Cat, thanks for sharing all that with me. I didn't know you had an eating disorder, I guess you never mentioned it before, but it's really encouraging to hear that you got past it. Sometimes I wonder if my eating disorder plays a role in my GI problems. It's not far-fetched, but it's not something that's obviously causative; even so, the question is still there.
Have your doctors given any explanation for the low Na and K levels even during periods of no D? The reason I ask is because Na and K are negatively correlated, so when one is low you would expect the other to be high. I don't remember any details except that aldosterone, the adrenal glands that release it, and anti-diuretic hormone are all big players in Na-K balance. Certain hormonal imbalances can mess with it. Anyway, I don't mean to be nosy, lol. I just find it interesting that they're both low.
I'm so sorry about your friend. I can't imagine losing someone and at 19 years old, at that. Although, I'm happy that instead of letting it break you, you used it to find the strength to put yourself back together.
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So today my mom and I were talking about me doing the colonoscopy, which btw I've decided to go ahead and do, when all of a sudden she remembers that my grandfather on my dad's side (the Ashkenazi side!) had bowel problems, possibly IBD but she wasn't 100% sure. Well, well! I only wish she remembered it BEFORE I filled out he forms at the doctor's office that specifically asked about that!
But now that I know, when I call the office to schedule my colonoscopy I'll also tell them to add this new little tidbit of info to my charts since it's relevant...and they asked in the first place anyway.
I've had really thin, long stools with grooves in them the past few days (and before, too, but less consistently) and all this time I was blaming it on the mysterious "hemorrhoid" I swear I could see coming out of my butt *ahem*. But the GI looked when he did the FOBT and rectal exam and he said he didn't see anything! He didn't even feel any hemorrhoids inside. The only thing he said was abnormal is that he thought he might be feeling some restriction (I think that's what he said, anyway). Obviously the scope will show any hemorrhoids that he couldn't feel if I even do have any, but apparently there is definitely no hemorrhoid hanging out! We figured it might just be prolapsed tissue since whenever I see it, it happens after a BM - or just me not knowing what I'm looking at >_< But that's not the point! The point is that I've been putting the narrow and grooved stools down to some hemorrhoid blocking my bum hole, but there ISN'T anything blocking my butt hole. So SOMETHING must be causing it! And he said that he may have felt some constriction in my rectum! That could explain it. Or it could also not explain it...but there's a chance it COULD. And that's what really made me decide to do the scope after all. Because maybe, just maybe, the cause of the narrow stools is some kind of narrowing of my bowel walls; stricturing would confirm inflammation which would confirm IBD and all of my symptoms. Hemorrhoids don't happen any further up than the rectum, and if there is anything going on beyond the rectum then that would also confirm IBD. Which means that maybe, just maybe, I can get a diagnosis. And if not, well...I'll cross that bridge when I get there. But for now it's a good enough reason to go ahead with the scope - right?
I'm sorry I've written so much. A lot going on now - which is good, things are finally moving in some direction.
How is everyone else doing? Any updates?
Eternal, why would it not be a diagnosis? I would think that thickening is enough for at least a tentative diagnosis even before the biopsy results get back. What did they say about the stricturing if not that it confirms an IBD Dx? Sorry if you wrote this before and I'm forgetting/didn't read.
