Question: Male. 55 years old. Weight 168. Height 5' 10". Just took temperature with oral thermometer and it was 97.6. Time is 9:20 PM 12/30/12. Earlier today it was 96.3. I have gotten cold at times on and off. Good health overall. Eat high amount of vegetables and not a lot of meat. Fish mostly. Do drink alcohol. Wine mostly. 2-3 times a week. One cup coffee each morning. Today I had not coffee but no change in condition.

Problem: I’ve had nausea for 5 days now. I feel a bit bloated like I’m not processing gas well. Gut sounds noisy. I don’t really feel like I will vomit though. I am not sweaty. There is no real pain but just a lot of discomfort. I am sleeping fine but I feel slight nausea as soon as I wake up in the morning. Symptoms are less when I lie down.

I have a slight headache at times. The slight headache and excessive gas symptoms have been going on for a couple weeks. The nausea only started 5 days ago. I have been taking Pepto-Bismol here and there over the last couple weeks. It doesn’t seem to affect much. I have been drinking lots of water too.

I still have energy and can do things but I could also just go to sleep all day if I wanted to. The nausea is consistently nagging at me. I still have some appetite but am concerned it will make me more nauseous so I’m not eating much. I am losing weight. I have no diarrhea.

I had a right hemicolectomy in 2009 because I had a benign tumor the size of a ping pong ball blocking my colon where the ascending colon meets the transverse colon. Same year I had a hernia operation on the right side but was told I had a very small hernia still on left side. I can’t locate it so I’m not thinking that is the problem.

2012 is the first year since 2009 where I haven’t had a physical or colonoscopy. They were checking me every year after the operation but after last year’s colonoscopy came out good I was told I didn’t need another one in a couple years. I don’t think colon tumors grow that fast but maybe something else has?

So because of my past experience with gut issues I am getting concerned. I haven’t had condition last this long and not be somewhat serious. What might be the problem?

Yikes. I hope it isn’t one of those but if it is… it is.

Seems like an upper GI endoscopy could identify peptic disease and gastroparesis but what about malabsorption? Are there any other tests that would be smart for me to do as well as the upper GI endoscopy? I have concerns about cancer since it doesn’t always show itself prominently and I have a family history of it. Mother had breast cancer. Father’s father died from colon cancer. Father’s sister died from throat cancer.

Yesterday and today I have eaten primarily alkaline foods. Vegetables and fruit. No meat, dairy or bread. Nausea has not been a problem now the last 2 days. I had a slight headache all day yesterday though. Feel one coming on today but it has not hit me strongly yet. Might be because I stopped drinking coffee yesterday.

Biggest symptom today appears to be a bloating feeling.

I can’t see my normal doctor till 1/28. I am on the canceled appointment call list because I work from home and can get to the doctor if someone cancels in the next couple days or weeks.