Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hey Guys!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm finally home from the hospital. Feeling a little worse for wear from lack of sleep (the hospital schedule was no exactly nice to a night-hawk like me), but other than that, I'm ok.

All the tests they did were negative which is good, and they finally managed to get my potassium back up to a reasonable level, however my iron and B12 are still very low.

Didn't really get an explanation for my problems per se, but I am feeling much better. Basically, they weaned me off half the pills I'd been taking because they felt they were unnecessary (my old doc just threw pills at me all the time) and that made a differnece right away. They also got me eating better (3 squares day plus snacks) which helped.

Basically they determined that there's nothing terribly wrong with me (i.e. crohn's or celiac). There's still one more test they want to do (a 48 hour fecal fat test) to ensure I'm absorbing fat properly (as I continued to lose weight in the hospital despite eating more than double what I was at home). Other than that, it's kinda terrible what they came up with.

They think that I did have a gallstone attack back at the end of January, and because I didn't seek any medical treatment the residual pain from that is what initially caused me to start limiting foods and eating less. Then I found this diet, but basically never got past the "what to eat when you can't eat anything" except occasionally and was still in pain, so I wasn't getting anywhere near a balanced diet. They're not even convinced I have IBS, they think it's more likely my endometriosis because it has been left untreated for so long.

So essentially, I starved myself sick. I barely realized it, but by the time I went in there I was barely consuing 400 calories a day and it was all pretty much bread. So I started to malabsorb even what I was putting in because my gut got so sick. Sadly, they're sort of treating me like an eating disorder case, which makes me really mad because I asked for help so many times from the other doctors, and was upfront about what I was and wasn't eating, and none of them helped me, and eating disorder people generally hide it. I just don't like the stigma that goes along with that (for example, I could hear the nurses questioning whether I was hiding food, complaining if I didn't finish everything on my plate etc).

So, I have to see a dietician once a week and have an appointment with a psychiatrist in two weeks...they have admitted they don't think I have anorexia or buliemia, but rather something they call "disordered eating" which means that for whatever reason (response to pain etc) you start eating badly and restricting vital food to the point where your body turns out itself.

On the upside, I am feeling better after being properly nourished at the hospital. I seem to be tolerating dairy fine and they are essentially forcing me to eat it, so I've had Lactaid milk (just in case), cheese and yogurts. I'm also having to increase my fat content but just temporarily because the weight is falling off so quickly.

So, that's my update, a little weird, but hopefully they're right. Due to Heather's information and research, I do wonder if I even have IBS since the dairy is giving me no problems at all...

I'm sad to think in a way I did this to myself, but then I think back to my GI appointment in March, where I actually told the doc I was basically living off bread and water and needed help, and he said "you're young and chubby, take a multivitamin, you'll be fine" So, if you can't even get help from a GI doctor...what can you do?

Anyways, it's good to be home and I'm sorry this was so long

I look forward to going through the posts and seeing what everyone has been up to!

Kelly

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