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Hello Listmembers,
I appeal to you as a group very familiar with GI problems.  My mother is
currnetly in the hospital, and I am skeptical of the level of effort and
creativity being applied to her case.

She is 78, w/ muscular dystrophy, once had cancer, and hs eaten through
a feeding tube for five years.  Ensure has been her sole source of
nutrition.  She recently (last month( took a fall at home, which caused
two vertabrae to have compression fractures, she also got a mild
pneumonia, and oddly she began vomiting immediatley during feeding.  SH
ehad not vomitted since having the tube, and had always fed by gravity.
The reason she got the tube in the first place was that the MD had
constricted her throat and ravafed her ability to swallow.

My deep curiosity is what happened to her GI system so that all of a
sudden she can;t tolerate feedings?  She had been increassingly
incontinent of sttol, with sometimes explosive diarhea dor several
months, but the vomitting and nausea were definitely sudden onset
sympoms after the fall.  She also sn;t passingstool for adays, and thn
she would have an explosive episode.

Treatment has been to slowly increases feeding with a pump at a gradual
rate round the clock.  Stool function has become regular and without
loose diarhea.  However, she is constantly nauseous and every time they
get to approaching a rate where she's getting a minimally acceptable
amount of formual, she throws up.  Then they ratchet back for a few
days, try again, she throws up.  This has been going on in the hospital
for nearly a month.

The diagnosis is very nebulous.  Sometimes they say it's the pneumonia
(which resolved over two weeks ago and antibiotics were suspended then,
unitll she got another infectin Friday)  They offer gastroenteritis
alot, put haven;t yet put it on paper.  I continually harp on the docotr
to try something.  She obviously is not going to tolerate exploaratory
surgery or anything invasive, but there must be some type of
investigation through scans or blood work that can tell us somethign
that might have changed.

Here's where I seek your help.  DOes anyone have any ideas what to
pursue and how?  She has never been worked up for Celiac (I am celiac),
but I doubt it's the problem since Ensure is gluten free, and that's all
she's had for many years.  Now her meds may not be, and I mentioned that
t the doctor, but they in all likley hood are GF.

Sorry anout the lenght of this, but you are collectively a wealth of
knowledge, and have been a terrific help in the past.  By the way,
moving her to another hosptial is out of the question as she needs to be
in a familair environment at this stage of her life.

Thanks!

John Cameron
Portland , ME
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