Help - IBS/ PCOS/ Hiatus Hernia ... really desperate

trinacheile

Four years ago I had an operation to have a ruptured cyst removed and was diagnosed with PCOS. Advice to control the symptoms was to go on the pill so I did and it has helped a bit.

But since then, and I don't know if it's connected or if it's to do with stress I keep suffering from bouts of nausea.

In and around study and exam times (for 1-2 months) and also during stressful periods at work I wake every day and need to get sick straight away. Then I would kind of be okay for the rest of the day but the next morning the process would be repeated. Tablets like Romep or Losec helped... (The other symptom was that my stomach would be really sick in the morning time and everything would go straight through me but by night-time I would find myself completely constipated. )

Then in September last year it kind of culminated and I couldn't keep anything down for a whole week. I went for a gastroscopy and colonoscopy which diagnosed IBS symptoms and a small Hiatus Hernia. I was put on Spasmonal and Zoton for a month or two and felt much better. But then I was finished the course of tablets and the constipation and vice-versa cycle started again depending on my stress levels.

In April the same thing happened again and the doctor prescribed Nexium and Dioralyte and after a week I stopped throwing up.

Now it's September again and I've been throwing up all week.

I'm really at the end of my tether, I feel like I can't take any more time off work for this because my employer will just be getting annoyed with me so have been going to work just praying I don't get sick....

I find this so hard and it's been going on for so long I just don't know what to do.

If there is anybody who has had a similar experience and managed to resolve it or anyone has any advice that would be really really great.

Thanks in advance

vincentdunne

Hi, I can't believe that you got no answers to this post. Surely someone can help.
All I can do is empathise, because I have suffered for 'more years that I care to remember' from chronic IBS which comes and goes as it pleases. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone with problems that don't seem to have any answer. I hope you find your answer elsewhere.

rugbug86

If it's any consolation you're not alone. I've been in/out of hospital for the past 5 years with unexplainable, undiagnosable stomach pain. I go through bouts where I can't keep anything down, but where my pains are and with other symptoms (fever) my GP keeps suspecting appendicitis. Each trip to the hospital has brought a different diagnosis - pulled muscle, kidney infection, mesenteric adenitis, trapped nerve... None of the treatments work. I've had CT's, x-rays, laparoscopies... no diagnosis. I'm at the end of my tether, and like you, I'm afraid to take time off work because of it. This year alone I've missed almost two months because of it. Of those two months, 3 weeks were in hospital on a drip rehydrating!

The only thing I can suggest is to keep at your doctor. Maybe keep a food/activity diary to see if anything triggers it?

trinacheile

Thank you both so much for your response, was beginning to think nobody would write back at all! I think that the trigger is anxiety and once that's been set off any food at all seems to make me worse... I just don't know what to do to prevent worrying about silly things and things that might never happen at work etc. etc. Hope you both feel better soon though and that somebody will come up with a solution for us!

taram

I am sorry to hear that, I also have PCOS and I used to throw up about hour to two hours after I woke about three times a week for a few months both this year and last, my workplace is very small and people used to constantly ask me if I was pregnant!! Which is tactless in itself, more so as I have PCOS and rarely ovulate It was totally unrelated to what I ate, but was billion times worse if I didn't eat, it was like a switch: one min fine, next minute throwing up my guts. Stress is the main thing for me, though recently was through a stressful time and only was ill once. I have been mediating, cut out lots of things from my diet like refined sugar, wheat, milk, alcohol, and just trying to keep my belly calm and my brain calm too. My boyfriend is my main medication, if I'm stressed he'll make me take a bath and to go to bed early, he also will cook small plain meals for me when I can't stand the smell of food all of a sudden. GPs (I've been to a few as I've moved around a lot recently) all say it's stress, or food intolerances. One recommended acupuncture, that's the only tip I can give you, though haven't tried it yet myself. I hope it goes away for you as it did for me, terrified of it coming back, some days feel like I'm about to throw up but manage to calm myself and eat something like plain rice and tea and get past it.

trinacheile

taram wrote: »

I am sorry to hear that, I also have PCOS and I used to throw up about hour to two hours after I woke about three times a week for a few months both this year and last, my workplace is very small and people used to constantly ask me if I was pregnant!! Which is tactless in itself, more so as I have PCOS and rarely ovulate It was totally unrelated to what I ate, but was billion times worse if I didn't eat, it was like a switch: one min fine, next minute throwing up my guts. Stress is the main thing for me, though recently was through a stressful time and only was ill once. I have been mediating, cut out lots of things from my diet like refined sugar, wheat, milk, alcohol, and just trying to keep my belly calm and my brain calm too. My boyfriend is my main medication, if I'm stressed he'll make me take a bath and to go to bed early, he also will cook small plain meals for me when I can't stand the smell of food all of a sudden. GPs (I've been to a few as I've moved around a lot recently) all say it's stress, or food intolerances. One recommended acupuncture, that's the only tip I can give you, though haven't tried it yet myself. I hope it goes away for you as it did for me, terrified of it coming back, some days feel like I'm about to throw up but manage to calm myself and eat something like plain rice and tea and get past it.

You have no idea how comforting it is to finally talk to somebody who understands and has been through the same thing (although I wouldn't wish it on anyone tbh)! It's so hard to explain, I feel like nobody understands... and you're so right, I feel like I have to hide it because the first question everyone asks is if you are pregnant! Thanks so much for your tips and advice though, I think i'm definitely going to look into trying acupuncture... will post again if I have any success!

Second Chance Style

Hi, having been through similar situation except without the nausea, but with the diarrhoea and constipation - so bad I was hospitalised - my gynaecologist said well there's more wrong here than the PCOS. Sometimes the cysts appear not just on the ovaries. All the tests on the inside of the bowel didnt show what was causing the problems, so he had a bit of common sense and said it must be on the outside, he checked me out for bowel adhesions, found loads, operated relieved problem and then when it starts again he operates again. I know that the operations cannot go on indefinitely, but PCOS does 'burn itself out' and now in my forties, I am fertile. Keep asking the questions. I really believe that women and Irish women in particular are programmed to believe that they are causing trouble by having symptoms of illness. You are not. You are entitled to good quality medical care. You have a debilitating illness that means you need special consideration. Review the whole pill thing, I stopped this as the hormone influx was causing to many other problems, headaches, mood swings etc. If you have fertility issues get these sorted. See a good endocrinologist, if you havent already, as PCOS is their area. Get an expert opinion. Good luck!