Confused... and in A LOT of Pain :(

I am new here and trying to piece together my health at the moment. My journey began back in January when I went for an endoscopy to rule out Celiac disease. I was told by my GI that I do not have celiac despite having a slightly low Hemoglobin and high Gliadin IGG. My endoscopy showed numerous ulcers near the pyloric valve of my stomach as well as mucosal redinning and flattening of the duodenal bulb, 2nd, 3rd, and 4rth part of my duodenum. The biopsies were negative for H. Pylori from the ulcers and the biopsies from my SI were negative for celiac. Needless to say, I was a little frustrated with this since clearly there is something going on with my immune system (the high IGG antibodies) and morphological changes to my GI tract. I was a little annoyed that my doctor just shrugged it off as IBS. I do not know where the stomach ulcers came from because I do not take aspirin for pain and leading up to the endoscopy was chugging Pepto as well as tylenol (which should not cause stomach ulcers).

Fast forward to now, I have put myself on a gluten free diet, but still get stomach pains and am still incredibly fatigued. My IGG antibodies have also not gone down. I also began having rectal bleeding about 3 weeks ago (and have had rectal bleeding for about 3 years now). I thought it was just a hemerrhoid, but the pain just got worse (cramping, bloating, and nauseous.... constantly). I went to another GI who agreed with the previous GI that I don't have celiac, but that the dx is still a little iffy at best. He performed a colonoscopy on Friday to rule out anything else (Ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, or Colon cancer). I was looking forward to getting a better idea of what was going on with me but it was non-conclusive. Apparently, my colon is perfectly normal and the GI said that he will see me when I am 50 (I am currently in my mid-twenties). Although I was happy that things were clear, I am still scratching my head.

I am currently unable to sit at all because of the extreme rectal pain (I do have a hemerrhoid that my doctor prescribed Annusol). Despite using tux, preperation H, sitz baths, and annusol (suppositories with Cortisol), I am in even more discomfort and pain in that area. I am seriously at my wits end with this just because it is having such an impact on my work-life, and my social life. Are there any suggestions out there from people who may have gone through something similar to me? How should I go about further pursuing a diagnosis (blood tests) and how on earth am I going to get rid of this nagging and horrible pain??? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I also have a family history of celiac disease, and diverticulities (my mother had her sigmoid colon removed due to diverticulosis). Thanks in advance.

First, is the hemorrhoid external or internal? I assume internal because he gave you a suppository for it. Are you straining when you are having a BM? That makes hemmies worse. Also, I found prep H to make hemmies more painful; made mine burn something awful. I was also given lidocaine gel to apply. That deaden the area for periods of time.

Second, I agree with kazbern about the capsule endoscopy to look at the small bowel. I had ulcers, lining redness, and signs of recent bleeding in my stomach. After all other possible causes of these findings were eliminated, my GI explained that for some unknown reason, Crohn's in the small bowel can cause, these findings. He surmised it was a type of "back wash" from the CD. That is why I think it would be smart to make sure there is no disease in the smalol bowel.

Update:

My GI did not take any biopsies and said that he didn't need to because everything looked healthy (I am very frustrated at this). Furthermore, the medication he put me on was not working at all and I wound up in his office on Wednesday. He "accidentally" missed the fact that it isn't hemorrhoids, but an anal fissure, which would explain the excrutiating pain.

Thank God he found it, because I was in such writhing pain that I could not get off of the couch and the pain actually radiated to my testicles (TMI, but its the truth to how bad it was). Furthermore, he kind of brushed off all of my protestations. I expressed my deep frustration and told him that I used to have a lot of energy, an avid runner, and sociable. The thought of running is a great idea.... until the pain sets in and I just feel like crap all the time. I still have a social life, but it is really impacting it (having to cancel dates and plans due to the pain and never feeling well while sitting through them).

His response that the meds will take time to heal the fissure and that I just need to be patient.... talk about beating around the bush. I also told him that I started to have this dull hepato-billiary pain for which he wrote a script for more labs.... not mentioning any other CD tests. When I told him that I am frustrated with the pain and how it is impacting my life and considering having a positive IGG gliadin test that something is going wrong with my body and it is attacking itself. He stated that he hates the gliadin IGG test because it causes more alarm then needed and isn't useful for anything. Last time I checked, it isn't normal to have elevated antibodies in your blood... period. Considering the stomach ulcers that are not from H pylori (biopsy negative) and having mucosal redenning and flattening throughout my duodenum, I know that something is up with my GI system and my doctor isn't seeing the writing on the wall (I don't take aspirin and only take tylenol for headaches so that shouldn't cause ulcers). I guess I am just in it for the long haul.... any other tests that you guys would suggest, like a blood test that I could request, since my doctor is clearly shrugging off my problems?? Thanks for the help and advice in advance.

Thank you for the reply!! He put me on protonix BID....though i still have persistent abdominal pain (traveling for work now and am in constant abd pain that hurts on palpation. The labs came back normal but now i am having persistent diarrhea with red blood filling the toilet (i know its the fissure but im concerned im losing too much blood and it is causing fatigue more than usual....which means its a real effort to do ANYTHING ;(

I dont know what else to do.... Im just beside myself at this point, the ulcers seem not to be healing though i was dxed in January and i feel like an idiot going to the doctor all the time. I am beginning to think that this is just going to have to be life cause clearly no one can figure what is up.

I'm concerned about the amount of blood. Either that's an extremely bad fissure or something else is going on. You need to call your doctor. Profuse bleeding is something seen in UC more so than Crohn's because it affects the entire colon whereas Crohn's skips around. Even at my worst, I had only small amounts of blood with large amounts of puss/mucous (I know, TMI).

When did you have your colonoscopy? It's not unheard of to get damage or perforation from the scope. I'm not trying to scare you but I consider filling the toilet with blood worthy of a trip to the ER.

Eh i have been better. I called the doctor and have an apt for Tuesday.... Hopefully he will get a hint that making weekly trips to bis office isnt exactly good for business and he better figure something out. Today was chock full of nausea and the big D with lots of hurry calls (at least this time no blood) where i had cramping and honestly didnt know what end it was going to come out of. Also the restless legs that i have developed have kept me awake and without rest just adding to the problem. Thanks for checking in though.... God willing a diagnosis of SOMETHING is just around the corner!!