While I wait for 1st GI appointment.....

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
While I wait for 1st GI appointment.....
8
Thu, 10-06-2005 - 11:06am

....I thought I would pop on the board and introduce myself since I have been lurking for a few weeks.

My name is Jane. I'm 43 and for the past 3-4 years, I have been having what I refer to as gas attacks several times a day. I eat, my stomach rumbles and swishes, I get gas pains and cramps in my lower abdomen and then I pass gas. It is all so graceful and ladylike!

About 6-8 weeks ago, I began passing mucus during these *attacks*. Two weeks later, the mucus turned bloody and I also began passing what looks to me like blood clots. I do not have diarrhea, though when I pass mucus/blood it sometimes feels like I am having it.

I have my doctor's appointment next Wednesday. I will have waited about a month for it. During that time I have been trying to educate myself about digestive problems so I won't be clueless when the doc talks to me. However, as is likely the case with others out there, I am now feeling extremely anxious about what might be wrong with me. An older cousin has been fighting colon cancer for several years and so, of course, I am nervous about that above all else, I have found that could be behind my symtoms.

Anyway, I suspect I will be not be as calm as I should when I visit the doctor for the first time. From lurking, I have noticed that GI docs are not all that easy to talk to, so if anyone has any suggestions of what information I should make sure to get from the doctor while I'm there, I would certainly appreciate it.

Btw, I had some sort of scope and a barium enema, 22 years ago and was told I had a spastic colon (which today I guess is called IBS).

Thanks
jane

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Thu, 10-06-2005 - 6:50pm

Hi Jane,


Welcome to the board!

 
Community Leader
Registered: 10-01-2002
Fri, 10-07-2005 - 10:05am

Hi Jane,
Ok

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 10-07-2005 - 12:42pm

Lynn,

Thank you very much for the excellent list of questions. I will take them with me. I can't tell you how many times I have left a doctor's office only to get home and *then* think of about a half dozen questions I should have asked and that was when I was not worried that there was something seriously wrong with me.

Thanks for the great welcome. You are very kind. I'll let you know what I find out.

regards
jane

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 10-07-2005 - 12:59pm

Wren,

Thank you for the great advice. Starting a food journal will be easy for me since I eat much of the same things every day. I guess, I like what I like and for me variety, in food, doesn't add spice to my life the way it does for others, but my choices are relatively healthy, except maybe, those hershey bars before bed. I can see how the journal could help though. It is very difficult to explain pains or remember how often other symptoms occur on demand without having noted them in some way.

I know what you mean about stress. I am definetely feeling it. I run 3-4 times a week and have an active lifestyle and I know that helps. I don't know what I would do without endorphins.

I will definetely take Lynn's list with me.

Thanks again.

regards,

jane

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 10-17-2005 - 1:43pm

I saw the GI doctor last Wednesday and he thinks I have colitis in the rectum and/or the lower colon. I will be having a colonoscopy and an endoscopy in four weeks.

He prescribed Canasa in suppository form and I am pleased to say that I have already seen improvement in the blood/mucus unpleasantness, but still have the cramps.

I am happy and relieved that I seem to be healing so quickly, but I can't help wonder if I'm healed by the time the colonoscopy is performed, will the doc still be able to confirm that I have the disease or will I have to wait until things get bad again at which time he'll have to "go back in" once more to find physical proof of colitis. I feel a bit silly wondering about it, but the truth is, I'm impatient to get this over and done with!

Also, two days after my appt with GI doc, I received a call from my family physician who I did not consult with about this problem. He wanted me to come into the his office for a follow-up. The GI doc must have called my regular doc and told him I came to see him. Has this ever happened to anyone? I feel a bit guilty - as if I messed around with the order of some medical chain of command.

Thanks

Jane

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Tue, 10-18-2005 - 9:16pm

Hey Jane,


Glad to hear you are doing better.

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 10-20-2005 - 12:44pm

Thank you for the colonscopy prep advice. It is going to be very helpful. Both my parents mentioned that the day before the procedure was much worse than the procedure itself.

I'm off now to concentrate on another kind prep-- for Hurricane Wilma, as I live in South Florida.

regards
jane

Community Leader
Registered: 10-01-2002
Sat, 10-22-2005 - 3:45pm

Jane,

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