Friend Suffering From Digestive Issues

[OswaldMorne]

This isn't for me, its for someone close to me that is having difficulties dealing with an issue that cropped up a year ago.

Female, 21 Years Old, 5'9''. Canada. She suffers from depression. She was on medication for a time called Apo-Paroxetine. Her physician told her to slowly come off the meds, and at the same time, she started working out and changing her diet. It was going really well. She was gaining muscle, looked fantastic, however she switched to a Keto diet (Not blaming it, it works very well for some people, but it could be an important detail).

When she began on the diet, and started to come off of the pills, her body began to refuse certain foods. Mainly just chicken, but it slowly over the weeks and months progressed into different foods. Rice, fish, fruits, berries, butters, jams, etc. Now she can't eat anything without her body rejecting most of it. Very rarely does something manage to stay down. Note: She suffered from a kidney infection when she was younger which nearly took her life. She has been unable to properly consume red meats.

It has been a full year now, and she has lost all of her muscle, most of her weight (She was 140 when this began, now she's down to 100). She complains of her heart beating rapidly when she eats (I assume from the rush of blood to the stomach for the digestion process) causing pain, and the vomiting has damaged her mouth and teeth. She also suffers from bloating and cramping when she eats anything that does manage to stay down, usually lasting the entire day.

Yes, we have been to physicians and doctors a number of times, but sometimes it is difficult for her to just get up out of bed and do it. She has a fear that she'd get stuck in a hospital and lose out on things in her life, but I do my best to remind her that if this isn't fixed, she'll be stuck in the hospital for longer than a couple days. Doctors currently do not know what the issue is. We attempted a Barium test, eating food to see where it goes. She rejected some of the test food, but overall the doctors confirm food moves, just very slowly. She also had herself scoped, but only her stomach, which showed no visible issues. Her intestines were not cleared properly because she puked up most of the cleansing fluid.

I'm hoping some suggestions can be brought up here, and I know the biggest one would be to actually get her to her damn appointments. Trust me, I know. Thank you for reading.

[specialmom]

Sorry your friend is having a difficult time.  So, while paxil can cause withdrawal, this is typically minimized when it is titrated slowly (dose lowered slowly until stopped).  The withdrawal symptoms that are common do not include what you describe. And they usually become less and less over time.  There are a few that have long term effects and I'm sure they would be happy to share their own personal horror story (even though many take the medication and stop with no issues).  So, the not being able to eat chicken and then other foods . . . in all honestly, that sounds psychological. That would be a very odd reaction to stopping a medication and there would be no mode of action for that.

Could your friend have a return of some mental health issues?  Does she see a therapist now and could she discuss this with her therapist?  A drastic weight loss from 140 to 100 is pretty significant.  she's not eating because she has a gastro issue when she does of nausea?  And vomiting?  I do not think that is related to her previous medication.  She should see a gastroenterologist and have testing done. Rule out a medical condition causing this and be open to a psychological component.  Anorexia.

In the meantime, I'd have her take a probiotic which can aid in digestive issues.