Calling the doctor (or not).

I'd call and ask them to send orders to a lab for stool samples (make sure you didn't get salmonella or e. coli or something). If those are all normal, then I'd ask them to send a short burst of prednisone to a pharmacy. My GI will usually do both of those things without making me come in for an appointment. They're just as busy as we are, so if it's something that they can just do, then they'll do it. Even with my positive giardia results a few years ago, they just called in the antibiotics. But if the pred and/or stool samples don't help in the long run, THEN I go in. Sometimes I'll set the appt for a few weeks away to give us time to figure it out, and if it runs it's course then I cancel the appt.