So, I had this wild idea the other day while posting to someone's question. What if I were to write a book on IBS/Gall bladder/GERD/IBD? After being on this forum for something like 9 months now, I have seen people asking the same questions and we give the same answers--answers people should be getting from their doctors, not having to wait until desperation drives them to the internet.
So I thought, what if I wrote this book and made it for doctors and patients and said, hey, there are people out there in the world with these symptoms. These are the tests that can be run and what they are supposed to show and how they work (how often does your doctor warn you about that in advance??). These are things that people have found help them out and whether it's prescription or OTC and what are the known side affects.
And have some commentary from real people in there that say, hey, this is what it's like when I get sick. And have some info in there for doctors and family members that this is what this feels like, this is why people can't function, this is why they are crying in your office, this is what you can do to help them.
I have come to the firm conclusion that a lot of G.I. doctors just don't have a clue how bad these problems can be, especially for people who have more than one of them at a time. Of course, my info coming from here is biased; people who have good G.I.'s who give out good info don't need to find this place; only people who are left in the dark come looking for the light. But how many people daily aren't finding the light here, who don't have internet connections or who don't speak/read english? I'm thinking a general sort of book with the basic info like probioitcs and calcium and the like could reach out and help more people. And of course give a link to the forum so that people can come and find out even more info, talk about their really odd symptoms and just commiserate.
At the very least, if it never makes it to book form, I could find a place to put it online so that some people could find it at least.
Thoughts? I'd need the help of people here since (thank God) I don't have all the problems that the book would cover. Everything would be kept anonymous and nothing on the Forum would be quoted directly unless permission was given. If it ever goes on to make money, I could donate some profits to the Forum. Of course, writing a book is a big enterprise and I may not have time to finish it, or it may not get taken up, etc. But I have already got a lot on gall bladder disease, so at the very least that will be worth putting up on the web. The more info I compile, the more helpful it will be, even if my grand stradegy never comes to fruition.