Functional Vomiting

A week and a half ago I made the trip up to the Cleveland Clinic to see if they could put a finger on what is causing my vomiting. It was quite the day as I had to do several preoperative appointments for the Jejunum tube (J tube) that I am having placed on the 19th. In the middle of those appointments, I saw my Gi doctor, Dr. Gabbard. I actually had had an appointment with him a year ago but his treatments at the time were to little too late. We ended up moving to Utah to soon after for us to further   his treatment plan. He still feels that I am having problems with the nerves of my stomach. That being said, since I'm still throwing up after all my surgeries, he still feels that I am having problems with the nerves in my stomach. He thinks I have Functional Vomiting.

So I am trying a new drug called Remeron. It is an anti-depresion drug with a side effect of helping the stomach nerves to communicate with the brain. I am also using a scopolamine patch to see if that helps with the nausea and vomiting. The Pharmacist was quite funny about this drug when he was explaining it. He told me it was a favorite drug in nursing homes because it caused the sleepiness, weight gain, and calming in the elderly. He also said women tend to not like it because of the weight gain. Then he looked at me and said that I was on the thin side and I piped in to tell him weight gain would be welcomed in my case. Lastly, he told me the drug could make me feel like I have a hangover, which I had to have him clarify what that might look like. He finished by asking me if I was depressed and when I told him no, he said that the doctor was really going off label on this drug (meaning it's not really intended to stop vomiting).

The first week on these drugs left me sleepy and with blurry vision, but the vomiting still persisted. On Tuesday, Dr Gabbard upped the prescription to 30mg a day to see if the increased dosage would help. So far it hasn't changed a thing. I'm still vomiting. On the plus side I have been able to maintain my weight. I have to give this drug a good 4-6 weeks to see if it will help at all but in the meantime I am scheduled to have a feeding tube placed on the 19th to help make sure I am getting not only enough calories but enough to help me gain some weight back. 

Tomorrow I meet with the surgeon who will be placing my J-tube. I am also having and another gastric emptying study done to completely rule out Gastroparesis. This test requires me to eat radio active eggs and then be monitored/have imaging done every hour for four hour. We'll see if I can keep it down. 

My hope is to update this blog a lot sooner then two weeks after my appointment, so you can at least know what the surgeon's plan is.