Sunday Weigh In (11/08/2015)

[star0210]

Think it is about the same as last week. It has been a rough week. Thursday night and Saturday night both had me very close to going to the ER with abdominal pain and bad GERD (thursday night only for GERD). I was miserable for nearly 12 hours. I did start on Protonix Friday evening and it seems to be helping somewhat with the GERD. I see my GI again Wednesday morning before heading out of town for a Thursday meeting. I am going to push for more diagnostic testing because something is still not right. I still believe that I have an intestinal hernia again, and it if it isn't that then my medical team needs to find out what is going on because this is not normal.

BTW, does anyone know if CT with enterography is actually just a fancy term for CT with Contrast? CT enterography is supposed good at determining causes of occult bleeding and small intestinal blockages. I also hear that camera endoscopy is good as well. Any info in this regard would be appreciated.

I had one of these last week. My first CT scan with oral and IV contrast (had to drink the barium stuff) showed possible Intussusception and a small hiatal hernia. The report recommended a CT enterography to confirm. For that I had the same IV contrast but for the oral I had to drink milk...YUCK! They let me add chocolate flavoring to it so that wasn't too bad. That scan showed neither the Intussusception nor the hernia.
I'm going in for upper endoscopy next Tuesday to check that box. Then my GI doc is having me consult with a surgeon. He thinks I'm having intermittent blockages. He said it's possible I have an internal hernia that doesn't show up on imaging studies. I've been having increased reflux issues lately which I'm guessing could be stemming from this hiatal hernia. He said it prob didn't show up on the CT enterography because some of my distention had gone down a bit and so maybe it wasn't being pushed up.
Who the heck knows. Going get my blood drawn today to see if my WBC has come back to normal yet.

Good luck with your issues...I sure you get them figured out!

 

[DSRIGGS]

Thanks Star and good luck finding your issue.

I am scheduled for Wednesday to do the CT enterography.

The GI today was saying there was definite reflux seen on my upper GI and is thinking it could be bile but as explained to him the bile doesn't enter our systems until way past the duodenum so how could I have bile reflux?

One step at a time.

 

[marissamast]

Hey Scott sorry you are going through all this. ..but question...I have to get a CT with the oral contrast next week, did you need to do anything different and what did you tell them about your rearranged innards?

 

[newanatomy]

I had one of these last week. My first CT scan with oral and IV contrast (had to drink the barium stuff) showed possible Intussusception and a small hiatal hernia. The report recommended a CT enterography to confirm. For that I had the same IV contrast but for the oral I had to drink milk...YUCK! They let me add chocolate flavoring to it so that wasn't too bad. That scan showed neither the Intussusception nor the hernia.
I'm going in for upper endoscopy next Tuesday to check that box. Then my GI doc is having me consult with a surgeon. He thinks I'm having intermittent blockages. He said it's possible I have an internal hernia that doesn't show up on imaging studies. I've been having increased reflux issues lately which I'm guessing could be stemming from this hiatal hernia. He said it prob didn't show up on the CT enterography because some of my distention had gone down a bit and so maybe it wasn't being pushed up.
Who the heck knows. Going get my blood drawn today to see if my WBC has come back to normal yet.

Good luck with your issues...I sure you get them figured out!

I am sorry you are still going through all of this crud. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[DSRIGGS]

Hey Scott sorry you are going through all this. ..but question...I have to get a CT with the oral contrast next week, did you need to do anything different and what did you tell them about your rearranged innards?

@marissamast No there is nothing special to do it tell them. You already said you are getting a scan with contrast so you are good. I have had numerous CT scans before and after Ds surgery and they have always been with contrast, so I am not sure where the issue has come in the past with others. You will simply drink a prep solution for a couple hours before the scan and then when they do the scan they will inject iv contrast. The CT scans themselves are maybe 10 minutes and very easy.

The only difference for us is the oral contrast we drink doesn't go through our BPL limb so the iv contrast is needed to effectively visualize that part of our SB. That is my understanding.

Good luck on whatever it is you are having troubles with.

 

[DSRIGGS]

I am sorry you are still going through all of this crud. I hope you feel better soon.

Thanks Hon. I got the CT scan disk last night and have looked at it and my official diagnosis is that I would suck at Radiology because I can't tell what it that they look for. I am not sure if dark or light is good or bad and if sometimes light is good and sometimes bad. Lol

I am sending the disk to Dr K today. I emailed and used drop box to send last night but it didn't work for him.