I have to disagree with anon. From my experience and reading a lot of
postings here, Crohn's is easy to miss as a diagnosis. With my first
gastroenterologist we did bloodwork, ultrasound, x-rays, stool
samples, and a colonoscopy. He found a c-difficile infection which we
treated with antibiotics, but my symptoms continued (loose stools,
frequent urge, feeling of incomplete "voiding" and general discomfort
and occasional minor pain in gut. He finally did another blood test
that showed antibody markers indicative of Crohn's though the
colonoscopy showed nothing. I went to a second gastroenterologist to
seek more help - none of the drugs from the first one actually helped
much. Second gastroenterologist completely discounted the blood test
(his opinion), we did another colonoscopy and found several polyps
(the first guy missed these a year earlier). Biopsies were benign but
showed colitis present. Again the second gastro said this was all
fairly normal.
Like you, I spent a lolt of time wondering if this was all in my
head. I read a lot of material that says how stress and anxiety can
be triggers or aggrivators of these problems. This was VERY difficult
for me to even consider. I've always considered myself very stable
and in control of my life. Stress is always present in everyone's
life, and mine maybe a little more so, but I think I've had times of
much much higher levels of stress than anything I've had preceeding my
physical problems. While trying to nail down a diagnosis and finding
an effective treatment thougn, I felt the pressure and stress more
than usual because of the uncertainty. I felt a lot of guilt about
missing so much work for relatively minor symptoms.
Anyway, my first gastroenterologist called it Crohn's, and the second
says it's not but I had to pry out of him that he thought it "could
be" irritable bowel syndrome, but he really didn't want to even say
that much. I think he doesn't want to call IBS because he may think
that one is mostly in my head, but he hasn't given me any new leads on
where to go for more help. I have scheduled an appointment at the
Mayo clinic's motility disorder clinic to try their expertise. This
will be mostly out of pocket $$$ since they are "out of network", but
I'm serious about getting some relief.
I also went to a local counselor (not a full blown psychiatrist or
psychologist) for some ideas about stress management. I listen to
relaxation audios on a regular basis, which does seem to help a little
with the "anxiety". (I still hate the sound of that, I should be able
to "suck it up" and move on as before) And I do pray about it a lot.
I hope this helps in some way. Keep looking for help, and keep
watching the forums like this for more ideas.
God bless!
|
