“What is wrong with my wife?”
My wife has been dealing with this for over a year now. Her symptoms include spitting up almost everything she eats. She feels like the air is getting trapped in her chest, and it becomes so tight she can hardly breathe and has to turn her neck a certain way to burp to relieve some of the pressure. She also has been coughing up what looks exactly like worms during this whole time. Have had several tests, and when we did the stool test I could even clearly see the worms in her stool, but the test came back negative. She is at the point where she is extremely depressed and does not know what to do. Have taken her to many doctors, all have said it was just acid reflux, but the pain she has is real. Some say anxiety, but I have been with her the whole time, and the air trapped in her chest causes so much pressure she literally cries in pain and has to continuously have to turn her head to burp to get relief, and these stringy work like things come out in her spit up, throw up and in her stool. Can you give me any idea what these maybe? Also constantly feels like food gets caught in her throat and will not go down which causes her to throw back up almost everything she eats.
Female | 29 years old
Complaint duration: 1 year
Medications: None
Conditions: None
2 Answers
These are very concerning symptoms in fact they are what we would call alert symptoms and suggestive of some sort of obstruction either of the stomach or the esophagus. I'm uncertain of the age of your spouse but certainly cancer should be considered as well as other things such as pyloric dysfunction, ulcer disease, gallbladder disease, or even esophageal motility disturbances such as achalasia. She needs to see a gastroenterologist immediately. If she is losing weight or if she is dehydrated you may wanna take her to an urgent care center or the emergency room.
It's always a bit tough to try to diagnose something based on photos, but what you sent does not look like worms. If this material is coming from the lungs (you say "coughing up"), then it may be what is called ropey secretions and mucus from a pulmonary problem, such as chronic inflammation of the lungs. The chest tightness is also consistent with a pulmonary process, not a GI problem. Has she had a chest xray, chest CT scan or has she seen a pulmonary doctor?
