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What Causes Nausea, Indigestion And Abdominal Pain?
Question: Hey doctor,
I have had undiagnosed stomach pains for the last 6 months mainly after eating with symptoms including indigestion, nausea, undigested food in stools and cramps and my GP and gastrologist could not find anything wrong with me after going through numerous tests including a gastroscopy/colonoscopy, blood tests, ultrasonunds etc.
So I decided to go to a naturopath who specializes in iridology based on the many good reviews online and through word of mouth. After looking into my eyes he told me that I had an inflammation in my gut and imbalance with the bacteria before I even told him my problems. He then told me to cut out sugar, gluten, alchool and dairy for 2 weeks from my diet, consume 2 liters of water a day and he prescribed me three different supplements which I have listed below to take once after every breakfast, lunch and dinner for a month and he said i'd heal quite quickly because of my age being 20;
Supplements
- Pau DÁrco 500mg
- Brom Enzyme (Bromelains 200mg)
- Olive Tree Extract (Olea Europaea Olive leaf 2.94g)
I started taking it for about two days but have now stopped after having this feeling of hotness in my face and generally being unwell plus it made my stools come out quite greasy/pale and made them float to the top. Is this normal with taking those supplements are they even safe to be taken together all at once? I am a little unsure if these supplements are safe and if they would help my problem if it is that? I have stopped taking the tablets for now and the iridologist recommend I try having them once a day instead to start off with do you think these supplements would cause any harm to me or is it worth trying for longer?
I have had undiagnosed stomach pains for the last 6 months mainly after eating with symptoms including indigestion, nausea, undigested food in stools and cramps and my GP and gastrologist could not find anything wrong with me after going through numerous tests including a gastroscopy/colonoscopy, blood tests, ultrasonunds etc.
So I decided to go to a naturopath who specializes in iridology based on the many good reviews online and through word of mouth. After looking into my eyes he told me that I had an inflammation in my gut and imbalance with the bacteria before I even told him my problems. He then told me to cut out sugar, gluten, alchool and dairy for 2 weeks from my diet, consume 2 liters of water a day and he prescribed me three different supplements which I have listed below to take once after every breakfast, lunch and dinner for a month and he said i'd heal quite quickly because of my age being 20;
Supplements
- Pau DÁrco 500mg
- Brom Enzyme (Bromelains 200mg)
- Olive Tree Extract (Olea Europaea Olive leaf 2.94g)
I started taking it for about two days but have now stopped after having this feeling of hotness in my face and generally being unwell plus it made my stools come out quite greasy/pale and made them float to the top. Is this normal with taking those supplements are they even safe to be taken together all at once? I am a little unsure if these supplements are safe and if they would help my problem if it is that? I have stopped taking the tablets for now and the iridologist recommend I try having them once a day instead to start off with do you think these supplements would cause any harm to me or is it worth trying for longer?
Brief Answer:
Possible IBS
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXXX
I have read your message.
I think I can help you.
I think you have been suffering from IBS- Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
That is probably why none of your gastroenterologists were not able to find anything in your reports.
And as suggested by your naturopath friend, it does occur due to inflammation.
Coming to your current symptoms, I think you will find it better to avoid Brom Enzyme. This medicine is probably causing all your side effects.
I am attaching a link where you can read about it's side effects and I think you will find your side effects listed there-
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-895-bromelain.aspx?activeingredientid=895&activeingredientname=bromelain
On the other hand, Pau DÁrco 500mg may cause internal bleeding.
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-647-pau%20d%27arco.aspx?activeingredientid=647&activeingredientname=pau%20d%27arco
Hence I would suggest avoiding both these supplements.
I agree with the naturopath's dietary advice- to cut out sugar, gluten, alchool and dairy for 2 weeks from my diet, consume 2 liters of water a day. Personally, I would suggest increasing the water to 3 liters. And I would suggest adding high fiber foods to your diet.
As for the supplements, I think that over the time, you will benefit from the change in diet pattern irrespective of the supplements. So I think you can take a trial of just change in the diet without supplements. If required, later a supplement can be added.
I hope this helps you.
Best of luck.
Dr Mittal
Possible IBS
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXXX
I have read your message.
I think I can help you.
I think you have been suffering from IBS- Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
That is probably why none of your gastroenterologists were not able to find anything in your reports.
And as suggested by your naturopath friend, it does occur due to inflammation.
Coming to your current symptoms, I think you will find it better to avoid Brom Enzyme. This medicine is probably causing all your side effects.
I am attaching a link where you can read about it's side effects and I think you will find your side effects listed there-
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-895-bromelain.aspx?activeingredientid=895&activeingredientname=bromelain
On the other hand, Pau DÁrco 500mg may cause internal bleeding.
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-647-pau%20d%27arco.aspx?activeingredientid=647&activeingredientname=pau%20d%27arco
Hence I would suggest avoiding both these supplements.
