Today I may have solved my current medical mystery and a few previous ones as well. The true test will be Tuesday morning. I will stop taking my acid blocker for the reasons below.
I've had UC since 1986. Been on high and low doses of Prednisone but have never been able to free myself. Often a taper would hit 15mg and fall apart. Once I was able to get down to 5mg but that was only because of probiotics (Culterelle), Aloe Vera AMP (a concentrated antiinflammatory) and hydrocort enemas. I was started on Protonix around 2000 because of a stomach hernia and two years ago was switched to Omeprazole because of insurance issues.
After my last colonoscopy found massive pseudopolyposis in my ascending colon, I did an at-home fecal transplant which initially had *very* promising results but as I tapered my Prednisone, my gut still wasn't perfect. about
a month ago I started having nausea and dry heaves in the morning. Numerous times I had to run to the ER because I was dehyhdrated and couldn't eat. They topped off my fluids, hit me with some surgical strength painkillers and sent me home. While they were helpful getting me back on my feet, they told me it was kidney stones, then it was my gallbladder or possibly my colon. My GI doc scratched his head and gave me an IBS antispasmodic drug but it did absolutely nothing. After weeks of this, I realized that my previously high Prednisone dose was masking the nasty effects of the Omeprazole. Its was the most likely suspect since I only take it at night and I almost always feel better in the evening when it has apparently worn off. The reason the pseudopolyps hadn't appeared before was because it was only two years ago that I was switched - roughly the period between my last two colonoscopies!
So what about
the pseudopolyps? Since they are just scar tissue of the surface of the colon, it makes sense that it would be irritated by the same drug that is causing my headaches and nausea. Discontinuing its use should allow the colon to heal.
I've talked to over a dozen docs and none of them ever suggested that my acid blocker might be responsible for my nausea, vomiting and lightheadedness. In over a decade NOBODY spotted this except ME. How can docs be so smart and missing something that looks so obvious in hindsight?
Am I out of the woods yet? Not by a long shot as I'm still on Prednisone and who knows if something else might pop up on the road to being UC free (ie cancer).
Sorry for the rantish nature of this post but I was days away from signing up for a colectomy. I nearly made the mistake that I swore I would never make. Hopefully this post will save somebody's as(h)hole.
Post Edited (weirdal1968) : 9/3/2012 7:07:06 PM (GMT-6)