# waiting......



## 19204 (Apr 28, 2006)

It's true--I'm whining. A blatant plea for support!My symptoms started in Dec.; by Feb. I was pretty certain they weren't going away. So I had my first appt. with my primary care physician March 1. And that started the slow motion journey to the GI guy. First consultation was today (ten weeks.) And the soonest they can get me in for a colonoscopy is June 29th, so another six weeks. (I am on the cancellation list; I think I gave the scheduling lady an I-am-going-to-cry look.)So, four months of wondering--is it colon cancer, IBD, IBS, or yet some other thing? Not to mention I'm feeling steadily worse.This is the *only* area practice on my insurance plan.whine.


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## SLBEL3 (Jun 1, 2000)

Hi Jld. Welcome to the board







What types of symptoms are you having? most likely if they just started comming on it's either an infection that just won't quit or ibs. Can you remember what brought it on? I'm surprised the doc sent you to a GI doc so quickly. it took me 8 years of complaints to get sent to a GI doc and finally had my first colonoscopy in 2003. All they saw was some inflammation and redness, but told me it was normal and just ibs. I'm sure yours will be fine too. Especially if symptoms have been there for such a short period of time. unfortunatley there is no cure yet for ibs. but who knows, you may be one of the lucky ones that won't suffer with it for long before tehy come up with a cure. I'm going on 12 years now and I can't even imagine living like this another 12+ years. I don't know how the people on this board that have had it for 30+ years are doing it, I have so much respect for them and they are such an inspiration to everyone on this board. Hope you stick around and help when you can, and ask for help when you need it.Good luck and keep us informed of your test results and progress.


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## 19204 (Apr 28, 2006)

Hi Sandi,Thanks for the welcome.I really don't have the "right" symptoms for ibs; I just have pain. Crampy pain, dull pain, ache, burning pain, all lower right quadrant (abdominal.) The pain started in Dec. 2005, and is steadily getting worse. Diet doesn't seem to affect it; I've tried lactose-free and gluten free, and I normally eat a pretty healthy, high-fiber diet. For a bit there I thought cutting back the caffeine was helping, but based on yesterday (ow), I don't think so.I've been taking Naproxyn (Aleve), but it doesn't really help. Happily, the pain doesn't keep me up at night or wake me up. The crampy pain, BTW, is really on a schedule. It shows up late afternoon or evening, almost every day, independent of my eating patterns, i.e. skipping meals doesn't make a difference.Neither the PCP (primary care physician) nor the GI doc will/can speculate as to what this might be. My mother died of colon cancer, so that's the justification for the colonoscopy (and what I'm currently worrying about.) So, it'll be three months from my PCP's "We should check you for colon cancer" to the actual test, and four months since I first complained to my PCP. The GI guy says that if the colonoscopy isn't definitive, he'll send me for a CT scan. I don't know how long *that* will take. I've already had abdominal and pelvic ultrasounds ("unremarkable.")So, I'm hoping it's something non-life-threatening. hopehopehopehope.jld


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Might be Chronic Functional Abdominal Pain. Basically the pain of IBS without the stool consistancy or frequency issues.You might try peppermint if you can't get a prescription antispasmodic and see if it helps. I just use the peppermint Altoids from the store. CFAP is basically treated like IBS pain so antispasmodics or antidepressants to re-set the pain threshold.K.


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## 19204 (Apr 28, 2006)

Thanks, Kathleen!I had seen the CFAP entry on wikipedia; that's part of what got me looking at IBS and IBS treatments.I have experimented a little with Heather's peppermint-ginger-fennel oil caps. The instructions say to take one on a empty stomach an hour before eating. I'm such a snacker that "empty stomach" doesn't happen much. So I've tried the caps just a couple of times. Can't say I noticed an improvement, but the sample size is small so far.For all my whining, I know I am better off than most with my symptoms. At this point, it's more the worry than the pain that's getting to me (I'm having a good day today pain-wise.)BTW, my mother was diagnosed with "spastic colon" decades ago. She had urgency, but neither D nor C. I remember how difficult and disruptive it was in her life.On the testing front, I had blood drawn yesterday for CBC and a metabolic panel. I asked for a copy of the results to be sent to me. We'll see if I get them.


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## 19204 (Apr 28, 2006)

I had my colonscopy today. Lovely prep, but you've already heard that.No colon cancer! (yay! I have a family history)Now I'm scheduled for a CT scan next week.I am continuing to hope for a diagnosis of something non-life-threatening.


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## 18941 (Jul 21, 2006)

I'm new to the site. I'm 49 and I've had IBS since I was a child. I've had cronic constipation/diarreah and discomfort for most of my life but the full blown episodes of nausea, indigestion, gas, cramps and painful explosive diarreah (where you want to die...)have shown up and gone away for periods of time. Lately, things have gotten worse. Over the last week I have been in a cycle of extreme symptoms. After a major episode, I can eat a few times with mild bloating, and indigestion, but then it builds to a complete, painful 2-hour episode including vomiting the last time. I'm concerned that something more is going on. It's like my body is trying to get everything out! Has anyone else had this experience? Bacterial infection? Bowel obstruction?Time for a colonoscopy? Any information would be helpful!


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## 14534 (Jun 5, 2006)

Sounds very familar.... suggest you keep a little log of time you ate.. what you ate and especially note any stress. A lower fat diet is important for IBS. I was having similar issues and if you have a combination of GERD and IBS you could be experiencing that. See if your pain and issues can be narrowed down to food or stress or higher fat diet. You may be able to limit some of the symptoms by narrowing down contributing factors.... but seeing a gastro doc would not hurt. Unfortunatley sometimes you have to be your own detective to narrow down issues.Crampster


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## 22408 (Jul 26, 2006)

I believe that I have had IBS for years they were just calling it different names when I was 16.The pain recently gave me some big concern because it felt like I was haveing contractions. The pain was in the middle of my upper abdomin.Just terrible contraction until I would vomit. Thats when i went to the hospital!After three trips to the hospital they said it was my galbladder and took it out. But the contraction started again about two weeks after that. SO I have had three different scopes and the tube done the nose,CTs many blood test. And they say is its a bad case of IBS. You must do all the scope test just to rule out other bad things!!


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