Petrified............HELP

Hello,

Today is my first day posting here and I want to say, I am so amazed how many people are affected by "bowel" issues.  I was diagnosed w/IBS at my first visit with my gastro......interesting.  At this time he wanted to perform a colonoscopy which I was ok with, until I spoke to my Hematologist and he wanted to know why at my age (30).  I tore my ACL and I needed to have this repaired, so I cancelled my Colonoscopy.  I didn't have any problems (that I can remember) except occassional cramping, diarrhea.....then I was good for several months.  This past summer I started to experience constipation problems, so in August I went to see my gastro doc again.  At this point, he put me on Zelnorm....which didn't help, but then added Glycolax the second month, which did help!  He still mentioned the "colonoscopy" and after telling him that my Dad passed away suddenly after his colon had perforated (long story) not sure why or how...he thought by me having this colonoscopy would make me feel more at ease.  He told me to think about it.  I have and I have spoken to my Hematologist at The Cleveland Clinic which states unless absolutely necessary.....there are other tests that can be done first.  For some reason I have felt my gastro doc has pushed the "colonoscopy" since the first time I met him. 

I have a very rare bleeding disorder "Glanzmanns Thrombasthenina" www.glanzmanns.com  in which my platelets are lacking the sticky glue that helps perform clots.  The mucousal areas are more affected........as what I have been told. 

I am not 32 yrs old soon to be 33 next month and am literally petrified thinking I will go through what my Dad had gone through.  I know this is a total different situation, but my Dad's death was horrible. 

Last Sunday I woke up with a bloating feeling and then had diahrrea three times until the Imodium kicked in.  I was ok, but did not have much of an appetitte, until Thursday.  I did eat toast and butter, chicken soup, bagel and drank 7-up and water!  Thursday I ate whatever I wanted......I really was hungry!  I woke up this morning at 4:00a.m. bloated, full, tight feeling and then rushed to the bathroom.....explosion x 4, until the Imodium kicked in.  BTW-I did have two accidents on the way to the bathroom.  Now I am having gas and gurgling along with starting to form small bowel movements.  I have always had a "gas" issue, but more so the past several months.  Man my "gas" smells awful sometimes...is this normal?

I did call my gastro's office and I am waiting for a phone call back.

I am sure many of you can relate...........any suggestions?

Hi JHP,
Welcome to Healing Well :)
I'm sorry that you are going through such an ordeal. I am 30 years old and have had a total of 4 colonoscopys. This last one I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. Its very hard to say whether you need one of not, a doctor would be the best bet for that. It sounds like your gastro might be concerned and wants to rule everything out which is how IBS is diagnosed. There are other tests you can do such as a barium enema however a colonoscopy is the only way to take biopsies to check for IBD or polyps, etc. Polyps were found and removed on my last colonoscopy at 29 years old. Yes this is unusually young but that goes to show that age is not always a factor. I would definitely suggest to you to get a second opinion through another gastroenterologist. I hope things go well and please keep posting.
Take Care

Hi JHP,

just to add to what Lil said - i didn't find my colonocopy too bad. The prep was okay - you just have to put up with some D before hand, in actual fact this D was better than the normal type i have, normally it is 'explosive' or at least caught up with some wind, but with the prep it was quite painless.

The test itself is pretty okay, you should be quite well sedated and shoudn't remember too much of the details.

Of course everyone is different and reacts differently to things - i can understand you being anxious with what happened to your father. But the chance of something going wrong is very slim, and by the sounds of your symptoms perhaps it would be a good idea to have it done.

Hope you find some answers tho and keep posting!

roadtrip

Thank you all so much for adding your two cents.....I don't feel so alone any longer.  My b/f probably thinks I am nuts....well that I am    I received a phone call back from my gastro docs office nurse, he wanted a stool sample/culture, so this I did with no problem.  I hope to find the results Monday or Tuesday.  He wants to r/o an infection then I will have the colonoscopy. 

I just ate a sandwhich potato bread, mustard and 2 slices of turkey, then I had a poop which was long, thin and formed......what the heck.  I will continue to watch what I am eating and stay away from carbonated drinks, dairy products, whole wheat, veggies that cause lots of gas and so on.  This will take time to adjust too and figure out what I can eat.  I still have gas all the time, I am just gassy!

