What could be wrong with my brother's stomach?
I come from a rather "robust" family, the kind of family where my size 10 makes me the skinny one and when I got to an 8 they thought I was sick, yet my youngest brother has always been very thin and a picky eater.
For the past year, he has had a severe digestive issue and has dropped an alarming amount of weight, its almost like his peristalic wave is severely retarded. I am going to give you a lot of back story in case somehow, somewhere, you can see a connection.
He started taking vitamins regularly at a very young age and has never seemed malnourished, however, he had the hardest time catching up in size and weight to his peers, he was a tiny, tiny child, until perhaps middle. He is currently 5'7 and normally weighs around 135 or so, so smallish, but in the realm of normal (I am 5'8 and my father is 5'9) We are also all academic, all of us (me and 3 brothers) were all star students, scholarshiped to death etc. My other brothers and I were diagnosed with ADD as young adults(19-21). He and I suffer from Asthma. I am allergic to shellfish, iodine, and wheat. He doesn't have food allergies that I know of, but he hasn't had the battery of tests I have.
I am going to give you a lot of back story in case somehow, somewhere, you can see a connection. I used to babysit an autistic child who also had horrible digestive problems, so there might be a connection. My brother had early signs of some manner of Autism (he is currently 27), the high pitched squeel, non verbalness etc. After lots of speech therapy, handwriting therapy etc. He is an awesome young man, not the most communicative, but awesome.
He received a double degree in French Horn perfomance/composition and physics, he understands the world in waves and is really a wander to behold, I had to learn about harmonics to talk to him more often. He ended up moving back home when he graduated to find a job. He ended up as a special needs teacher, one of his students said "I love Mr. Tim because he's just like me". He also started taking classes at night to get a teaching masters. He would drive almost two hours after school got out to get to his college. He understandably was a little stressed.
He doesn't show stress. He will nap as much as he can, etc. so when he started having stomach issues, everyone including the doctors thought it was stress. However, he finished his masters up, he transferred to a low stress small school and its still happening.
The biggest symptom that affects his life is that if he eats anything after 4 and then lays down around 10, it all just comes back up. Its not like he's throwing up exactly, its just rises back up into his mouth. The food that he does keep down takes a very, very long time to come out and he ends up painfully constipated. They tried laxatives, but that provoked some kind of crazy reaction that put him in the hospital (I am not clear on this, he doesn't exactly want to elaborate on his poo problems to his sister). He has done all kinds of research on his own, trying all manner of probiotics, supplements, etc. He has had scopes going up and scopes going down, contrasts etc. The doctors still almost blow him off, give him some antiacids and tell him to take it easy. It blows my mind. He is 27, 112lbs, and is now losing hair. He lives on yougurt, ensure, and vitamins. He is living a life dicated by when and how he can manage to get enough nutrition in him.
He's in the Chattnooga area, I am in the Atlanta area, I have want him to come live with me and see if any Atlanta specialist might have better luck. So wow, sorry, that was long and crazy. I am worried about him, worried about heart problems and quality of life. Hive mind, what can we try, what should he eat, who should we see?
posted by stormygrey to health & fitness (18 answers total)
posted by JayRwv at 8:18 AM on July 13, 2009