Last week I had a GI appointment and yesterday was with my OB. Both were just frustrating (add to the fact that I threw up during my ultrasound....gotta love morning sickness that's still going strong at 33 weeks).
The GI had no answers for the upper abdominal pain that I've gotten on occasion, plus the fact that I'm flaring (not TOO badly, about
8 BMs a day that are pretty loose/diarrhea, a bit of mucous but no blood). She said that hopefully it'll just go away after the baby comes (less than 4 weeks now). After that, if it continues, we can do a pill cam since I've never had anything to check the small bowel. She also suggested I could just go on prednisone for the rest of the pregnancy to see if that could help, but that would be bad for the baby (good for lung development but nothing else). Or just do another dose of Remicade, even though I just had one 4 weeks ago (again, bad for the baby since she'd be born with it in her system).
Plus trying to follow the nutritionist's advice was a joke. She didn't understand why I was using Slim-fasts. I throw up so much, and slim-fasts are the only thing I can keep down sometimes so I use them IN ADDITION to the one meal a day that I usually get, not in place of anything. She also told me to make my own fruit smoothies and put in spinach leaves, etc. That almost killed me! :) Way too much fiber!
The OB didn't really have anything useful to say either. She vetoed the prednisone idea (which I didn't really want to do anyway). The labor and delivery OB had suggested it was just acid reflux, but doubling the omeprazole didn't help. But the OB really has no idea about
Crohn's. She just said to watch out for labor signs, like tightening or pressure. She then lectured me on pain medication (which I am NOT on and have NOT asked for) and newborn withdrawals.
I eventually just started crying and told her I felt like I was getting nowhere. That finally got her attention a bit (tears work, I guess) and she said she knew that we were going back and forth with the doctors and I keep getting pushed back to the other one, but there wasn't much they could do. I really, really don't mind "sucking up" the pain (except for when it gets to an 8, which has happened twice and lasted for more than a couple of hours, so I've gone in). But I asked her what I'm supposed to do in terms of when I go in, when it's a problem, etc. She just said, "When it's different than your normal symptoms." That's the thing - the two times I've gone in are BECAUSE it's very different than usual! She then suggested that maybe I just see a counselor to learn how to manage chronic pain. Again, it wasn't usual! It's not constant!
Sorry for the long post. I just needed to vent. I know that being pregnant comes with its aches and pains and difficulties. I just wish I knew better what to do in weeding through what's CD, what's pregnancy, what's pancreas, and whether it's normal or not, you know?
BUT on a funny note, with all the loud noises my stomach makes lately, my husband joked that our baby will never learn how to talk.....she'll just come out growling. Like a baby dinosaur.
