Can anyone recommend a GI doctor in the DC, N. VA, MD area?

My husband has gone through hell for the last year all because of a flare that was treated badly that led to so many things going wrong I would have to write a book about it to explain it all.

To make it short he had a flare Feb 07 that was treated with a high dose of Prednisone.  That caused water retention which led to diuretics that led to the sodium levels getting dangerously low that landed him in the hospital for the first time 11/17/07.  Then 12/19 he fell and broke his upper arm because of the prednisone weakening his bones and the water retention in his legs.

The broken arm led to blood loss internally which cause sodium and Albumin to plumit.  1/15 he's back in the hospital again for 2 weeks.

He got out little more than a week ago and is having abdominal cramps and threw up last night ( this all happened before the last 2 hospitalizations.)

We have been meaning to find a new GI Dr. but was hoping to get off this health roller coaster first.  So what does his GI Dr. suggest?  Well cut down prednisone from 60 - 40mg and stop Salazine (the Hospital Dr.s said go verrrrry slow with the Pred. and drop 2.5mg a week.)

Does anyone have any Dr. suggestions from the MD, Northern VA or DC area?  This is absolutely ridiculous what we have been going through.

Thanks, that really helps. 

It's a little out of the way, but my GI, Dr. Rahimian, is in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and I adore him. He's been incredibly proactive in treating my pancolitis with excellent results. His office is in Martinsburg, which is about 40 minutes from Frederick, or 90 minutes from downtown DC. He diagnosed me via colonoscopy/upper endoscopy in 2006 and had my biopsy results to Mayo Clinic as a second opinion before I even had to ask. His practice is called Panhandle Gastroenterology and if you email me I would be happy to give you his info. He's just a general GI doc, not an IBD specialist, but he has been a lifesaver for me. I know that there are a good docs at Hopkins and Georgetown though, so maybe there is someone closer who is a good fit for you guys. At any rate, good luck!

Just an update, my husband got severely worse over the weekend and couldn't even hold water down.  The ER dr. thought he might have sepsis, that the abdominal wall is so thin that caused an infection in the blood stream.  When he got to the hospital Mon morning he couldn't even hold down water.

We met a new GI dr. at the Hospital and were blown away.  I can't believe that we have been actually listening to the other guy.  He has done so much damage to my husband and made him so miserable he is actually begging for the surgery now. This new GI dr. knew so much...and basically said to do the opposite of what our current Dr. was saying.

I actually found out now that this GI might not be as good as we thought.  He just told us straight out if my husband gets any surgery he's only getting a ileostomy.  End of story.  There is no way he can get a J-pouch (according to him)

Filing a compliant?  With his office or somewhere higher? 

We were thinking if we wanted to take any legal action against his old GI.  This guy has caused us so much strife, damage to my husband's body (I know that this whole ordeal has taken years off his life) and lost wages.  He shouldn't be practicing medicine or just stick to the R&D side of it...which is what he specializes in.  He's like the head R&Der for colitis in the DC area.  It was like he was just playing with us.  We were too stupid and actually thought you could trust a Doctor to have your best interests in mind.  We've learned our lesson.

UC Wife,

I would recommend finding a GI at John Hopkins; it is the 3rd best GI hospital in the Country and if your husband is going to have surgery they probably have the top surgeons there. The GI and surgeon will work as a team. One of these days I am going for surgery and my GI and future surgeon have a very close working relationship.

Here is the US News and World Report on GI hospitals http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/best-hospitals/search.php?spec=ihqgast&

--Keith

Does anyone know about a good gi doctor in dc metropolitan area? Thank you very much.