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Why It Helps To Have A Good Doctor...

lob6796

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lob6796 Contributor
lob6796
Posted

So I can eat whatever I want still. No, the biopsy didn't come back negative... it didn't come back at all! My mom and dad drive me up to Portland for the biopsy yesterday. We went early so I could go to Whole Foods beforehand and stock up on some gluten free supplies. That place is huge btw. We all actually had a pretty good time in the store, I think it was a good experience for my parents to see how many gluten free options there are out there. So we head over to the GI place. They're super nice, I check in and a little while later a nurse comes out and gets me. Takes me into a room, we go over my whole medical history in detail, then she sends me to the back where I meet my "prep and recovery" nurse. Change into the oh-so-fashionable johnny, and I wait for her to return. Now at this point my stomach is doing crazy flip flops. For one, I hadn't had anything to eat OR drink since 10pm the night before, and the other was me freaking out that they were putting me to sleep. So when the nurse comes in, I ask if I can do the procedure awake. She laughed and told me no, but she was nice about it at least. Gives me my IV and I sit and wait another 15 mins or so. My tech comes and wheels me into the operating suite. I sit and talk with him in there for seriously at least 20 mins. Then the other tech comes in at that point and gets me all hooked up to the machines, asks me what flavor numbing lollipop I want, and we are good to go. The doctor comes in, says hello to me, sits down with my chart for a second and....

Up he goes. "you have Von Willebrand's Disease?"..."yes"... and out of the room he goes. 20 minutes later he comes back in shaking his head. He informs me that he was just on the phone with my hematologist and that I am not allowed to have the biopsies. ....EXCUSE ME???.... He proceeds to inform me that my physician never called to clear it through my hematologist and of course I can't have biopsies done - they are going to be cutting small chunks out of my intestines and (kicker) I could bleed to death. Super awesome! not. So, what he set up with my hematologist is that they are going to schedule (god I hope next week) for me to go up to her office, sit and have a transfusion of Humate P, then go over to HIS office, have the biopsy done, then go back to HER office the next day and get another transfusion. At $23,000 a pop. Joy. So then the doctor calls my physician's office and gives them hell for not keeping my best interest at hand and you know what they tell him? "We didn't know she had Von Willebrand's Disease" I was stunned when he told me that. I'm like "it is in my chart and I wear a Medic Alert bracelet for crying out loud" he goes "I know, thank god at least you wrote it on your intake form when you came in".

So at least this new doc has a brain in his head. The other people.. who knows. So I get to do it alllllll over again. My poor mother was in the waiting room freaking out because they kept telling her I was still in the surgical suite. She's like "it is a 10 minute procedure!". By the time I got to recovery, I almost fainted from lack of drink/food. It was like 4pm. My surgery time was 2pm. At least they fed me :)

And so continues the saga...

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Michi8 Contributor
Michi8
Posted

Wow! Talk about miscommunication.

Seems to me, given the expense and danger of the biopsy process for you, that a biopsy may not be worth the risks. Is there a reason you must go ahead with biopsy? Did you have positive blood tests? Would you consider dietary response to be proof enough?

Michelle

lob6796 Contributor
lob6796
Posted
  • Author
Wow! Talk about miscommunication.

Seems to me, given the expense and danger of the biopsy process for you, that a biopsy may not be worth the risks. Is there a reason you must go ahead with biopsy? Did you have positive blood tests? Would you consider dietary response to be proof enough?

Michelle

He isn't going in just for the biopsies, although he will be doing them while he is in there. My physician wants to check for any other possible problems as well since I have so many stomach issues. He wants to know what is the celiac, and what is possibly another problem.

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    • marion wheaton
      Are Lindt chocolate balls gluten free?

      By marion wheaton · Posted

      Thanks for responding. I researched further and Lindt Lindor chocolate balls do contain barely malt powder which contains gluten. I was surprised at all of the conflicting information I found when I checked online.
    • trents
      Are Lindt chocolate balls gluten free?

      By trents · Posted

      @BlessedinBoston, it is possible that in Canada the product in question is formulated differently than in the USA or at least processed in in a facility that precludes cross contamination. I assume from your user name that you are in the USA. And it is also possible that the product meets the FDA requirement of not more than 20ppm of gluten but you are a super sensitive celiac for whom that standard is insufficient. 
    • BlessedinBoston
      Are Lindt chocolate balls gluten free?

