My soon to be 18yr old daughter has had her life thwarted over the past 2 years with her symptoms

[RGN1984]

Chronic persistent nausea , abdo pain, irreg bowel habit ( predominantly constipation than diarrhoea but does have both) bloating reflux symptoms and sometimes rectal pain. On top of all this was diagnosed with endometriosis last year, we thought all would settle how wrong we were. She has had to pull out of college for yet another year and us unable to maintain regular part time work due to the unpredictability of her symptoms. She is utterly exhausted and fed up with it all and as a mum (and a nurse of 30yrs) it's so frustrating and hard to watch her go through this. Recently we have been seeing an excellent gastroenterologist who is methodically investigating her symptoms she has had normal colonoscopy gastroscopy and capsule endoscopy we are waiting on the results of a gastric emptying test as he is almost certain she has a gastric dysmotility with visceral hypersensitivity , if there is one symptom she could eliminate first it would be the disabling nausea (she doesn't vomit) for which she has tried domperidone maxalon to name just a couple, also tried ginger and peppermint which just inflames reflux symptoms. I have been reading around the use of probiotics particularly the lepicol from holland and Barrett any advice please ??

[Queeny54]

Hi

Peppermint is definitely bad for reflux as it stimulates the stomach sphincter but ginger us usually very helpful. What ginger have you tried. Fresh ginger grated into hot water I find very helpful. Also if you can find it belvoir farm ginger cordial is brilliant. This was invaluable to me when awaiting gallbladder surgery. In terms of tea twinings settling ginger is good as is pukka 3 ginger tea.

[RGN1984 in reply to Queeny54]

The peppermint used to help with the cramps - we will try the fresh ginger thanks

[lynne25ukuk]

I take spasmonal forte, loperamide and buscopan daily, also a multivitamin and probiotic acidophilus. This combination works well. I found peppermint to be awful for me and made everything worse. Green tea and camomile works quite well, 1 cup every other day. Unfortunately food plays a big part and spicy, fried, dairy, alcohol and smoking are bad in every way and I had to cut it all out. It's a very hit and miss illness and very frustrating. The doc should be able to help with the nausea but if not visit a health shop.

[denvajade]

Hi there i too have had simular symptoms (read my posts if you want) i too was on domperidone but it did not help, another doctor suggested mebervine, it works the complete opposite to domperidone and i had great improvement. I too had most of the tests your daughter has had but to no avail, i have a stomach that looks 9 months pregnant from whatever is wrong, i put on 7kg in one week. The latest thought is bile malabsorption, worth mentioning to your doctor. I can totally relate to your poor daughter, I have spent up to 18 hours a day in bed because I am so ill, please give her my sympathy. I hope it all gets sorted for her. Trish

[dallygal]

Has she tried Ranitidine? I have gastric dysmotility and visceral hypersensitivity. I have various drugs but need to judge sometimes when to take them. I take Ranitidine and Senna daily. Occassionally Domperidone and Resolor. They help a bit but still cannot manage symptoms adequately.

[tansy-ann8]

So, so sorry to hear that one so young is suffering this way and it must be dreadful for you as her Mum to feel helpless - I understand on both counts. I have found the nausea, if it is constant, is probably the most debilitating problem and it is the symptom that gets the least sympathy. I have also found, that for me, Stemitil works some of the time for the nausea and does allow me to carry on, also Mebeverine works for me for the ibs. I have adverse reactions to some medications and couldn't cope with loperamide, I also take Rinitidine at night for the reflux - works! I only drink Green (jasmine, not bitter) Tea and try to avoid fizzy drinks. I so sympathise!

[PatV]

my sympathy for the young woman. The only thing I could add is physical therapy for abdominal pain (a new specialty) was a life saver. Doesn't matter the cause. To the extent my pain was neuromuscular, it was a tremendous help. Sometimes triggered by foods so low Fodmaps helped.

[Linley]

I am so sorry that your daughter has endo at such a tender age. I was diagnosed too but not until I was 38. I offer my opinion that is get the endo under control and some of the other symptoms may abate. For pain control around the time of her period(when the bowel can overwork) ask your GP about mefamic acid (Postan) hormone based. After that ask about a progesterone pill to dampen the endo? Good Luck

[RGN1984]

Thank you all for your advice it really helps to be in touch with other sufferers

[pseudenim]

Hi there, I'm an 18 year old female myself and have some of the same problems, namely the nausea. I can offer my support to your daughter if she wants to talk to someone her age about her health, it's such a lonely place to be. Hope this helps x