Help..my son is really sick!

My 18 year old son has missed the last 11 days of school with what we thought was a "stomach virus". He ended up in the ER and they said he had a "gallstone" but gallbladder wasn't infected. He also had severe constipation. His symptoms are diarrhea, some vomiting, constipation, extreme stomach pain in his right side below the rib cage, no appetite whatsoever, sleeping all the time. My husband suffers from ulcerative colitis and I have occasional IBS but it never puts me down like my son is. His stool is not bloody like my husbands, but after using Miralax on and off for several days his bowels have become runny and sort of fluffy. We have seen his regular doctor, a surgeon for the gallstone and now seeing an internist (mine and my husband's doc, who is very thorough) all blood work has come back normal except a low white blood count, he has had a CScan and a ultrasound on his abdomen, next step is a gastroenterologist...this is just moving too slow for me and my husband is becoming extremely anxious about his school work and him missing so much school, I stay up most of the evenings with him helping him get through his bad pain which is usually in the evenings...this is really wearing me down! It sounds like he might have crohn's to me from what I have read, but is there a definitive diagnostic test that shows crohn's?

After all you have done, Call the GI. By all means do it. Lower right sounds about correct, that's how I got started. What ever you are doing lay off anti inflammatory OTC stuff. Pick up the phone and call talk nice to the staff and relate that it is urgent and you already did the ER. Look for cancellations or anyway they can squeeze your son in.
I hate to heard when the kids have problems, my heart goes out to you.
If you mention your rough location someone reading your post may have specific recommendations in your area. As where to go.

T

Hi and Welcome to HealingWell, Your son needs to see a GI doctor
asap. They should also do a colonoscopy test to see if it's Crohn's.

As has been advised, you need to get him to a Gastroenterologist asap. But, don't jump the gun, there is alot of other things that it could be before assuming that it's Crohn's or Colitis.

It could be gastroenteritis, Celiac, Lactose intolerance, parasite, infection.  Hopefully it's not Crohn's but you need to get some diagnostics done soon so you know one way or the other what's going on.

All of us here know all to well how difficult the waiting game is. I guess that's why they call us patients. As tough as it can be, try to be strong and positive for you son's sake.

Please post an update as soon as you find out what's going on.  

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear that your son is in so much pain.  That is very hard on all of you.  I'm sure because UC runs in the family, a GI will do a colonoscopy as well as other tests to diagnose your son.  Sometimes though it can take up to one year of having symptoms for the inflamation to show up.  This was the case for both my son and myself.  My pain was in the lower right quadrant.  This is to the right below the belly button.  I point this out because if your sond pain is closer to rib cage, it could be other things like gallbladder, liver, etc..  Don't let anyone tell you or him that it is all in his head, because the pain is real. 

I hope you get a diagnosis soon, so he can get on the road to recovery and enjoy life free of pain.

All the best,

Julia

 

Hi, Your son's symptoms are a lot like what I had back in 2005 when first diagnosed with Crohn's. Pain in the lower right abdomen, feeling like crap, etc. I had my Crohn's diagnosed with a barium test - easier than a colonoscopy. I then had resection surgery and lived a normal life for 7 yrs. Until 2012 when my Crohn's started up again - which led to a 2nd resection surgery. I recently had my gallbladder removed (Feb 2013). When I had 'attacks', the pain emanating from that was much different. It was an intense pain at the center-top of my abdomen. At first I thought I was having stomach flu, but after the 2nd attack, thought it was a Crohn's flare-up. But after an ultrasound, they detected the stones - which led to my recent surgery (which was a walk-in-the-park compared to resection surgery).

Hope this helps... maybe suggest to your GI to do the barium test before doing a colonoscopy.

get your son to a pediatric gastroenterologist Crohns/ colitis run in families. I have Crohns, my brother has UC and i have a daughter who also has UC.

This is a general suggestion.
I have ulcerative colitis. All the medications I took gave me almost all the side effects possible.
As a suggestion for all those who have tried all the drug menu give a try to the following probiotic I was recommended DR. OHHIRA'S PROFESSIONAL FORMULA which you can get over the internet.
It is a product from Japan and I took it as a supplement for 1 month and I got relief the very first week. When I started improving I started lowering my meds and continue for other 5 months until I was back to normal.