My poor GI's worst nightmare

Yes, that'd be me - but I tried to take it easy on him today.

He told me my scopes looked good, even into the jejunum, that the biopsies were clear, no evidence of celiac or IBD or collagenous colitis or tumors or aliens. I mean, it's really good to know that I'm not going to pull a "Space Balls" move and have a little slimeball jump out of my stomach and start singing ragtime. :) However, this still leaves us to the conundrum of: why do I weigh 118 pounds, down from 135 in September? Why do I get the same epigastric pain when he palpates my small bowel every time? Oh, and that ever-elusive answer of why do I have diarrhea 15 times a day?

Well, he did say something about the possibility of a herniation of my small bowel into the mesentery (the tissue that attaches your intestine to the posterior abdominal wall). But he and I both think that is pretty unlikely. So I will pass on the laparoscopic surgery for now, thank you very much. I give him props for thinking of that possibility, though - how random, yet interesting!

In the meantime - this is the best - his goal is to make me constipated. I'm not even kidding you. He asked if I ever pushed the cholestyramine enough to constipate myself (I said to him, "And what is that term again, constipation?"). So that is what he wants me to do. And also take VSL #3, which is a hot new-ish probiotic with 8 strains of bacteria that is supposedly undergoing FDA approval for treatment of IBD, SIBO, and IBS. And drink Ensure and always have Gatorade on my person. He said with as much diarrhea as I have, a little constipation wouldn't hurt.

Now, after he palpated me, I have a terrible tummy ache. That always happens after he palpates my upper abdomen...it's sore for the rest of the day. I don't usually have too much pain other than when he does that, and it's only in my epigastric region, nowhere else.

Okay, that's my update for the minute, thanks for listening :)

OK, delete that comment! Man, my meds are fogging up my head tonight! My apologies, you were making replies. Which begs the question: How can I make needed responses of my own when the Anti-Spam filter kills them?!

Sincerely,
Matthew

Have I missed something here? Where's the various looks at the small intestine? SBFT, CT Enterography, etc.? There's also the camera pill, the double balloon endoscopy ... ??

Hmmmm-sorry you aren't doing so well, wish I had something to offer. I would watch the gatorade since it has so much sugar. If the goal is to constipate you the sugar isn't going to help. As long as we are on this topic, if you are constipated wouldn't that be more of a condusive environement in the intestines for even more bacteria growth? I mean it is warm & toasty in there and feces hanging around any more than the normal "loose term" time frame is sure to build more bacteria wouldn't you think?

I'm also known as my GI's "problem child'.

I ditto root. I am not a clear cut case either but my doc put me on asacol first and then pentasa and it has helped me tremendously. I did one round of entocort in a really bad flare and I responded to that as well. My doc basically said if I respond to all these meds and have high promesthus markers than I guess its crohns!

Well, I've never been a 100% definite either, except that I have IBD (of some type) but I guess that still puts me a bit ahead of you Sarita.
As for nuts, heck, I don't suffer from Insanity. I ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF IT! LOL.

Matthew
Still hoping you get a dx one of these days..

Another thing I thought of is that it could be microscopic which won't show on a scope and the biopsy will only be positive if it hits the right location. In crohn's, that is hit or miss if you can't see it.  Meanwhile, untreated, it continues to get worse.  I know mine did- granted it took awhile. I went from no gi symptoms (other than pain) 10 years ago to definite gi symptoms just before I was treated this past spring.  Isn't the med you are taking treating the symptom, similar to how loperamide would.   

yay to passing grades and here a sprinkling of wishes that your tum tum cooperates with you soon.

I love to hear your saga although I wish you were better!! If hormones help is there away to do that artificially? I guess you could only artificially increase hormones not decrease them. I am not suggesting a life long visit from Aunt Flo, just the hormone to cause the benefit.

For me, and this was YEARS ago, I always knew when Aunt Flo was going to stop by because a day or two before she appeared my Crohn's would flare and I would do the "big dump" (I was always prone to constipation, not diarrhea). Those one or two days before her visit I would "clean out" w/4-6 or more visits to "the throne", each visit getting looser and waterier.

At that time they suggested going on BC pills to stop Aunt Flo's visits, but I ended up having an emergency resection before we had the opportunity to try that.