If there was an "Intestinal transplant"...

If there was such a thing as an intestinal transplant, I would be the first one on the waiting list. As many of you know, for many years I have been dealing with intestinal issues. I went for many years without seeing a Dr and just dealing with the pain. It wasn't until 2005 that I finally went to see a Dr. I was under the care of a Kaiser Dr, and for those of you who do not now, Kaiser is not the best choice in health insurance if you have health issues. They just brush you off, give you meds, and pretty much just say deal with your pain if it's not life threatening. I was told after a few tests that I just had IBS, here's some meds to control it and was sent on my merry way. At that time, I had trusted what my Dr's had said, and just went with it and sucked it up.

I was fourtunate in Feb of 2008 to get a job with a great company that offered a very nice Health Benefits Package. I had been dealing with a lot of stomach issues from Aug 07- Feb 08 and knew I needed to see a Dr again. I was lucky this time and found a great GI Dr. He took the time to listen to me and gave me the care that I deserved. He ran a bunch of tests, most came back normal except for I have high levels of inflammation somewhere in my large intestine. We basically just said try these meds for awhile and let's see where this goes. This was last June of 08. Ten months went by and things proceeded to get worse. I was a month away from getting married and my stomach was a mess. My Dr was a bit concerned that I was still having the same levels of pain and discomfort so he ordered a bunch of blood work and a series of stool samples. All but one test came back normal. I have an elevated inflammation levels. This is typically related to UC - Ulceritive Colitis, so my Dr said that it would probably be good to do another Colonoscopy to see where and if I was still inflammed. I had my 2nd Colonoscopy with the year on June 3rd. It did show inflammation but not enough for my Dr to make a diagnosis of UC. The pathologist looked at my test results as well and could not say that the inflammation was something chronic, therefore he could not say it was UC.

I followed up with my GI Dr last Friday and I have him stumped. I'm still in pain and he can't figure out why. Since the inflammation is not related to UC, he thinks that it could be related to a joint/muscle problem but isn't sure because there are other avenues to check before I'm referred to another specialist that specialies in joints/muscle diseases. He has ordered a Catscan of my pelvic/abdomin, a blood test to check for Chrones, and a Mekel's Scan. It's a waiting game now. I have my Catscan tomorrow @ 9: 40 am. If this comes back normal, along with the other two tests, then my Dr can pretty much rule out everything, rare diseases and all, and look more into IBS or my reproductive issues that can mimic gastrointestinal problems. If he feels that it's clearly not either of these two, then he will refer me to a Rheumatologist who specializes in joint diseases.

So for now, I'm having to deal with the pain - while taking pain meds and just wait and see how the tests turn out!