      By BlessedinBoston · Posted

      No,Lindt is not gluten free no matter what they say on their website. I found out the hard way when I was newly diagnosed in 2000. At that time the Lindt truffles were just becoming popular and were only sold in small specialty shops at the mall. You couldn't buy them in any stores like today and I was obsessed with them 😁. Took me a while to get around to checking them and was heartbroken when I saw they were absolutely not gluten free 😔. Felt the same when I realized Twizzlers weren't either. Took me a while to get my diet on order after being diagnosed. I was diagnosed with small bowel non Hodgkins lymphoma at the same time. So it was a very stressful time to say the least. Hope this helps 😁.
    • knitty kitty
      My only proof

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      @Jmartes71, I understand your frustration and anger.  I've been in a similar situation where no doctor took me seriously, accused me of making things up, and eventually sent me home to suffer alone.   My doctors did not recognize nutritional deficiencies.  Doctors are trained in medical learning institutions that are funded by pharmaceutical companies.  They are taught which medications cover up which symptoms.  Doctors are required to take twenty  hours of nutritional education in seven years of medical training.  (They can earn nine hours in Nutrition by taking a three day weekend seminar.)  They are taught nutritional deficiencies are passe' and don't happen in our well fed Western society any more.  In Celiac Disease, the autoimmune response and inflammation affects the absorption of ALL the essential vitamins and minerals.  Correcting nutritional deficiencies caused by malabsorption is essential!  I begged my doctor to check my Vitamin D level, which he did only after making sure my insurance would cover it.  When my Vitamin D came back extremely low, my doctor was very surprised, but refused to test for further nutritional deficiencies because he "couldn't make money prescribing vitamins.". I believe it was beyond his knowledge, so he blamed me for making stuff up, and stormed out of the exam room.  I had studied Nutrition before earning a degree in Microbiology.  I switched because I was curious what vitamins from our food were doing in our bodies.  Vitamins are substances that our bodies cannot manufacture, so we must ingest them every day.  Without them, our bodies cannot manufacture life sustaining enzymes and we sicken and die.   At home alone, I could feel myself dying.  It's an unnerving feeling, to say the least, and, so, with nothing left to lose, I relied in my education in nutrition.  My symptoms of Thiamine deficiency were the worst, so I began taking high dose Thiamine.  I had health improvement within an hour.  It was magical.  I continued taking high dose thiamine with a B Complex, magnesium. and other essential nutrients.  The health improvements continued for months.  High doses of thiamine are required to correct a thiamine deficiency because thiamine affects every cell and mitochondria in our bodies.    A twenty percent increase in dietary thiamine causes an eighty percent increase in brain function.  The cerebellum of the brain is most affected.  The cerebellum controls things we don't have to consciously have to think about, like digestion, balance, breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, hormone regulation, and many more.  Thiamine is absorbed from the digestive tract and sent to the most important organs like the brain and the heart.  This leaves the digestive tract depleted of Thiamine and symptoms of Gastrointestinal Beriberi, a thiamine deficiency localized in the digestive system, begin to appear.  Symptoms of Gastrointestinal Beriberi include anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, headaches, Gerd, acid reflux, gas, slow stomach emptying, gastroparesis, bloating, diarrhea and/or constipation, incontinence, abdominal pain, IBS,  SIBO, POTS, high blood pressure, heart rate changes like tachycardia, difficulty swallowing, Barrett's Esophagus, peripheral neuropathy, and more. Doctors are only taught about thiamine deficiency in alcoholism and look for the classic triad of symptoms (changes in gait, mental function, and nystagmus) but fail to realize that gastrointestinal symptoms can precede these symptoms by months.  All three classic triad of symptoms only appear in fifteen percent of patients, with most patients being diagnosed with thiamine deficiency post mortem.  I had all three but swore I didn't drink, so I was dismissed as "crazy" and sent home to die basically.   Yes, I understand how frustrating no answers from doctors can be.  I took OTC Thiamine Hydrochloride, and later thiamine in the forms TTFD (tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide) and Benfotiamine to correct my thiamine deficiency.  I also took magnesium, needed by thiamine to make those life sustaining enzymes.  Thiamine interacts with each of the other B vitamins, so the other B vitamins must be supplemented as well.  Thiamine is safe and nontoxic even in high doses.   A doctor can administer high dose thiamine by IV along with the other B vitamins.  Again, Thiamine is safe and nontoxic even in high doses.  Thiamine should be given if only to rule Gastrointestinal Beriberi out as a cause of your symptoms.  If no improvement, no harm is done. Share the following link with your doctors.  Section Three is especially informative.  They need to be expand their knowledge about Thiamine and nutrition in Celiac Disease.  Ask for an Erythrocyte Transketolace Activity test for thiamine deficiency.  This test is more reliable than a blood test. Thiamine, gastrointestinal beriberi and acetylcholine signaling.  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12014454/ Best wishes!
    • Jmartes71
      My only proof

      By Jmartes71 · Posted

      I have been diagnosed with celiac in 1994, in remission not eating wheat and other foods not to consume  my household eats wheat.I have diagnosed sibo, hernia ibs, high blood pressure, menopause, chronic fatigue just to name a few oh yes and Barrett's esophagus which i forgot, I currently have bumps in back of my throat, one Dr stated we all have bumps in the back of our throat.Im in pain.Standford specialist really dismissed me and now im really in limbo and trying to get properly cared for.I found a new gi and new pcp but its still a mess and medical is making it look like im a disability chaser when Im actively not well I look and feel horrible and its adding anxiety and depression more so.Im angery my condition is affecting me and its being down played 
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