My 18 year old son is scheduled for his surgery on the 16th of this month.
He has been dealing with headaches for years. Over the past year he has developed IBS and Anxiety. I have read that both of these can be a symptom from his Chiari.
We have been seeing his family dr. (which we absolutely love & trust) for his IBS/Anxiety. He has recommended that he see a gastro but with the upcoming surgery it didn't want to add anymore doctors/procedures right now. His Dr. has been watching him closely and been treating both his IBS/anxiety with medication. He has prescribed Prozac for the anxiety and a couple different meds for the IBS which up until the last couple weeks have worked.
**keep in mind his surgery is only a week away**
Here is what's happening and my question/concern:
over the past couple weeks my son has lost almost 15 pounds because of eating issues. He says he is hungry but once he starts to eat he gets nauseated and as soon as the food hits his stomach, in his words " my stomach explodes" I can see the pain in his face as he will actually drop his head and moan. He can only eat a few bites at a time then wait 5 min. then eat a little more and so on. He isn't even done eating and off to the bathroom he goes. He said that everytime he eats it just goes right thru him.
The other thing that has happened is just this past week is he has had a couple panic attacks. this is new for him, never happened before. They were bad enough that the school called me and I rushed him to his Dr. that same morning. Again I can not express how much we love and trust this doctor!! if it wasn't for his persistence we would not have found his Chiari. He talked to my son for almost a half and hour and asked many many questions. My son said that between the kids and teachers asking all kinds of questions about his upcoming surgery it just hit him like a brick wall and "freaked out" His doctor believes that between school/work/and his upcoming surgery that we are seeing a normal 18 year old that is just having a normal reaction to what is going on in his life and it should settle down after surgery. He prescribed another medication and said he wants to see him next week to check on him.
His dad and I hope/believe these two issues are his nerves running haywire. My son has more than once stated he cant stop thinking about his upcoming surgery.
so here is my questions for all you experts.. :)
What do you think? has anyone else have this happen to them before surgery?
should we try to sneak in a gastro appointment before surgery?
could these symproms be chiari related and hopefully change after surgery?
Thanks so much in advance for all your responses.
Charlene