Carrie, I've never heard of fibro causing IBD-like symptoms. Pain yes, but other symptoms no. I have read that having one auto-immune illness, such as fibro, can make you more susceptible to developing other AI illnesses. I do know a girl who has both UC and fibro, so it's definitely possible to have both. I'm not sure where your doc is coming from, trying to write off your symptoms as being part of fibro, and not doing any biopsies just seems like a waste of a c-scope! There are illnesses like microscopic colitis that can ONLY be diagnosed via biopsy. If you know David, the admin of the forum, he has microscopic colitis and he said that his c-scope looked fine and normal, but evidence of his illness was found on biopsy and that's how he got diagnosed. So, I really don't understand why your doc wouldn't do any biopsies. That makes no sense to me!
Sunshine, I hope your appointment goes well today and that this GI can get you some relief, if not answers! I also didn't know the Mayo clinic has an ER, thanks Tracy for the info. I get bad joint pains all over too when I flare up, even though I only have confirmed arthritis in my hip. When I flare, all the joints start to ache - lower back, both hips (arthritic and non-arthritic one), knees, ankles, wrists, etc. But when I am not flaring, the only joint that hurts is my arthritic hip, and that's not very bad at all now that I've been doing physical therapy for it. So, if you get out of this flare and still have an achey joint or two, see if your GP can x-ray it. That's how my arthritis was found.
Star, I stopped taking my multi-vitamin too. I figured, since I drink Ensure most days, that's already got a lot of vitamins, so I probably am just being redundant by also taking a multi-vit. So I stopped, and I haven't noticed any difference either. Although, I am anticipating getting a cold soon. I have 2 nieces and 2 nephews, all very young and full of germs. My oldest niece is turning 8 soon and I am going to her birthday party and I
always seem to get sick when I see my nieces & nephews. When I was on Entocort, 2 of the times I was sick (one cold and one flu) were due to my nieces & nephews - the flu was awful, my niece was sniffling and coughing at xmas, and then 2 days later I had a horrible fever (not a flare because I don't get fevers when I flare). I enjoy seeing them, but not getting their germs! So I think I'm going to start taking vitamin C and maybe zinc ahead of time to try to prep my body for another cold. I don't know if I'll actually get a cold or not, since my immune system is so out of whack, but I always anticipate catching one when I see the little kids.
Allie, how are you doing today? Hopefully better still?
Sorry to hear everyone's on their time of the month! Funny how that works out, we're all in sync. I plan on being kind of miserable tomorrow & Friday - of course being on my period makes me crampy, and high heat & humidity also makes me crampy. It's supposed to be 92 here tomorrow and 90 on Friday, with high humidity both days (for Star or anyone else not familiar with fahrenheit, I found a conversion thing online, and it looks like that's about 32 or 33 celsius - very warm!). Sooo, I shall be cramping for the next 2 days. The good news is, it's supposed to get down into the 70s by the weekend and into the 60s on Monday! I love fall weather, when it's sunny but a little chilly and perfect jacket weather. So at least I've got that to look forward to.
