Waiting for diagnosis

[Fix-it-Girl]

I'm new here. I've had life-long gut problems. I'm 63. My mother and father both had life-long gut problems and my mom had Celiac Disease. For most of my adult life I was constipated, then I had about 5 years of normal bowel movements, but almost daily stomach pain after eating. I was vegan for 4 years and got so I couldn't eat many types of vegetables at all without bloating and diarrhea. I started eating meat, dairy and eggs about 2 months ago, but the diarrhea persisted. I have had watery stools for 7 months. Some days I would have diarrhea 10-15 times a day. That severity comes in 2 weeks blocks, then settles down to watery stools once a day. I never have lower gut pain or blood in my stool. My doctor ordered a fecal exam that came back negative for blood, but high in WBC (it was 20-30 hpf). We are waiting for insurance approval to do a stool culture. My doctor suspects UC or Crohn's. I suspect Celiac disease since my mother had it and I don't have bleeding, mucous, cramping, weight loss or fatigue. But I don't think Celiac causes leukocytes to show up in the stool. I have a referral to a GI for upper and lower GI on Sept 7. Thank you for letting me join your forum.

 

[Scipio]

The upper and lower endoscopies should be very telling as to whether you have Crohn's or UC. How about a fecal calprotectin test? Has the doc ordered that? That test can be very useful for distinguishing between IBD and IBS.