! Found this page:

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/gallstones/page3_em.htm#Gallstones%20Symptoms

I have the majority of the symptoms mentioned...including pain in the right shoulder!

Ultrasound...here I come. ;)
SCI-Nurse
02-04-2008, 08:38 PM
Ppain between the shoulder blades or to shoulder can also be gall bladder.A common probem in a lot of people, but not all.
CWO
SurfCat
02-05-2008, 12:07 AM
Boom -- I basically went thru exactly the same symptoms that you are describing for many years.

Like you, I initially thought it was the gallbladder and hand that removed. Still the same bloating and feeling of fullness after just a few bites. So I tried to medicated for a while with fairly the success. To make a long story short, after puking my brains out for 48 hours in taking three trips to the ER they finally did an x-ray and found a team color twist in my lower intestine.

The crazy thing is that even after the hell that I went through to get that fixed (one month in the hospital!)... I'm still having many of the same issues! Granted, not to the same degree but I'm not able to eat dairying or gluten which is very difficult.

If I can help in any way feel free to contact me or if you find something that works for you I would love to know about it.
Boompow
02-06-2008, 01:18 AM
Gonna have all the tests...ultrasound, HIDA scan then the yummy barium xray routine and if needed, a CT scan. No way I could tolerate this for long...I luv my food! (and I've lost a bit of weight since this started too.. :( )


Will post back after I get checked out
SurfCat
02-07-2008, 09:59 PM
Man, do I hear you about the food! Part of the reason I slip into depression every once in awhile is because when I can eat without hurting me too much he is so limited and I have always had addiction to breads and cereals which are almost completely off-limits for me now.

I just came down with a UTI, but once I get through this I'm going to have to go back to the GI doctor and start at square one again. So discouraging...

Please do contact me once you figure out what's doing this to you. We both deserve better.