Bozzy, you naughty person you! You can't say something like that and then just leave us hanging! I'm dying of anticipation, tell us tell us tell us now!!
Paul, refresh my memory - what tests have you had so far? Colonoscopy, upper endoscopy? Stool samples, bloodwork (specifically vitamin levels and CRP & ESR)? If you haven't had any of those yet, I'd do those next. If the options after that were MRI, CT, or pill cam - I'd go for pill cam or MRE (MRI-enterography - an MRI that specifically looks at the digestive tract). With pill cam, you may or may not have to do prep (it's up to your doctor/hospital, they may just make you fast/liquid diet, or they may make you drink colonoscopy prep). And there's a slight chance (about 1 in 1000 is what I read) that it'll get stuck. Other than prep and that slight risk, pill cam is a great test to have and pretty easy, and it sees a lot. MRE, you'll have to drink some contrast (which doesn't taste as bad as colonoscopy prep) and it can see a fair amount of detail too, and there's no radiation like there would be with CT-enterography. If you have claustrophobia then MRE is probably not the way to go, although I find that MRIs in general are pretty easy tests to have. So, either one would be good to have. I'd stay away from the CT just because of the radiation - each CT scan you have increases your risk of developing cancer, so when possible, have an MRI instead of a CT.
Pantaloons, that's great you finally got an appointment! I hope the GI is good and takes you seriously! Keep us posted, got my fingers crossed for you that all goes really well.
Carrie, how are things today? Did you ever pass that stubborn patency capsule? I hope today is lots better than yesterday at any rate!
As for me, I'm feeling okay today. But I need to make the bleeding happen for my colonoscopy. I usually bleed after a long (10+ miles) bike ride. I haven't ridden my bike in awhile because of the bleeding - but I need to make sure I can still force an episode before my colonoscopy. So on Saturday, I'm going for a nice long bike ride, and I'm hoping to pass blood afterwards.
That sounds ridiculous but I need to make it happen. This will be a test run, and then the following week I'll do a slightly longer/more intense ride just before I do prep to get the bleeding going again. If I'm actively bleeding during my scope, then my GI should be able to pinpoint the source and the cause. So, that's what I'm up to lately. I'm so glad I can tell you guys things like this - I can't exactly go on facebook and be like, "Gonna go on a bike ride and then poop blood for 2 days!"
Ha ha.