- Joined
- Nov 13, 2010
- Messages
- 231
I have Crohn's and had two surgeries at my terminal ileum some years ago.
A couple months ago I suddenly developed a good deal of LEFT-sided pain with cramping and gurgling. This was new and different from what I'd experienced for the last 30 years of Crohn's. Normally I simply have pain at my anastamosis in my lower RIGHT quadrant.
I checked with my GI & he had me do an MRI enterography, and this showed no strictures or inflammation - it showed no problem. But I clearly have a problem. So my gi next did a colonoscopy to try another means of identifying the problem and to rule out any visible sign of colonic irritation. He got his scope up through my colon and then a further 4 feet into my small intestine, above my anastamosis, but saw no Crohn's/no problem.
It's my understanding that my options to continue to pursue diagnostic would include 2 more choices:
1) capsule endoscopy, which is the swallowing of a capsule-size camera, which takes pictures as it goes through the whole intestinal tract, but my GI says that my anastamosis is too tight for the capsule to fit through, so it would get stuck.
2) double balloon enteroscopy, which is where they sedate you for 2-3 hours, sometimes with general anasthesia, and they put their scope all the way through the intestines. I've tried to read up on this option. It sounds as though approximately 1% of the patients who undergo this procedure develop pancreatitis, probably from the scope pressing too hard against the pancreas, which does not sound good. So I'm pretty leery of pursuing this.
So, if anyone has any thoughts regarding diagnosing, please post.
Also, an important question I want to ask everyone, is whether anyone has ever had Crohn's diagnosed on their left side? If this is Crohn's, then the location is sort of in the middle of my small intestine, rather than at the terminal ileum, which seems surprising, since I typically just think of Crohn's as occurring at the terminal ileum. I don't know how likely or how typical it is for a person to have Crohn's at the terminal ileum for 30 years and to then suddenly have Crohn's more than 4 feet above that location. If anyone has personal experience or insight, please post.
I wonder whether this could be IBS. I've never studied up on IBS so I don't know how IBS feels or how it behaves.
Thanks.
A couple months ago I suddenly developed a good deal of LEFT-sided pain with cramping and gurgling. This was new and different from what I'd experienced for the last 30 years of Crohn's. Normally I simply have pain at my anastamosis in my lower RIGHT quadrant.
I checked with my GI & he had me do an MRI enterography, and this showed no strictures or inflammation - it showed no problem. But I clearly have a problem. So my gi next did a colonoscopy to try another means of identifying the problem and to rule out any visible sign of colonic irritation. He got his scope up through my colon and then a further 4 feet into my small intestine, above my anastamosis, but saw no Crohn's/no problem.
It's my understanding that my options to continue to pursue diagnostic would include 2 more choices:
1) capsule endoscopy, which is the swallowing of a capsule-size camera, which takes pictures as it goes through the whole intestinal tract, but my GI says that my anastamosis is too tight for the capsule to fit through, so it would get stuck.
2) double balloon enteroscopy, which is where they sedate you for 2-3 hours, sometimes with general anasthesia, and they put their scope all the way through the intestines. I've tried to read up on this option. It sounds as though approximately 1% of the patients who undergo this procedure develop pancreatitis, probably from the scope pressing too hard against the pancreas, which does not sound good. So I'm pretty leery of pursuing this.
So, if anyone has any thoughts regarding diagnosing, please post.
Also, an important question I want to ask everyone, is whether anyone has ever had Crohn's diagnosed on their left side? If this is Crohn's, then the location is sort of in the middle of my small intestine, rather than at the terminal ileum, which seems surprising, since I typically just think of Crohn's as occurring at the terminal ileum. I don't know how likely or how typical it is for a person to have Crohn's at the terminal ileum for 30 years and to then suddenly have Crohn's more than 4 feet above that location. If anyone has personal experience or insight, please post.
I wonder whether this could be IBS. I've never studied up on IBS so I don't know how IBS feels or how it behaves.
Thanks.
