Bozzy, thanks for checking in! How's your little girl doing now, is she feeling better? Good luck with your assignment!
Lizbeth, good luck with the MRI! Is it an abdominal MRI or MRE? I hope it gets you some answers. Have you ever had an MRI before? If not, my #1 piece of advice is, dress warmly (but no metal of course, so no zippers etc). I've had 2 MRIs, and they pump cold air through the machine and it's freezing! I've worn slippers and warm sweaters, with a blanket on top of me, and I was still cold. Anyway, good luck and fingers crossed that it's worthwhile and that you get a good result out of it!
Akiva, for what it's worth, it definitely doesn't sound like IBS to me. Keep fighting for answers, I know it's tough and frustrating but don't give up and don't accept IBS when you know it's not that. Can you see a different doctor, or re-do some tests once the pred is all out of your system? And surely you've mentioned the blood, getting up in the night, etc to your current doc? If they know you have all these symptoms and that you respond to pred, but they're still saying IBS, then it may be time to get a second opinion from a new GI. Hang in there, keep fighting for answers.
Bureaucratic, I've heard of Ehlers-Danlos but I don't know much of anything about it. I'm curious, though, how do you determine what type of hypermobility you have? I have elbows and knees that bend too far, but as far as I can tell, those are my only hypermobile joints. And I know hypermobility can happen in a variety of illnesses so that complicates things too. I recall that Bozzy has hypermobility which is likely linked to her Chiari (Bozzy, correct me if I'm wrong there!). And I've read that people with Asperger's often have hypermobile joints too, and I strongly suspect I may have Asperger's. At any rate, I'm glad to hear it sounds like you have a lead to go on, and I hope this leads you to some answers.
Cindy, that's so miserable when a smell alone makes you more nauseous, I've been there too. At one point during a very bad period of nausea for me, my brother was living with me at the time, and I was sitting on the couch just trying to think calming thoughts. My brother came home and he had some take-out Indian food with him, and the smell was so atrocious that I puked in the kitchen sink. It was horrible! I don't like Indian food anyway, the spices really upset my tummy, and to have to smell it when I was already feeling bad, it just did me in. So I totally feel for you, certain food smells should just not be allowed! And food commercials on TV should not be allowed during colonoscopy prep.
Seriously, Red Lobster's food is terrible but their commercials make the food look delicious, and I think they played their commercials about 800 times during my last prep. And prep makes me nauseous too, so it's really weird feeling so hungry and yet nauseous at the same time! Ugh!
For those in the US, is this crazy cold weather affecting your joints too? My hips, knees, lower back, elbows, and right now even my ankles are or have been aching. First it was knees, then it was lower back. Yesterday I felt it in my elbows, today it's ankles/shins. I cannot wait for this super cold weather to be over with already! If this goes on for much longer, I'm going to have to start using my cane, and I just don't think it's a good look for a 34 year old to walk with a cane - people seem to think I'm faking, I'm "too young" to have arthritis, etc. Whatever, I don't really care what people think, but I also don't want the pain to get bad enough to require a cane. Bleh! Sorry for the mini pity party. On the plus side, my canes are cute and I can accessorize them with my outfits.
I have a black cane with a decorative swirly silver handle, and I have a dark brown one with a gold handle that's in the shape of a duck's head. I'm kind of obsessed with accessorizing so canes are just another form of bling, right?
