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Another Newbie!

Hi everyone! I've been lurking around here for a while but have yet to type out my story. It feels weird talking about my poop LOL anyway, I"m just going to lay it all out. Maybe someone has some ideas or suggestions...

I've had "stomach problems" off and on for years. About 3 years ago I started having daily diarrhea. Like, get up in the morning and run to the toilet diarrhea. Every day, 6-8 times a day, mostly in the morning, but a few times at night too. I tried everything including, imodium, pepto, probiotics, alkaseltzer, prilosec, zantac, tums, anything and everything that aids in digestion, stomach upset, etc. No help. Even the imodium didn't stop the diarrhea. I started having pain in my lower left abdomen. Sometimes severe, sometimes extremely uncomfortable, but always there. I get horrible bloating, cramps, and severe nausea.

I've seen my GP, and 2 GIs, had a colonoscopy, several CTs from ER visits and a SBFT. I was tested for celiac, parasites, etc. and had my stool sample tested. Everything comes back normal. I've been prescribed bentyl, lomotil and trazodone. The trazodone is supposedly supposed to help with pain management? but does nothing except make me sleep and gives me restless legs. The bentyl does nothing. The lomotil does help control the diarrhea but makes me feel extremely weird and light headed. I've also somehow managed to gain almost 10 pounds. I can't figure out how since nothing seems to stick LOL

I just started seeing a new GI at a digestive health center at the local medical school (VCU-Richmond, VA) and I am hopeful for some help.

THanks for suffering through that

Chandra
 
I had these symptoms for years, GP did tests and found nothing . Only when I couldn't keep anything down and was afraid to eat did he send me to get a Colonoscopy . I had problems for about 15 years. I hope you new GI will give you some answers and you start to feel better , this is a great place for advice, I'm pretty new to all of this :)
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
Hi foodlady :)

I'm glad you decided to share your story with us!

When you say your pain is in the lower left side, if you look at an anatomical model, do you think it is your colon or your small intestine that is painful?

Have you tried a hardcore exclusion diet such as going on something like Ensure for a couple weeks to see if your symptoms improve?

Another thought that comes to mind is Mastocytic Enterocolitis since most GIs don't test for that.

I hope they're able to figure out what's going on with you soon!

*hugs*
 
Hello and I am glad that you decided to join the group.

When was your colonoscopy? My first one came back normal but 2 years later it showed inflammation and some damage to my colon.

I hope the new GI redo the work up and see if things might have changed. Hope you get answers soon.
 
Hi foodlady :)

I'm glad you decided to share your story with us!

When you say your pain is in the lower left side, if you look at an anatomical model, do you think it is your colon or your small intestine that is painful?

Have you tried a hardcore exclusion diet such as going on something like Ensure for a couple weeks to see if your symptoms improve?

Another thought that comes to mind is Mastocytic Enterocolitis since most GIs don't test for that.

I hope they're able to figure out what's going on with you soon!

*hugs*
I've never heard of that but I'm going to ask about it at my next appointment. After studying the chart LOL, it's definitely small intestine. It's a spot about the size of a baseball that just hurts, sometimes constantly, sometimes it kind of throbs. Pushing on it is painful.

I have not tried Ensure. I have tried eliminating things and have learned to avoid certain foods.
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
If it's your small intestine then I might suggest discussing the idea of a capsule endoscopy (pill cam) with your doctor. Where your pain is wouldn't be accessed by a colonoscopy and there's a good chance a SBFT would miss it as well.
 
Well I assume they would have missed it with the SBFT anyway. When they did some close ups or whatever they call it, they scanned the RIGHT side, even though I specifically told them left.

That GI did not listen to me at all. He's the one that told me I needed to go home and "be happy with my husband" and I would feel better :facepalm: I thought my mom was going to kick him in the nuts.
 
How important is a low vitamin D level? they called to tell me to take vitamin D supplements as my new blood work shows it is low. I forgot to ask LOL
 
It's 30 and he said to just take 1000 units a day? Does that sound right? It's actually Dr. Bickston's fellow that called and while I like him, he's nice, he has a bit of an accent.
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
That sounds like something a doctor would recommend, yes. I personally would take more like 3000iu per day and then retest, but if you're comfortable with the doctor's recommendation of 1000iu then go for it. Just be sure to get retested so you can make sure that the dosage is sufficient to get your vitamin D higher. I personally think it should be 50+. My personal level is 82 when I was tested about a month ago. But I get that 100% from sun.
 
OK, thanks! I have an appointment next week so I'll verify with the doc. Hopefully this will help with my exhaustion.

Thanks David!! I love this forum :)
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
It may indeed help with your fatigue. HOWEVER, I would strongly suggest asking to have your vitamin B12 and magnesium levels tested if they weren't as people with Crohn's are commonly deficient in those and they are quite likely to lead to fatigue.
 

Hope your new doc can get you some answers. I have been there and done that for over 15 years as well. Finally 3 years ago they got a diagnosis of Crohns/Colitis and Diverticulitis. Had every test under the sun too so I get how you feel.

Good luck!
 
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