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Headache, Pale, Abdominal Pain, Vomiting. Amoeba Found In Intestine. Help

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Posted on Sun, 25 Aug 2013
Question: My sister is intellectually disabled with ongoing symptoms for about 5+ years, that start with a headache, she gets a bit pale, cries of abdominal pain & eventually vomits. It is then that she feels better. Kaiser has performed every test they though reasonable to possibly identify the problem including 2 endoscopies which were normal .

I had an XXXXXXX Medicine Doctor check her in Mexico and he found Amoeba in her intestine but no diagnosis frim him yet. I am desperate to help her specially since these episodes are becoming more frequent.

Please help....

Sincerely, XXXXXXX
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Answered by Dr. Chobufo Ditah (1 hour later)
Hi and thank you so much for this query.

I am so sorry to hear about what she has been going through for all this while.

From the symptoms you have provided and the negative findings on these investigations, i have a high suspicion for acute porphyria and she should be investigated for this if not already done. It generally presents with cutaneous and neurological symptoms and abdominal symptoms. The abdominal pain at times gets so severe that they are mistaken for some other abdominal disease and treated surgically. Also, collect the urine and stand for a while to see whether there is any color change to red as this is also a common finding.

Porphyria is caused by a deficiency in one of the enzymes involved in the process of producing heme(contained in hemoglobin) from iron. This is why iron supplements of XXXXXXX foods actually exacerbate symptoms.

The amoebiasis found in her stool cannot justify these symptoms. I am sure it is more of a coincidental association than a cause-symptoms relationship.

Hope this opens another dimension to the investigations. Only investigations can confirm this. So let's approach it and see what we get. Please visit and read more here WWW.WWWW.WW and ask more question so that we can continue to look for answers.

Hope to hear from you and hope together we explore further possibilities.
Dr. Ditah, MD

Note: For more detailed guidance, please consult an Internal Medicine Specialist, with your latest reports. Click here..

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Dr. Chobufo Ditah

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 6323 Questions

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Headache, Pale, Abdominal Pain, Vomiting. Amoeba Found In Intestine. Help

Hi and thank you so much for this query.

I am so sorry to hear about what she has been going through for all this while.

From the symptoms you have provided and the negative findings on these investigations, i have a high suspicion for acute porphyria and she should be investigated for this if not already done. It generally presents with cutaneous and neurological symptoms and abdominal symptoms. The abdominal pain at times gets so severe that they are mistaken for some other abdominal disease and treated surgically. Also, collect the urine and stand for a while to see whether there is any color change to red as this is also a common finding.

Porphyria is caused by a deficiency in one of the enzymes involved in the process of producing heme(contained in hemoglobin) from iron. This is why iron supplements of XXXXXXX foods actually exacerbate symptoms.

The amoebiasis found in her stool cannot justify these symptoms. I am sure it is more of a coincidental association than a cause-symptoms relationship.

Hope this opens another dimension to the investigations. Only investigations can confirm this. So let's approach it and see what we get. Please visit and read more here WWW.WWWW.WW and ask more question so that we can continue to look for answers.

Hope to hear from you and hope together we explore further possibilities.
Dr. Ditah, MD