Yay, A Gi Who Understands

[Avalon451]

Well, after my 16 y.o. DD's celiac diagnosis, my lifelong symptoms began to make sense. My blood was inconclusive-- a big "maybe" and my doctor thought I should just try the gluten-free diet along with my 3 girls (all positive bloodwork, we're not going to scope the younger two). I wanted a referral to a GI doc and an endoscopy, but he thought I shouldn't go through this "invasive" procedure, though he was happy to refer me and see what the GI doc thought. I was worried I'd get an old-school guy who wouldn't want to test me, and was marshalling all my arguments and symptoms. But when I went to see him this morning, he never even blinked, just said, "Oh, yeah, definitely need an endo." He said that his colleagues think he's obsessed because he tests everybody who comes through the GI department, but he's found that fully 40% of people who show up in his office test positive for celiac, even though it'd never been on their radar. Makes sense, if you think about it.

Anyway, after reading about so many horror stories on here for docs who misdiagnose or ignore symptoms, I'm so grateful that the one I was randomly assigned to in our clinic's system was so knowlegeable.

He had a cancellation, so my endo is scheduled 10 days from now, Tuesday the 7th. Then I can get on the gluten-free diet along with the rest of my family and find some relief!

I never thought I'd be HAPPY to be getting an endoscopy. Huh.

[nora-n]

"but he's found that fully 40% of people who show up in his office test positive for celiac"

Good!