[19790]

I am a pretty emotional person at times, taking things seriously, and often getting worked up over things. Usually, throughout my life big stress leads to vomiting, upset stomach, and sometimes IBS symptoms including both mucus, diarrhea and constipation, it's never really consistent, just when I am stressed- things aren't normal for a few days!As i just finished my first year of grad school, and am embarking on quite a bit of school debt, and a big research project this summer for which some of my funding fell through, I have been stressed, and having pretty manageable/mild diarrhea and constipation. My fiancee panicked when it lasted a week, and I was having some blood with lots of mucus. When I told him it's fine, and goes away when I relax, he made me go to the dr right away just to check things out.To make a short story longer, I had the regular stool tests, blood tests, everything. Perfectly healthy immune parameters, no parasites, good vitamins, no anemia. Then, the dr said I probably have IBS, and said he had two treatment options, one for if i had health insurance, the other for if i didn't. Of course I said that I have SOME health insurance, but as a student with lots of financial issues, still need to be frugal. He said "You look rich, so we'll send you to a gastroenterologist and have a full colonscopy". I took prednisone for 7 days, my symptoms went away immediately, and I feel great a week later. I saw the gastroenterologist, his med schhol buddy, who did not ask me a single question, did not look through any of the results and records I brought and said he just does a colonoscopy on everyone. He said not to really dig around about the procedure because I'd only get scared, and we'd better put off telling my family until we get the test over with. I'm an out of state graduate student living on loans, and this procedure will be HUNDREDS of dollars out of pocket, even with my insurance. I feel as though I am being trapped, when I called to say that I don't feel comfortable and I might want to wait and go home to a bigger facility and get another opinion, my primary care dr told me I was being ridiculous and needed to do it ASAP. He said my bloodwork is completely normal, and although he is sure there is no cancer, that I should go through with this,and plan on doing a colonoscopy maybe every 1-2 years. He even said that I will enjoy how it feels, which really creeped me out.Being the informed, science graduate student that I am, I have been reading some articles on pubmed that point to health care providers as a potential problem for patients, by sometimes using these testing methods when they aren't always necessary. My mom had one a few years ago, and after a few hours when I got worried, I found her in the hall of the hopsital completely naked and incoherent with a row of other naked colonoscopy victims along the hallway. I have been having trouble sleeping, and even having nightmares about this whole procedure. The gastroent dr didn't even ask me about my history, how i felt, or tell me anything about what would happen. Something inside me says this isn't right. I am scared to death, and now because of my mother's experience and my own recent experience with these drs, I want to forget my problem and just live with it secretly. I thought I was doing the right thing by talking to my fiancee about it, and seeing a dr. But now, the stress is worse than annual/bi-annual bout of "IBS" symptoms ever were. Can you give me any advice? Or recommend a good place to find a considerate, private professional who will be sensitive to my inability to be so open about my bowels? Thanks

 

[Kathleen M.]

The problem is with the bleeding and the prednisone taking care of it I would tend to land on the maybe you need to be checked out with a colonoscopy. That the blood tests were normal is encouraging, but it does sound like it might need to be checked out.What people "enjoy" usually is the drugs, not the proceedure. They do tend to make you looped out (which is why your Mom seemed incoherent, she wasn't all the way back from being put into twilight sleep). If you have someone you can trust to be with you when they can that may help with your anxiety.It may be worth trying to find a doctor you are more comfortable assuming you are able to find ones that you do feel comfortable with (some people are anxious enough that even the best doctors give them the willies) That you talk about them being "Colonoscopy victims" makes me think that it would be difficult for you to feel comfortable.http://www.iffgd.org/Contact/contactus.html is one place I can think of to maybe find someone you could be comfortable with.http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/contact.htm is the clinic I went to.It is important to find a doctor you feel listens to you, and it is hard when you are away from home and dealing with these sorts of things. You might call your doctor from back home and see if they know someone in your area, or if there is a different doctor that you feel comfortable with ask them for a recomendation, or one of the professors. Usually if you ask it like "If you or someone in your family had to go to the GI doc who would you go to" That sometimes gets a good answer out of people. K.

 

[19790]

Thanks so much for an honest reply. I am looking into lots of online information from the many support and information groups out there, and still digging through primary literature and research. This message board has been invaluable for helping me hear other people's similar concerns, worries, symptoms, etc. I really applaud everyone for being so brave and supportive of each other! Thanks for your tips, and hopefully finding a physician that I can cooperate with about my treatment options will really help! Thanks again!