I agree with the naturopath's dietary advice- to cut out sugar, gluten, alchool and dairy for 2 weeks from my diet, consume 2 liters of water a day. Personally, I would suggest increasing the water to 3 liters. And I would suggest adding high fiber foods to your diet.
As for the supplements, I think that over the time, you will benefit from the change in diet pattern irrespective of the supplements. So I think you can take a trial of just change in the diet without supplements. If required, later a supplement can be added.
I hope this helps you.
Best of luck.
Dr Mittal
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vaishalee Punj
Thanks for that doctor I think I will avoid the supplements for now and try the diet but I think what the naturopath was referring to is leaky gut syndrome have you heard of this before and if so is there any way to test for it? From what I have read up it is basically holes within your gut that cause inflammatory food to fall through and cause the symptoms that I am having.What exactly do those two supplements do as well do they decrease inflammation?
Brief Answer:
Specific information
Detailed Answer:
Hi.
First , yes the supplements are supposed to reduce the inflammation.
Second, I don't think this is leaky guthe syndrome.
Among other symptoms you would have nutritional deficiency as well as recurrent infection.
Besides incompletely digested food enters blood, not stools.
Both of which you haven't suggested in your symptoms.
I think if you read about IBS, you will find that your symptoms do fit.
Best of luck.
Dr Mittal
Specific information
Detailed Answer:
Hi.
First , yes the supplements are supposed to reduce the inflammation.
Second, I don't think this is leaky guthe syndrome.
Among other symptoms you would have nutritional deficiency as well as recurrent infection.
Besides incompletely digested food enters blood, not stools.
Both of which you haven't suggested in your symptoms.
I think if you read about IBS, you will find that your symptoms do fit.
Best of luck.
Dr Mittal
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Prasad
How would you know if your body is absorbing enough nutrients though? The symptoms I have been having are indigestion, nausea, stomach pain/abdominal pain, stool changes as mentioned, dry mouth/white coated tounge, acne , interrupted sleep and waking up feeling hot in the face would any of that suggest leaky gut? And when you say recurrent infection do you mean getting sick a lot with colds for example? I have read up about IBS and I haven’t ruled it out completely I just wanted to see if it may be leaky gut maybe a mild case of it? And to possibly trial the treatment diet for it to see if I get better.
Plus I forgot to mention every since this started 6 months ago I haven’t been able to eat a lot of foods that I used to be able to for some reason. At the start of the year I could eat a whole pizza and feel perfectly fine or ice cream, but now it just makes me feel sick and bloated.I was on antibiotics and nexium before this all happened which I think may have been a trigger to it?
Plus I forgot to mention every since this started 6 months ago I haven’t been able to eat a lot of foods that I used to be able to for some reason. At the start of the year I could eat a whole pizza and feel perfectly fine or ice cream, but now it just makes me feel sick and bloated.I was on antibiotics and nexium before this all happened which I think may have been a trigger to it?
Brief Answer:
specific information
Detailed Answer:
Hi.
Thanks for the added information.
And thanks for not ruling out IBS.
However, since you have read IBS, I would think that you would have realized that most of the symptoms are similar in both the conditions.
As I said before, the prominent feature is that the report are all normal in IBS, whereas some pathology can usually be found towards the cause of Leaky Bowel Syndrome eg a positive colonoscopy, or a positive blood test.
The recurrent infections I said could be anything from recurrent diarrhoea to recurrent fever.
And deficiency diseases could include anemia etc.
Since you mentioned that blood tests have been normal, I think you these deficiencies are not present.
The long standing abdominal symptoms are known to be a cause of reduced diet in patients of IBS. So that favours the diagnosis of IBS.
I cannot truly confirm whether antibiotics or nexium could have caused the disease without knowing what were the exact medicines and why they were given in the first place. Loss of normal gut flora due to antibiotics can result in IBS. However, in such cases, probiotics usually help.
I hope that helps.
Best of luck, Dr Mittal
specific information
Detailed Answer:
Hi.
Thanks for the added information.
And thanks for not ruling out IBS.
However, since you have read IBS, I would think that you would have realized that most of the symptoms are similar in both the conditions.
As I said before, the prominent feature is that the report are all normal in IBS, whereas some pathology can usually be found towards the cause of Leaky Bowel Syndrome eg a positive colonoscopy, or a positive blood test.
The recurrent infections I said could be anything from recurrent diarrhoea to recurrent fever.
And deficiency diseases could include anemia etc.
Since you mentioned that blood tests have been normal, I think you these deficiencies are not present.
The long standing abdominal symptoms are known to be a cause of reduced diet in patients of IBS. So that favours the diagnosis of IBS.
I cannot truly confirm whether antibiotics or nexium could have caused the disease without knowing what were the exact medicines and why they were given in the first place. Loss of normal gut flora due to antibiotics can result in IBS. However, in such cases, probiotics usually help.
I hope that helps.
Best of luck, Dr Mittal
Note: For more detailed guidance, please consult an Internal Medicine Specialist, with your latest reports. Click here..
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Nagamani Ng
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