Need your advice- please.

[Ryanseoldier]

Hi Guys,

I appreciate you taking the time to read this and for any advice you can give me.

I need your expert advice. I feel like I've been having symptoms of what I think is crohns disease for the past 8 years. I went to a couple gastroenterologists over the past few months, had my blood tested (everything was normal), I had a stool test (everything was normal). Often though I see red flakes in my stool that I cannot attribute to anything that I've eaten, sometimes these flakes are black as well, nothing like blatant bleeding though which has made this diagnosis more difficult. I don't have any abdominal pain or weight loss either. I have constant belching and it's not common after a bm that I use 1/2 a roll of tp.... I attribute this to mucus in my stool. It's hard for me to go to the doctor anymore... This stuff is kind of consuming my life....

They all think I'm a hypochondriac. I usually have BMs around Twice a day( loose stools). So I guess my question is, do you think this is worth a further investigation? I'm kinda going nuts with this thing...

 

[DJW]

Hi and welcome.

For you're own piece of mind I'd suggest a colonoscopy and an upper GI series. You could also keep a food and symptom journal.

Sendin you my support.

 

[dave13]

Yes,it is worth further investigation!.My introduction to CD was a trip to the emergency room for a blockage.Find a new GI if you have to,be tenacious and get answers.Have you had any x-rays,catscans,colonoscopy,SBFT,etc.?

 

[Lady Organic]

i'd take pictures of your red/black flaky stools to show at next GI. I've never heard of a crohns without abdominal pain, maybe possible but really unusual. but if its truly blood in your stool, a colonoscopy would be really important.

 

[Ryanseoldier]

Hi guys, thank you for the responses, I really appreciate your guys' help. I showed him a picture of the red flake and he said it looked like tomato skin... But it happens pretty frequently so I don't think so, and then where are the black flakes from? I also get like random skin rashes, I don't know if they're associated but it kinda makes sense to me... Is that a symptom you guys experience?

 

[DJW]

I was diagnosed with weight loss as the only major symptom. Pain didn't come until a couple years later. Rarely ever had blood.

 

[Ryanseoldier]

I understand. I appreciate the perspective, I'll definitely be looking further into it. Being that it's been eight years, how bad do you things are once I get checked out?

 

[Lady Organic]

make it a strict diet avoiding all tomato products or red products and also black products for a good 2 weeks and observe your stools. you'll prolly get an answer.

 

[Ryanseoldier]

Thanks for the advice. From what I've been reading vegetables can cause blackness from the iron. Do you think I should avoid vegetables and stick to just like carbs and chicken? Or is that overdoing things?

 

[Lady Organic]

just simply avoid orange-red and dark green,blue,purple,black foods. You wanna see if those colors in your stools are from food residues just as your GI thinks or truly blood.
in your testimony only that thing is a red flag. Other than that, nothing else raises echos of crohns. Dont let it consume your life. You've seen more than one GI and all your blood tests are normal. I think you dont have to worry. just make sure these flakes are not blood and you shall be fine.

 

[UnXmas]

Did the stool test you had done include checking for blood?

Do you have any particular reason for suspecting Crohn's? Many, many things can cause loose stools.

If you've had symptoms for eight years, did you not seek medical attention before? Have you symptoms worsened recently and led to you seeking help now?

I'd avoid going on any kind of strict diet at this point, there are other ways to check for bleeding.

Have you been prescribed anything to treat the loose stools?

If you're worrying about this a lot, do you think further testing would put your mind at rest? I think that's a key thing to consider if you're going to ask for more investigation. You could have a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy - if the results come back normal, would you feel relieved, or would you feel you still need answers? I think you need to find a gastroenterologist who is on the same page as you - are you simply wanting to rule out anything very serious, do you want your symptoms treated, regardless of the cause, or do you want a diagnosis, even if there's nothing seriously wrong?

(Sorry for all the questions!)