I will continue to post!

i am 26 and i had a colonoscopy and they found a polyp. i am pro-tests, only if you trust your doctors! for me tests can be good, they rule stuff out...i am not a huge fan of "lets try this drug, now this one, now this one" a few months a go i had so many drugs i wrote out an xcell spreadsheet--AND my GI was perscribing me drugs that had interactions AND that had warnings for symptoms i had, AND he gave me expired samples!!! he was a jerkface...
anyway if you trust your doctors, get the scope--wasn't that bad... before and after kinda sucks--but i am glad i had one.
i used to have "explosions" too, once i cut out gluten i have been poop in the pants free, i notice you do eat gluten, could you have a sensitivity? careful with dairy, tomatoes and also honey and sugar. Propel is great, i drink that too, especially after a run or nausea and diarrhea...
as for the smellyness, i think that is often equated with parasites. there are a lot of icky things that can screw you all up, i hope you get the right tests soon.
i understand your lonliness, but this is a great forum group--they have helped me so much, words can't describe. take care of yourself, keep a food log, and keep posting.
best of luck,
--bunny

I agree with Bunnybabe - try to cut gluten out of your diet and see what happens. I am trying to follow the specific carbohydrate diet and it is helping me get thing somewhat under control, but my poo is still not normal. I am going to see my GI in the states in March to find out if my c-diff is back. I am also going ot demand test to rule out absolutely everything.

Have you looked at my post on gall bladder disease? Your symptoms sound similar to mine and I was brushed off as having IBS for 5 years before I finally had it show up bad on a test and got it taken out.

And before you had your attack, you ate the foods of death: pizza and gravy. Fatty, greasy, fried foods will all trigger a gall bladder attack. Also, caffeine and carbonation. You need to give up the colas. Those two things bother IBSers, but they also bother people with a bad gall bladder because caffeine was one of my triggers and the carbonation just makes the gas and cramping worse. Also stay away from alcohol, decaf coffee (too much acid), apples and apple juice and sugarl alcohols (found in low-sugar and sugar-free products).

I'm going to bump my post up (The Definitive Guide to Gall Bladder Disease) so you can see it. I had a colonoscopy back when I was having my problems--a lot of good it did me. Can't see a gall bladder coming up from that end! You have to have a different series of tests to show a bad glal bladder (they're listed in my post).

JHP, I am exactly the same way you are. It must be the pizza. I get full, bloated and nauseous when I eat too much (or the wrong greasy things). I take those last few bites of food because it tastes so good and I don't want to waste - but then I pay for it later. Try eating smaller, healthier meals. However, when you do have an attack, try drinking some tea and walking a bit. Those are the only things that help me.

Well, not everyone is the same with a bad gb; some people don't hurt a lot before they find out it's bad. A lady I work with said she got sick once or twice before she ended up going to the doctor on a friend's recommendation and it turned out she had stones that would block her duct sometimes, but not get fully lodged in, which is what causes pain.

Your poop will be a good indicator, though. If it's just brown, watery diarrhea, then you almost certainly have IBS (I don't think I know of a gall bladder attack that doesn't dump a lot of bile into your intestines). If, however, it is yellow and burns, then you might have a bad gb (although some IBSers have some bile in their stools too).

Dunno, but I put a call into my gastro's office today, but do you think his nurse(whatever you call her) would phone back........nope.  I am in the process of chaning docs, they aren't applicable and I can't tolerate this.

I think last night, poo was yellow/brown.  Normally it is brown.  I don't recall bile?  What kind of tests are done to see?  I am going to bring this up to my Internal Medicine doc.  I also notice gas almost all the way up to my breast........how strange.

Nope, no burning.

I had a c.difficile a week ago friday...negative. When I had my attack two weeks ago Sunday, I started with the bad taste in mouth/white coated tongue. It started again yesterday again, after my attack? I have never heard of probiotics, but I will do some research.

My gastros office called....the nurse or whatever she is.....not very nice. They are waiting on records from my hematologist in Cleveland, so they can schedule the colonoscopy. I went on to tell her about my attack on Sunday.....nothing.....what kind of doctors office is this?

Hmm, where do you buy these?