How long/ or have you been re-evaluated
#238298 - 01/13/06 01:20 PM
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kmk
Reged: 01/11/06
Posts: 35
Loc: NY
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Since this seems to be the most general place on the message boards....How long do you wait / or have you been re-evaluated by a GI. I was labeled (since IBS is a catch all phrase anyways) IBS 3 years ago but lately I have been having a really hard time with my symptoms and can not seem to get myself under control. Have people gone back to the GI for a re-eval and gotten the whole battery of tests done again or do you go to the PCP or do you just cope. How long would you / do you let your symptoms persist before going back to the doctor? Vague question I know. I am just trying to gage what my next step should be. Thanks
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I wish I knew a solid answer. I went for almost 8 years after my initial diagnosis because things got out of control. At that point, of couse, tests were repeated. I would think if the same GI saw you again, he/she could determine if it was something new or just a bad IBS flareup. Perhaps they could re-up some prescription meds to help? I'd at least start with a visit to my regular physician. Sometimes an internist can get you started in the right direction with an anti-spasmodic.
Just a thought. Hope you feel better soon.
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God is Faithful!
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The tests for IBS don't need to be done over again IMHO. You don't now suddenly develop chrones, colitis or Celiac's when you were found negative before. So you shouldn't have to be tested again for those things if negative once on the upper and lower GIs and blood tests. But you can go back to a GI to talk about present symptoms and what might be done for them. The problem is they only have drugs to give you and they only work nominally for most people or not at all for others- like me. So my GI doc has nothing to do for me anymore until a new drug that might work comes out.
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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the exception would be for ob/gyn problems that cause abdominal pain.
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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Quote:
the exception would be for ob/gyn problems that cause abdominal pain.
I definitely do not need that type of physician 
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Here...there....everywhere
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I have stabilized quite a bit since I had my 'scopes over the summer. At my follow up appt, I was told, barring any new problems, I shouldn't need a coloscopy again until I'm 50. That's a ways off for me. I could have about kissed the doc when he told me that!
When my symptoms flared a year ago, I waited about 2 months before I made an appt. with my GP. Didn't see a GI for 4 months after that.
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I have never even bothered to see a GI doctor. I doubt I ever will go to one. I don't see the point to have a scope ran through me to just find out what I already know, that they can't help.
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It was 6 years since had all my tests and sigmoidoscopy done. I went to my GI the other day and told him that I still have pain in my stomach but that my stool is now formed and no D. He told me that I should not still have symptoms and that he wants to do a colonoscopy now since it has been 6 years since.
I don't understand why I need to go through the tests again. He made it seem that I need to do the tests every few years.
I was wondering if he just wants me to do it again because he wants more money? I hope not.
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rox53
#238374 - 01/13/06 05:29 PM
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Sand
Reged: 12/13/04
Posts: 4490
Loc: West Orange, NJ (IBS-D)
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Quote:
It was 6 years since had all my tests and sigmoidoscopy done. I went to my GI the other day and told him that I still have pain in my stomach but that my stool is now formed and no D. He told me that I should not still have symptoms and that he wants to do a colonoscopy now since it has been 6 years since.
I don't understand why I need to go through the tests again. He made it seem that I need to do the tests every few years.
I was wondering if he just wants me to do it again because he wants more money? I hope not.
It sounds like your doctor is just being cautious. I think a doctor taking continued abdominal pain seriously is a good thing. Odds are he won't find anything this time either, but I'd be more upset if he wasn't checking.
As for having to repeat a colonoscopy every few years, the usual interval is 10 and for people with risk factors - like me for reasons other than IBS - the interval is 5 years.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Sand
#238376 - 01/13/06 05:35 PM
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rox53
Reged: 02/23/04
Posts: 26
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I guess you're right. I'm just extremely afraid of the colonoscopy. Since I've done the last sigmoidoscopy I have gotten bad anxiety and sometimes have panic attacks about anything regarding my stomach and pain.
He did tell me that he could put me under anesthesia so that makes me a little less afraid. But I am deathly afraid of the prep for it because I don't want to be doubled over in pain. Plus I've never been put under so I don't know how that will effect my stomach after the procedure.
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Re: Sand
#238415 - 01/13/06 08:32 PM
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Sand
Reged: 12/13/04
Posts: 4490
Loc: West Orange, NJ (IBS-D)
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Well, first, if all you've ever had is a sigmoidoscopy, I definitely think a colonoscopy is in order.
The prep is disgusting and exhausting, but I didn't find it actively painful. You can do a Search and see what other people have said about it. I did get pretty C afterward, but I think that was partly because I ignored the doctor's advice to eat lightly for the first 24 hours - I was starving, so... Since I'm D usually, I treated it as a chance to eat some stuff I normally wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, like some prunes. I also walked miles, all inside the house. I did NOT get sick to my stomach, if that's what you're worried about. Everybody reacts differently, but it seems to me that the drugs they use now to put you out are pretty good nausea-wise.
I wasn't totally out, just what they call (or used to call) "twilight sleep". That means I could respond when spoken to loudly, but most of the time I was in la-la land. I didn't really know what was going on and, frankly, didn't care.
As for pre-procedure anxiety, I'm a big proponent of drugs in limited situations. If the thought of the colonscopy is making you anxious, try an as-needed anti-anxiety med, like Valium. It should take the edge off a little. (As with all addictive/habituating meds, do not take too much or too regularly or too often.)
One last piece of advice. If your doc thinks you might need an endoscopy, too, have them both at once. Only one prep, only one dose of anesthesia, only one recovery period. My GI calls this a "double dip". Those GI guys, they're such comedians.
I hope this helps. A colonoscopy really is a good idea and the relief of actually hearing everything looks okay in there is pretty great.
Take care.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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Quote:
The tests for IBS don't need to be done over again IMHO. You don't now suddenly develop chrones, colitis or Celiac's when you were found negative before. So you shouldn't have to be tested again for those things if negative once on the upper and lower GIs and blood tests.
Not sure about celiac, but Crohn's and colitis CAN develop later on, and you CAN have both IBS and IBD (even though IBS doesn't appear to lead to any increased risk in IBD). It is also entirely possible to have Crohn's hiding somewhere that you can't see in a colonoscopy. I am not as familiar with colitis, but I do believe that this can also be tough to diagnose. If your symptoms are suddenly getting severely worse for no apparent reason and persist over a long period of time (i.e. give it more than a few weeks), I think it is well worth it to go back for tests.
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jen
"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC
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