awaiting diagnosis

Hi All,

I'm sure many of you had a long journey to a diagnosis so I hope you can help.

Last summer I began experiencing increased numbers of soft bowel movements daily.  Since I have Graves' disease I thought perhaps I was somewhat hyperthyroid again.  However, my thyroid bloodwork was normal.

Around October I began experiencing right lower quadrant abdominal pain intermittantly, in addition to the increased bowel movements with intermittent diarrhea, including in the middle of the night, as well as fever and chills @ times.

about a month ago I finally went to an internal medicine MD.  C. diff, stool for ova and paracites and bloodwork all normal, except hematocrit a little high from dehydration.  Also completed a course of Flagyl.  CT of abdomen and pelvis was negative.  Before the CT I was placed on a low residue diet, and have now been put on a high fiber diet, supplemented with metamucil and donnatal for pain as needed.

I actually have more pain on the high fiber diet, and the donnatal doesn't help the pain - just makes me tired and cranky.  I'm thinking of putting myself back on the low fiber diet and am scheduled to see a gastroenterologist on Monday.

Expect a probable colonoscopy and maybe a small bowel series.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thank you,  Mary

 

Don't feel weird about your reaction to fiber. When I took chewable supplements when I was constipated, I got worse constipated. When I tried take the same chewable tablets when I had diarrhea, it made it a lot worse. I won't touch a fiber supplement anymore; but I seem to function just fine even after eating a lot of rice and vegetable stir-fry. I guess food fiber is different from powdered fiber.

I assume they have checked your appendix with your complaint of lower right pain?

Have you been to your GYN? Oddly enough, ovarian cysts and endometreosis can cause diarrhea, in additon to lower pelvic pain. Unfortunately, ovarian cancer can also look like IBS, so make sure to ask your doctor to look at your blood work and rule out cancer, especially if you have a family history or are at higher risk (menopause). I don't know what all a CT scan can show in terms of your female organs--I think they usually find ovarian cysts with an ultrasound--but all of those problems may have already been ruled out with that test.

Did you take any antibiotics a month or less before you started having problems? Antibiotics kill off everything in your intestines and sometimes bad bacteria will take advantage of the free range in there and take over and that can give you pain and diarrhea. You can get tested for bacterial overgrowth through a breath test, and/or you can have your stool sampled just for certain types of bad bacteria. I don't know if one test is more complete than the other, or if they show different things entirely. But definitely mention if you used antibiotics prior to your getting sick to you G.I. when you see him. Also mention if you spent any time in a hospital or spent a good deal of time in a nursing home (like visiting regularly or working there) just before you got sick because it's very easy to catch a bad bacteria, c. difficile, in those sorts of places--it spreads through spores on toliet seats and anti-bacterial cleaners won't kill them--only bleach will.

The fact that you chill and have diarrhea in the middle of the night reminds me of my gall bladder problems. Gall bladders usually hurt above the diaphram, but you can't rule out pain radiating down your right side. When you get up with diarrhea in the middle of the night, do you ever feel nauseated and do you find that laying down makes you feel sicker. I don't think anyone with a bad gall bladder can lie flat on their back. You'll also have yellow poop that burns really bad, although some IBSers have some bile in their poop as well. Diarrhea in the middle of the night is not common for IBSers, but a few on the boards here have that problem occasionally.

I hope your visit with the G.I. goes well. One piece of advice I think all of us here would give you is to ask lots and lots of questions until you are satisfied that you known and understand what kinds of tests he wants and why he wants to do them and what they may show. Some doctors are really bad about not saying three words to you and then scheduling you for a lot of things you don't understand or know how to prepare for. Don't let your doctor get out of the door without first taking time to explain things to you.

Hi Jhack,
Welcome to Healing Well... looking forward to your posts.
Take Care

Hope you feel better soon. If you have one, use a heating pad for that pain and take it easy.