Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Back From The Appointment

Hi guys,

So I just wanted to update you all on how my appointment went with the new GI doctor. The couple of differences than my last one was the 1) He was a "he" (my last one was a woman) and 2) He was very fluent in English, which the last one seemed to struggle with so we couldn't really understand each other.
He is young (36, I think he said) and from the UK (which is good for me because he knew some of the drugs I had mentioned from when I was over there) and he actually took 45 minutes to talk to me!

The last lady gave me *maybe* fifteen, but most of that was an exam.
He asked me lots of questions, and answered most of mine. My stupid GP sent over a form that said I had IBD, not IBS, so he was kinda confused about that and not very impressed with my GP as she also did not send any of my file, test results, or anything.
He sent me for some blood work and is having my GP fax the rest of my recent test results over before he decides if I need any more tests.
He gave me a prescription for pantaloc for the reflux, and I am going to try that one out and see how it affects my D (the last couple I went on made me super, super sick). He has also put me on dicetel for the cramping/D.
He also said, at my request, that he would get me in to see the dietician at the hospital there so that I could try and sort my diet out more to be healthier.
There are a few things I wished I could have gotten a bit more of a concise answer on (like a specific pain that I get in my back that I *think* is the reflux but I need to know what to do if it comes on as it is *agonizing*) but I think overall it went really well.
He told me to try out these medications and I can come back and see him again in October, unless I have a really bad reaction to the medication in which case I can call sooner. Even if I do react at first to the pantaloc, I am going to try and stick it out and I'll take a short term disability leave if I have to to see if it settles down after a while.

The only downside so far is that the pantatloc for 3 months cost me $198 as my extended health covers *none* of it (whereas it covered all of the dicetel). The pharmacist advised me to have the doctor write a letter to my extended health company to see if they would cover it at his request, so I will try that. In the meantime, I could only afford to fill one month... so I dunno whether to hope it works or not, hee hee.

Anyway, so it went much better than I expected and I also picked up a work book thing on dealing with anxiety and stuff so I can try to avoid medication as my anxiety has really sky rocketed recently.

So there it is, I'll let you know how the meds go... I am off to do a board search to see what others have said about them!

Cheers!
Steph

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~~I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell-I know right now you can't tell~~Matchbox 20
IBS-D,pain.

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