{"id":9214,"date":"2024-07-09T09:03:15","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T09:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=9214"},"modified":"2024-07-09T09:23:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T09:23:42","slug":"why-was-the-young-woman-vomiting-everything-she-ate-or-drank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=9214","title":{"rendered":"Why Was the Young Woman Vomiting Everything She Ate or Drank?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p id=\"article-summary\" class=\"css-165lfve e1wiw3jv0\">She was involved in a minor car accident three months earlier. Could that somehow be the cause?<\/p>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI feel just horrible, and no one knows what to do,\u201d the 21-year-old woman sobbed to her father. In one hand, she held her phone, in the other, a red Solo cup. The pungent smell from the vomit-filled cup wafted through the room. Despite her best efforts, the strange lightness she felt when standing told her that she was dehydrated. And why wouldn\u2019t she be? Everything she ate or drank came back minutes later in terrible heaves that tore at the aching muscles in her chest and abdomen. She filled the cup more than once during this call with her father. And maybe a dozen times earlier that day. And the day before. And the day before that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She paced around the room as she listened to her father. \u201cYou need to go to the emergency room,\u201d he told her. She didn\u2019t want to go. She already went seven times over the past three months since this vomiting became part of her daily routine. Most of the time they just gave her IV fluids and sent her home. They thought it was her anxiety. She was admitted twice. Both times they ran countless tests, then sent her home to vomit there \u2014 without any answers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nevertheless, the woman took her father\u2019s advice, and her roommate drove her to the Emory University Hospital emergency room in Atlanta. After getting some IV fluids and the anti-emetic Zofran, which hadn\u2019t helped her in the past, she was discharged. She called her father as soon as she got back to her apartment, and he told her to come home to Cleveland. It was the week before Thanksgiving, and lots of flights were full, but she finally found one for that afternoon and packed her bag.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-2upsz0 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-6434a4d3\">Sideswiped and Whipsawed<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Just days after arriving in Atlanta that August to start her junior year at Emory University, she was in a car accident. Another car made an illegal turn and sideswiped hers, and she whipsawed against the door. She felt fine, though, and after they exchanged insurance information, she just went on with her day. But by the next day, she had started throwing up. Everything she ate or drank caused her to retch and vomit. She went to the E.R. Because the vomiting started right after her accident, the emergency-department doctor thought she had a concussion. He gave her some fluids and a medicine to stop the nausea. It should get better in a couple of days, he assured her. But it didn\u2019t. She\u2019d been vomiting every day since then. She felt fine until she ate or drank something \u2014 anything. Then, within minutes, she would have an overwhelming sense of nausea, and the wrenching spasms and vomiting would start. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The flight to Cleveland was quick. Her father picked her up at the airport and drove directly to the Cleveland Clinic Children\u2019s hospital. Her regular doctor, Ellen Rome, the head of the Center for Adolescent Medicine there, wasn\u2019t in the office that holiday week but arranged for the young woman to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. She immediately admitted her to the hospital. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The doctor who admitted her that night considered the possible causes of this kind of unremitting vomiting. The patient was taking medications for anxiety, so maybe the doctors in Atlanta were right \u2014 maybe this was psychogenic vomiting, caused by her longstanding psychiatric disorder. But there were other possibilities. Regular marijuana use could cause persistent vomiting. Hyperemesis gravidarum \u2014 excessive vomiting in pregnancy \u2014 was also possible. Those were easy to test for. Hyperthyroidism can cause this kind of vomiting as well. By the next morning results from the testing began to trickle in. She was not pregnant and had no evidence of marijuana in her system. Her thyroid was normal. So were the rest of the more routine studies.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1336jj\">\n<div class=\"css-121kum4\">\n<div class=\"css-171d1bw\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-asuuk5\">\n<div class=\"css-7axq9l\" data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1dv1kvn\" id=\"optimistic-truncator-a11y\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F07%2F09%2Fmagazine%2Fmedian-arcuate-ligament-syndrome-diagnosis.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F07%2F09%2Fmagazine%2Fmedian-arcuate-ligament-syndrome-diagnosis.html\">subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1g71tqy\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Already a subscriber?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"log-in-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F07%2F09%2Fmagazine%2Fmedian-arcuate-ligament-syndrome-diagnosis.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Want all of The Times?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"subscribe-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F07%2F09%2Fmagazine%2Fmedian-arcuate-ligament-syndrome-diagnosis.html\">Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>She was involved in a minor car accident three months earlier. Could that somehow be the cause?\u201cI feel just horrible, and no one knows what to do,\u201d the 21-year-old woman sobbed to her father. In one hand, she held her phone, in the other, a red Solo cup. The pungent smell from the vomit-filled cup wafted through the room. Despite her best efforts, the strange lightness she felt when standing told her that she was dehydrated. And why wouldn\u2019t she be? Everything she ate or drank came back minutes later in terrible heaves that tore at the aching muscles in her chest and abdomen. She filled the cup more than once during this call with her father. And maybe a dozen times earlier that day. And the day before. And the day before that.She paced around the room as she listened to her father. \u201cYou need to go to the emergency room,\u201d he told her. She didn\u2019t want to go. She already went seven times over the past three months since this vomiting became part of her daily routine. Most of the time they just gave her IV fluids and sent her home. They thought it was her anxiety. She was admitted twice. Both times they ran countless tests, then sent her home to vomit there \u2014 without any answers. Nevertheless, the woman took her father\u2019s advice, and her roommate drove her to the Emory University Hospital emergency room in Atlanta. After getting some IV fluids and the anti-emetic Zofran, which hadn\u2019t helped her in the past, she was discharged. She called her father as soon as she got back to her apartment, and he told her to come home to Cleveland. It was the week before Thanksgiving, and lots of flights were full, but she finally found one for that afternoon and packed her bag.Sideswiped and WhipsawedJust days after arriving in Atlanta that August to start her junior year at Emory University, she was in a car accident. Another car made an illegal turn and sideswiped hers, and she whipsawed against the door. She felt fine, though, and after they exchanged insurance information, she just went on with her day. But by the next day, she had started throwing up. Everything she ate or drank caused her to retch and vomit. She went to the E.R. Because the vomiting started right after her accident, the emergency-department doctor thought she had a concussion. He gave her some fluids and a medicine to stop the nausea. It should get better in a couple of days, he assured her. But it didn\u2019t. She\u2019d been vomiting every day since then. She felt fine until she ate or drank something \u2014 anything. Then, within minutes, she would have an overwhelming sense of nausea, and the wrenching spasms and vomiting would start. The flight to Cleveland was quick. Her father picked her up at the airport and drove directly to the Cleveland Clinic Children\u2019s hospital. Her regular doctor, Ellen Rome, the head of the Center for Adolescent Medicine there, wasn\u2019t in the office that holiday week but arranged for the young woman to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. She immediately admitted her to the hospital. The doctor who admitted her that night considered the possible causes of this kind of unremitting vomiting. The patient was taking medications for anxiety, so maybe the doctors in Atlanta were right \u2014 maybe this was psychogenic vomiting, caused by her longstanding psychiatric disorder. But there were other possibilities. Regular marijuana use could cause persistent vomiting. Hyperemesis gravidarum \u2014 excessive vomiting in pregnancy \u2014 was also possible. Those were easy to test for. Hyperthyroidism can cause this kind of vomiting as well. By the next morning results from the testing began to trickle in. She was not pregnant and had no evidence of marijuana in her system. Her thyroid was normal. So were the rest of the more routine studies.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9216,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9217,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9214\/revisions\/9217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}