80 Years Old. Feeling Weak, Lower Back Pain, Constipated And Loss Of Appetite. What's Wrong?

Posted on Thu, 17 Jan 2013

Question: my mom who is 80 all of a sudden has no appetite, weakness, fatigue, is constipated and has lower back pain. Was seen by a dr and had blood work which all came back fine but she is still not better.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (1 hour later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

If she has no stool and gas for few days this does not have to be constipation. It can be bowels obstruction. Especially if she has had constipations before and her abdomen is bloated and gets bigger. It is advisable to rule it out first. To do that, abdominal X-ray should be performed.
If this condition is ruled out, she should get scheduled for colonoscopy. Also urine analysis should be performed.

Hope this will help.Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar