Holy Smokes! I think I figured it out, bowel obstruction?
As some of you know I have been having bowel problems for the last 14 months. I have been on this totally wild ride with it, I thought it was food allergies/intolerances so I have been eating nothing but meat and veggies which did give me some relief but my bowels were still not quite right. I have been to doctor after doctor after doctor. Finally last week I had a colonoscopy so the new gi guy could see if anything was wrong. He was really weird and after the test basically told me that nothing was wrong and really didn't offer any other ideas about what to do. Between that and the anesthesia I went home feeling really depressed. And then, I woke up the next morning and had a totally normal bowel movement. I figured that was a fluke and was still a little depressed so I said, to hell with this ridiculous elimination diet and just ate whatever I wanted (in a rny friendly way of course, but had eggs, dairy, wheat). And the second day I woke up and had another totally normal bowel movement. Please understand that I have been struggling with this for FOURTEEN MONTHS. It has been pretty miserable. So for the last five days I have completely returned to normal. It is AMAZING. I feel a million pounds lighter. All the symptoms I had been having are TOTALLY GONE. No more nine month pregnant belly, no more 15 bms a day. No more constant feeling of constipation with weird bouts of diarrhea. It is incredible.
So i called the GI guy and asked him if this was possible after a colonoscopy, could this all be in my head because he told me he couldn't find anything wrong? And he said, no, I think you probably had a bowel obstruction and the colonoscopy and prep straightened it out. This is so incredible because when all these troubles first started I went to my surgeon's pa and asked if it could be a bowel obstruction because that is what it felt like and because I had the symptoms. She is a dip and told me, of course not, and told me to go off gluten. Which started this whole insane search for food intolerances.
but I digress, I think I am cured!!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!! And if I am not, hallelujah for a few days of relief!!!!!!!
I will go and eat some egg and dairy and gluten now :)
Your surgeon's PA is an idiot. She has told you lots of stupid stuff. I think I would complain to the surgeon about her.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Once I get the full report back from the gi guy I am going to write a letter complaining about her. I mean, lots and lots of doctors missed this and it was an unusual presentation, but her advice was not just unhelpful, it was harmful because it set me on this path that was just ridiculously long and unnecessary. She also completely minimized my concerns and left me feeling like I was complaining over nothing which made it all the more difficult for me to advocate for myself with other doctors. I am really proud of myself for fighting through it all and insisting on the colonoscopy even though the gi guy was sure he wouldn't find anything. But I said, I don't care, I need some answers and if you find nothing that gets me closer to figuring this out. I had no idea it would completely solve the problem. Yahoooo!!!!!
But isn't she the one that tried to blow you off when you had the esophagus issue? When you insisted on seeing the surgeon and then had a scope and it turned out your esophagus looked like fish scales? And hasn't she given you really poor advice and dismissed your concerns about other things, too?
It's not just that she missed something, missing one thing could be understandable especially in this instance, but it sounds like she has repeatedly dismissed your concerns when you've had serious issues and misses lots of things. Unless I'm mixing her up with someone else at your surgeon's office.
I'm very glad you seem to have resolved the issue, though. I know you've be struggling with stuff for a long time.
Did the GI doc have suggestions for anything that could help prevent this from happening again in the future?
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Oh she is the very same one. So ya, she totally misses stuff and gives terrible advice. She is also the one who told me to go ahead and have a glass of wine, at my 10 week appt. I don't even drink. Have never drank. I didn't even bring up alcohol. It is hard for me to complain about people, but it is so so so important. And I am going to. This is just the tip of the iceberg. And while I struggle with all sorts of code[pendency nonsence like hurting her.... I really don't want her to hurt the hundreds of wls patients who go through her door. God help them. So, I am doing it. Thanks for all your support. I still have to talk with the GI doc, I am all about preventing this!
Providing your surgeon with information about what his employee is doing isn't hurting her. It's just giving him information. Information which, when I used to supervise other social workers, I would sure want to know about any of the employees I was responsible for.
The social workers I supervised did group counseling sessions and I was not usually in those group sessions, so I had no way of knowing if one of them was doing something really off the wall unless a client told me. While I certainly did not see it as the clients' responsibility, I did appreciate it when they gave me important information that I otherwise would not have known. It helped me to do my job better and it also allowed me to make sure they, and other clients, got the best services possible.
You can give him the information in a fairly neutral manner. Not in a complain-y, I-want-her-to-get-in-lots-of-trouble, way.
I think not only does it help other patients, it helps you. Because it's good for us to be assertive and stand up for ourselves. We deserve good medical care and when we don't get it, it's good for us to say "Hey, that is not acceptable."
Definitely talk to the GI doc about whether there is something in particular that could have caused this or if it's just something that can happen sometimes. Increasing your fiber and fluid intake might help. I'm thinking you probably already get a decent amount of fiber, but it's hard to get too much.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
You are totally right. Re the GI guy, it might have been an actual kink in the colon and not a constipation issue. I guess that is actually treated with colonoscopies because the process of inserting the tube can unkink it in more mild cases. FAscinating. But it could also have been from constipation.... I have a million questions still but it is just amazing to be feeling better!
bit expensive way to find you were just severely internally constipated.. Even with daily BM's we can get so "full of it" I know i did at one time..
I deal with that - I learned that once in a while (2 weeks - or at least monthly) I need good "cleaning" or my guts gets just full of it.. Unfortunately for me - food allergies and gluten intolerance is real thing... so really need to watch what I eat...
Hala. RNY 5/14/2008; Happy At Goal =HAG
"I can eat or do anything I want to - as long as I am willing to deal with the consequences"
"Failure is not falling down, It is not getting up once you fell... So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again...."
