Hi all,
Here is an introduction to myself and my story. I am 30 years old, married, work as an astronomer. My father was diagnosed with a severe case of UC in his late 20s back in the early '80s, and due to life-threatening amounts of blood loss, had a total colectomy and permanent ileostomy. My paternal grandmother also had lifelong undiagnosed bowel troubles (she refused to ever see doctors about it).
About 1 year ago, in a routine physical, my bloodwork showed an abnormal liver function (elevated AlkPhos and ALT). As I had just returned from a trip to South Africa, infectious diseases were suspected, and I spent the next few months having more blood drawn than I realized was in my body, visiting Infectious Disease specialists, etc., all with no resolution. In the meantime, I developed a fistula in the same spot where I had an abscess 3 years earlier, and complained to my doctor of mild but fairly persistent problems with bloating, excess gas, and off-and-on stomach pains. Due to the wonderful slowness of the US health care system (especially getting new appointments with specialists) and a primary care Doctor fixated on Africa and infectious diseases, it was only a few weeks ago that I finally saw a GI. She looked at everything that had happened over the last year (abnormal liver function, bowel troubles, family history of IBD, fistula, and mild anemia) and immediately suspected IBD, so I had the wonderful experience of my first endoscopy and colonoscopy last week (that prep - ugh!!!).
The colonoscopy found mild to moderate ulcerations, and biopsies confirmed a diagnosis of Crohn's. I've now been referred to another doctor in her group who specializes in IBD, but of course have to wait almost 6 weeks for an appointment. In the meantime the first GI is still trying to get at the bottom of the abnormal liver results, with an MRI scheduled for tomorrow and a liver biopsy up next if the MRI doesn't show anything conclusive. She did mention that the Crohn's is mild and should be fairly easy to treat/manage, so that's good, and let's hope it stays that way.
Anyway, that's my story. I'd love to find out with the IBD specialist has to say about diet and medicine, but I have to wait awhile for that. In the meantime the search for a liver answer continues. I've tried to stop googling because I usually just manage to convince myself of the worst case scenarios (i.e., I was convinced I had colon cancer going into the colonoscopy, when in reality no signs of polyps were even found).
So, hello from this newbie.
Here is an introduction to myself and my story. I am 30 years old, married, work as an astronomer. My father was diagnosed with a severe case of UC in his late 20s back in the early '80s, and due to life-threatening amounts of blood loss, had a total colectomy and permanent ileostomy. My paternal grandmother also had lifelong undiagnosed bowel troubles (she refused to ever see doctors about it).
About 1 year ago, in a routine physical, my bloodwork showed an abnormal liver function (elevated AlkPhos and ALT). As I had just returned from a trip to South Africa, infectious diseases were suspected, and I spent the next few months having more blood drawn than I realized was in my body, visiting Infectious Disease specialists, etc., all with no resolution. In the meantime, I developed a fistula in the same spot where I had an abscess 3 years earlier, and complained to my doctor of mild but fairly persistent problems with bloating, excess gas, and off-and-on stomach pains. Due to the wonderful slowness of the US health care system (especially getting new appointments with specialists) and a primary care Doctor fixated on Africa and infectious diseases, it was only a few weeks ago that I finally saw a GI. She looked at everything that had happened over the last year (abnormal liver function, bowel troubles, family history of IBD, fistula, and mild anemia) and immediately suspected IBD, so I had the wonderful experience of my first endoscopy and colonoscopy last week (that prep - ugh!!!).
The colonoscopy found mild to moderate ulcerations, and biopsies confirmed a diagnosis of Crohn's. I've now been referred to another doctor in her group who specializes in IBD, but of course have to wait almost 6 weeks for an appointment. In the meantime the first GI is still trying to get at the bottom of the abnormal liver results, with an MRI scheduled for tomorrow and a liver biopsy up next if the MRI doesn't show anything conclusive. She did mention that the Crohn's is mild and should be fairly easy to treat/manage, so that's good, and let's hope it stays that way.
Anyway, that's my story. I'd love to find out with the IBD specialist has to say about diet and medicine, but I have to wait awhile for that. In the meantime the search for a liver answer continues. I've tried to stop googling because I usually just manage to convince myself of the worst case scenarios (i.e., I was convinced I had colon cancer going into the colonoscopy, when in reality no signs of polyps were even found).
So, hello from this newbie.
