Friday, August 24, 2007

Nothing New in the Diagnosis Department

We're back from our hospital excursion and I have to say that I am tired. I didn't really feel stressed during the day but I am feeling the aftermath now. We are supposed to go to a party tonight and frankly I am not in the mood for it. My husband is getting on my case about it but what can I say, I just sent one son off to college and the other one is being tested for severe GI problems. I am emotionally exhausted!

The hospital did the CT scan and although I was pretty sure it would be normal, there were moments of doubt that may be there was a tumor or something that could explain why these symptoms were happening. I searched the nurse practitioner's face for answers when she walked in and she delivered the news immediately. Everything was normal, negative.

So that brings us back to square one. I am relieved but it explains nothing. She could not say that Andy has IBS for sure but all roads seem to be pointing that way. She gave us the option to wait on further testing. If it was Crohns or something else, it would rear it's ugly head eventually. Since Andy has been doing well under the circumstances, we decided to wait 3 months on the endoscopy and colonoscopy.

Interestingly, I just had a conversation with Andy's violin teacher. I was bringing her up on what was going on with us this summer and she told me about another student who was having severe problems exactly like Andy's. The student lost a tremendous amount of weight, all tests came back negative. They ended up taking out her gall bladder even though tests showed it was normal. She started to improve but now is having problems again. I told the teacher about the Calcium Caltrate as a great control for the D and especially for those who have had their gall bladder out. Also I was buying Digestive Advantage for IBS at Safeway and the checker wanted to know if that controlled the D too . She had no idea Safeway even carried products like this probiotic . Guess she has been an IBS sufferer too. I passed on the info about the calcium to her. I am amazed at how many people are being afflicted with this problem. The fact that very little research is being done on it , is an abomination.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I pray that all comes out ok. I just learned how to add video to a Blog which is kind of neat.

Your water colors are wonderful. We have one of our house with our Golden in front !

palette48 said...

Thanks Scottish Soldier,

My son is doing better than he was so I am grateful for that. I will have to check out the video.Thanks for visiting again!

BetteJo said...

I don't know, it still just seems more severe than your garden variety IBS. Although I suppose there are degrees...

My own personal theory (therefore meaningless) is that IBS has been around for a long time but people just didn't recognize it as a condition. As well as the decline of the American diet in the last 50 years or more - just HAS to have contributed to the increase in IBS sufferers out there.

Glad your son is doing well, I SO hope it stays that way.

palette48 said...

bette jo,

I agree. I think IBS has been around a long time too but I do think there is something causing it, maybe a microbe of some sort ie. ulcers which can be caused by H. pylori. For the longest time, no one knew there was a bacteria behind it.I think this is a possibility for IBS too.

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