So I Finally Got All The Results Back From My Testing...

[Myrna]

And everything was negative! I was tested for parasites, stomach emptying, endoscopy, colonoscopy, blood tests, and biopsies for Celiac, so my Doc said basically that it's GERDs and IBS. And just take immodium and a prescription for my nausea.

I know that I've had problems D-wise when eating wheat products. The doc just ignored that. He didn't really give me much info on IBS either. He said I probably had an infection some time ago (that I didn't realize I had had) and that's what triggered it. I asked him if it could be triggered by food and he just said yes for some and no to other, but don't worry about it.

I feel somewhat unsatisfied, I don't know why. It's not that I wanted something really wrong with me, just maybe something that was more definitive, and that I could do something about rather than the just live with it advice he gave me. So is that it for testing and what I can do? I'm taking wheat out of my diet anyway, and I'm wondering if I should try to take out gluten too?

BTW Symptoms for the past 9 months since my appendectomy include: diarrhea (tends to come in waves), sour stomach sometimes w/regurgitation, bloating, gas, fatigue, hypoglycemia, and last year I had severe vomiting for hours every month, until I had my appendix removed.

[sugarsue]

And everything was negative! I was tested for parasites, stomach emptying, endoscopy, colonoscopy, blood tests, and biopsies for Celiac, so my Doc said basically that it's GERDs and IBS. And just take immodium and a prescription for my nausea.

I know that I've had problems D-wise when eating wheat products. The doc just ignored that. He didn't really give me much info on IBS either. He said I probably had an infection some time ago (that I didn't realize I had had) and that's what triggered it. I asked him if it could be triggered by food and he just said yes for some and no to other, but don't worry about it.

I feel somewhat unsatisfied, I don't know why. It's not that I wanted something really wrong with me, just maybe something that was more definitive, and that I could do something about rather than the just live with it advice he gave me. So is that it for testing and what I can do? I'm taking wheat out of my diet anyway, and I'm wondering if I should try to take out gluten too?

BTW Symptoms for the past 9 months since my appendectomy include: diarrhea (tends to come in waves), sour stomach sometimes w/regurgitation, bloating, gas, fatigue, hypoglycemia, and last year I had severe vomiting for hours every month, until I had my appendix removed.

Hi, I'm sorry you are sick and not getting helpful responses from your doctor! I hope this post is not too annoying, especially since I don't know much about all this, but I was wondering, when you got your appendectomy, did you go on antibiotics? I had some huge bowel problems in the past after taking antibiotics and was much improved after taking a lot of probiotics. Just a thought I thought I'd pass along, just in case..... You could check out the Candida symptoms lists, they are quite extensive. Good luck to you!

Susan

[ShayFL]

Probiotics would be a good call. Did they test your gallbladder?

[Myrna]

Thanks for the replies sugarsue & ShayFL.

Yes, he put me on a probiotics for 3 weeks or so, but no improvement. I didn't have my gallbladder looked at recently, but before I was diagnosed with the appendicitis, my gall bladder was thoroughly check and was very healthy.

[Amyleigh0007]

A dx of IBS is very frustrating. I was dx when I was 14 but nothing helped except going gluten free. I would go totally gluten free, if I were you. If you aren't happy with your doctor try a different kind of doctor. I went to an allergist after my regular doctor pushed me aside. I was very surprised with how much she knew about Celiac. By going gluten free you have nothing to lose except the diarrhea, nausea, bloating, gas, etc.

[lizard00]

Did your problems start after your surgery? Sometimes, surgery can trigger Celiac since it's pretty traumatic to the body. And many of the tests are calibrated to be positive when damage is severe. Could be that you are not at the severe point yet (with only 9 months of symptoms).

Get a copy of your results and post them here. Many eyes are good, and sometimes GP's just aren't totally clued in on how to read them.

[Myrna]

Amyleigh0007: I'm thinking of going gluten-free, but it's intimidating, especially hard w/o a diagnoses. I did try it for a week a few months ago and felt great, but the docs seemed to think that didn't mean much. I've been to 2 GI docs. the first was a jerk; the second better, in that he was willing & tried all the tests he could. My GP suspected celiac, even after my neg blood test, that's why I was referred to the GI doc. The nutritionist I saw (for my hypoglycemia) was really nice and said everything sounded connected and similar to Celiac.

lizard00: All the bowel problems started after my surgery. Before this year, I've never had issues. I've always been very healthy, like barely get a cold kind of healthy. Last year's vomiting episodes might be linked to the appendix according to some, but the GI doc said it might have been related to my current symptoms. I think he really thought my stomach wasn't emptying.

How long does it take for damage to show up in a biopsy?

[ksymonds84]

I was diagnosed as IBS 20 years ago and Have had problems ever since (I am 43 now). Wheat was what I always thought was a trigger food especially when I went off bread doing the atkins when I was younger and felt fantastic. Shari Lieberman is a very well known nutritionist that specializes in gluten intolerance and celiac. She says she always puts her patients that were diagnosed with IBS on a gluten free diet for 3 months to see if it will help. I highly recommend you read her book "The Gluten Connection". No she doesn't blame everything on Gluten but see's a very high relationship to Gluten Intolerance with IBS, Lupus, MS, GERD, etc. I learned alot from her. Even though my tests were negative (and they will be if you don't have enough damage to produce the antibodies) I stayed with the gluten free diet from January to March then challenged it and all my IBS symptoms came back. Luckily I have a good doctor who diagnosed me gluten intolerant because of this challenge. I know its frusterating when your doc is not that helpful but luckily you can try the diet and see if your body responds and you don't need his permission! If you google IBS triggers you will find sites that include wheat, gluten, dairy etc as common trigger foods. I'm one of those that believes IBS is only a catch all diagnoses when the docs can't find anything but does mean something is irritating your digestive system and going gluten free will tell you if gluten intolerance is giving you these symptoms. Dairy is also a big trigger for people who say they have IBS so you may want to do that at the same time to make it easier. Good luck and let us know how you are doing.