Very Ill. Pls Read My Story (Long)

[mushroom]

I cannot really believe that it is cheaper to do an endoscopy with biopsies than to do a celiac blood panel!! Either lab work is totally off the chart or they are not paying the GI specialists enough! And MRI's are hellishly expensive. Why,oh why, would they run every test except the one that would give you a quick answer. If they do an endoscopy on you, make sure that that they take at least eight samples because some GI's go in there, have no idea what they are looking at, take three samples and say, nope, no celiac there!!! It beggars belief.

[Di2011]

Or is this a case of specialists going for the big bucks, whether it is taxes, insurance company or the individual paying?

I'm not usually a cynic but something smells fishy

[Deniseannette]

Its confusing because I have a primary doctor. She told me that the celiacs

blood test is very expensive. But she was the one that ordered the MRI of my brain and spine.

My neurologist and GI specialist work at the same hospital. Because I was diagnosed with H-pylori back in July (bacteria that causes ulcers) My GI specialist wanted to do endoscopy to make sure i didn't have an ulcers. I took a 7 day treatment for the bacteria, after it was confirmed through blood test.

When I met with my neurologist for the first time, she mentioned celiacs disease and said that she would tell my GI specialist to look for it as well when they do the endoscopy.

I'm confused and I'm kinda all alone. My father, he believes me to an extent. My stepmonster--i mean mother is another story (I'll save that for an episode on Maury) at least i still got my humor!

Anyways yeah, I don't know what I should do. It very hard to get in touch with either one of them. Maybe I should call and ask if they are looking for celiacs as well.

[lemontree1]

Celiac does not show up on ANA. My ANA was negative. All the Celiac tests were positive.

[luvs2eat]

How awfully frustrating to feel so crappy and have doctors ignore you or tell you it's in your head!

My poor youngest daughter was diagnosed w/ celiac (I have it and middle daughter has it... oldest daughter was diagnosed last year), went gluten free... she was very well versed in the process having been around me for years... and proceeded to get worse and worse and worse!! She ended up eating essentially white rice, eggs, apples, and cauliflower for more than a year! She went to her GI once with some research she'd done and he put his hands on his hips and said, "Oh great... you've been on the internet. Why don't YOU tell ME what's wrong with you?" Good thing I wasn't there... I'd have gone for his throat. The poor kid burst into tears and said, "I'm just trying to figure out WHAT'S WRONG!!!"

Peeps here are not only incredibly knowledgeable... they've also seen and experienced it all. This is a good place for support and answers. Please keep us posted.

[Celtic Queen]

Apparently it's really expensive and they would rather do the endoscopy first

That's just crazy. The endocsopy costs way more. The blood test is as simple as having a lab tech draw blood and send it off. Mine was done in my GP's office. The endoscopy requires you to go to a hospital or an outpatient facility, have anesthesia, and at least one nurse as well as the GI doctor present. I just had all this done in August/September and the blood work was much cheaper. My biopsies, endoscopy, colonoscopy costs about 5 times what my blood panel cost. I'm in the U.S., but the costs should be comparable.

She went to her GI once with some research she'd done and he put his hands on his hips and said, "Oh great... you've been on the internet. Why don't YOU tell ME what's wrong with you?" Good thing I wasn't there... I'd have gone for his throat. The poor kid burst into tears and said, "I'm just trying to figure out WHAT'S WRONG!!!"

luvs2eat, I would have gone for his throat too. What a horrible way to talk to anyone. It's crazy how many doctors are afraid of patients who actually take the iniative to find out what's wrong with them. It seems to disturb their God complex.