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Unable to complete colonoscopy due to stricture

i was in the hospital for 5 days last week, they were running urgent tests...

during this time i had and upper and lower endoscopy....

the good news is, this time they sedated me properly... i was struggling to keep my eyes open, and there was only very mild pain...

the bad news is...

they still couldn't get past my stricture (in my ascending colon)

the first colonoscopy when i was in the most pain ever, the same thing happened... the GI said he couldn't complete the colonoscopy because he couldn't pass my stricture...


is this normal for those of you who also have strictures?

my crohn's is the most severe in my cecum/terminal ileum area (although other areas are inflamed)... but i think it's mainly the cecum that's impacted by the stricture.

since they can't complete my colonoscopy, does this mean the stricture is more severe than usual?


i will be starting remicade soon.
 
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I had a CT scan done since they could not get by my stricture either. Possibly Barium swallow could be used to see the severity also, but it is a guessing game without a visual of the narrowing.

Dan
 
yeah they did a CT scan as well. i'm so glad i didn't have to do the barium swallow.... though i had A LOT of peglyte... yuck!

they almost had me do some kind of thing where they stick a tube down my nose.... thankfully there was a mix up and i didn't have to do it *phew*
 
I don't know much about this but when I was diagnosed a few weeks back they could only get so far into my ileum because of a stricture and they haven't made a big deal about it.

I'm still waiting to find out from scans how bad/permanent the stricture is. Don't want surgery unless absolutely necessary. Thouhg I suppose i could just eat baby food for the rest of my life!!
 
well they told me the first time this happened that i might need surgery if medication doesn't help by the time i get a follow up done...

did the follow up examinations with a new GI, stricture seems to be getting worse...but they are putting me on remicade treatment to see how it helps before deciding to consult with a surgeon.

(this has all happened over 8 months btw)

i am hopeful that the remicade will improve things, at least buy me a couple more years before needing surgery. i wanna finish my degree first (which will be next summer).
 
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