Am I just freaking out, stomach issues? Sigmoidoscopy and biopsy came back normal
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi, almost 2 months ago I was admitted into the ER because I suddenly had some horrific stomach pains and a horrible painful diarrhea episode. Now, I've been known to have stomach aches every now and then, but usually I can attribute that to some bad eating habits or they're not terrible enough for a cause of concern, usually something Pepto or Mylenta would fix. This time around when I went to the ER, definitely not. There was bits of blood in my stool as well, which I thought was just attributed to hemerrhoids since I had one before and assumed it came back. They did a CT scan and blood work at the ER. Blood work showed a slight elevation in my white blood cells which they said could be an infection. CT scan showed I had inflammation in my intestines. They set me up with a round of flagyl for a week which helped with the pain after a while. I had a GI doctor appointment where he said he suspects it was an infection that brought me into the ER with that much pain since I have no history of any other conditions or family history with such conditions. He performed a sigmoidoscopy since the CT scan showed inflammation in my lower left abdomen area. Sigmoidoscopy came back fine apparently (I was really out of it after the exam since I was sedated and don't really remember a whole lot haha). He said I have a healthy colon but do have some internal hemerrhoids and should be upping my fiber intake and vegetables which makes sense since my eating habits are pretty awful. He also took a biopsy and I was told that was normal after a week. My question is, though, it's been almost 2 months since my visit to the ER and I still am not completely fine or back to my normal self. I still have issues with constipation and sudden multiple trips to the bathroom. Not as much pain as the original ER trip or anything close to it, but somethings I feel like I'm cramping inside my lower left abdomen region, especially when I need to go to the bathroom or just at random points. Could the sigmoidoscopy or biopsy have missed something, or am I just freaking out for no reason? The latter could definitely be it since I've been scaring myself silly looking things up online. I'm a 23 year old female, by the way if that helps and have been quite stressed at work for a month prior to my ER visit. Maybe stress had to do with it? But if this was an infection that took me into the ER, shouldn't that have been gone by now? I've been having soluble fiber supplement in my water for some time now and a glass of warm honey water and have been eating Activia Probiotic yogurt, too since I've read probiotics are good to eat. Any advice would be great! I'm just so scared when it comes to health issues, I'm otherwise a fairly healthy person I'd say. I haven't worked out since the ER incident since I'm not sure if that's good for me to do right now, but prior to that I'd work out quite consistently. Thank you so much for all your help in advance!
1 like, 11 replies
pippa58442 hydrogurl01
Posted
Sounds like IBS if all your tests were normal and you have had stress. Did the gastroenterologist mention IBS? Fear of doctors missing your symptoms is a common worry if you have IBS. I have IBS and it took three and a half months to diagnose. By that time, my health anxiety was through the roof and I strongly believed something serious had not been picked up. I googled too much to give doctors more to work on since most of them couldn't help me and tests showed nothing.
hydrogurl01 pippa58442
Posted
He didn't mention IBS at all. Do you think that's something I should mention to him? He just said something about an infection and that it will take a while for my symptoms to heal. Is it normal for an infection to last that long?
pippa58442 hydrogurl01
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hydrogurl01 pippa58442
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pippa58442 hydrogurl01
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hydrogurl01 pippa58442
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Thanks for the clarification on that! I have an appointment with the GI doctor tomorrow so I'll be sure to bring that up. Pretty sure he said they tested for cdiff in the stool samples I previously gave them since he didn't mention anything else. I would have hoped they would have looked for this too but if not, it'd definitely be a good thing to bring up.
pippa58442 hydrogurl01
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Hawk76 hydrogurl01
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I also has a months long infection that was so bad they thought I had Chrons due to massive inflammation. They did a colonoscopy and endoscopy and the only thing they found were tiny ulcers in my colon.
After all of the tests I was diagnosed with post infectious IBS. I was prescribed a probiotic which cleared up most of the discomfort and it took almost 5 months to start eating normal again. If your body is still repairing itself you need to try and eat as much lean protein (fish/poultry) as possible and give it time.
But don't take no from your doctor. Be persistent, and get a new doctor if need be.
hydrogurl01 Hawk76
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That's so relieving to hear! I've been googling things, and seems like maybe Post Infectious is what I have, or at least in my opinion since everything came back clear. My throat kind of feels like it's burning inside and acidy which I found that acid reflux is a common symptom of IBS. I'm thinking of making another appointment with my GI doctor but I hate to feel like I'm being pushy when there's nothing really there. I'm just so exhausted from not feeling well and having the only thing told to me is I need more fiber and vegetables without any diagnosis being made. Is that weird of me to feel or is that generally how these doctors appointments work?
Hawk76 hydrogurl01
Posted
Yes please stay away from Dr. Google, who cannot legally prescribe any tests. lol The ad algorithims will all tell you we all have cancer.
Anyways, symptoms only tell your Dr where to start looking. If you've already finished all of that testing (blood, tool, imaging) all of the "scary" stuff is ruled out if it comes back negative. The problem with GI issues is that your tract can be really sensitive, and tied to anxiety, which tend to feed on one another.
I also think that people that spend all that $ at 10 years of medical schooling don't like not having all of the answers. So often Dr's I think get defensive and tell patients they just have to deal with it instead of looking more closely at the cause. That's why I told you to keep going to your doctor and if they aren't receptive to your concerns, or run out of ideas, to find another one.
I tried Activia, but I would suggest you get a 28 pk of Alieve at the drug store. I have a box on standby in case my IBS acts up. You don't need a prescription for it even though my GE told me to go buy it. Just finish the 4 week course and I'd be surprised if things didn't get better.
hydrogurl01 Hawk76
Posted
Thanks for the helpful advice! They were luckily able to fit in me for an appointment tomorrow afternoon, so I'll be sure to have a list of questions to ask the doctor and the things mentioned here. I wish he had done a full on colonoscopy rather than just a sigmoidoscopy when it was done since I'm starting to feel bits of discomfort and little pings of pain on my right side too, but i guess since the CT scan showed inflammation in just the left side it would make sense that that would be the only affected region. I'm really hoping I can get some better answers tomorrow. Thanks so much for the help!