# Does anyone else find the doctors and GI's extremely useless?



## oceannir (Mar 6, 2012)

It amazes me that for such a prominent problem that the doctors show such a small amount of empathy / care for it. I've seen several over the years (GI's) and all of them seem to feel the need to throw the label 'IBS' on the condition and say deal with it. Thats pretty much the extent of their help. I constantly suggest ideas of other things it could be and they dismiss them and say that I have IBS without running any form of testing. I don't mind if they don't find anything, but I expect them to atleast exhaust all possible avenues before doing that, and they just don't seem interested. I just can't understand why we get labeled with this. I find IBS, particularly constipation predominant to be far more dehabilitating than most serious illnesses, but the doctors just don't seem interested in trying to treat us.I'm just curious how you guys/girls combated this?


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

yes, you're right--constipation dominant ibs can be extremely debilitating and it's a shame that a lot of the docs are so dismissive of it and not at all proactive in treating it.neither my primary care doc nor my current gastro took me seriously until i told the gastro i wanted the sitz marker test. on the night of day four of the test i ended up in the ER with a severe impaction and urinary retention--i'd retained over a liter and a half of urine.now the gastro and my primary doc do take me seriously but i think it's a shame it took an ER visit to get their attention. but i guess it was worth it--lol..didn't you say the hospital said you have a rectal prolaspe? i do hope your docs have responded by taking that seriously --providing referrals to a specialist, tests, etc...


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## oceannir (Mar 6, 2012)

annie7 said:


> yes, you're right--constipation dominant ibs can be extremely debilitating and it's a shame that a lot of the docs are so dismissive of it and not at all proactive in treating it.neither my primary care doc nor my current gastro took me seriously until i told the gastro i wanted the sitz marker test. on the night of day four of the test i ended up in the ER with a severe impaction and urinary retention--i'd retained over a liter and a half of urine.now the gastro and my primary doc do take me seriously but i think it's a shame it took an ER visit to get their attention. but i guess it was worth it--lol..didn't you say the hospital said you have a rectal prolaspe? i do hope your docs have responded by taking that seriously --providing referrals to a specialist, tests, etc...


Ah yes, I have something called rectal prolapse. From my understanding its not something you really want operated on as that seems to cause more harm than it cures. I am awaiting the specialist regarding that, it takes many months unfortunately.I went back to the regular GI because I wanted to discuss what I feel is malabsorption symptoms, being that of floating stool with white ball things in it. He said that due to my height I wouldn't have malabsorption and that its just IBS. I demanded he do a stool sample to atleast look at what i'm talking about and he gave it to me.I just feel it shouldn't be us that is demanding these things, that the GI's should be testing for chrons, celiacs, gall bladder issues, parasitical infections, food intolerances etc etc before we tell them to. I just don't understand how you can come in with quite severe symptoms and they dismiss you as being too 'focused' or 'obsessed'.


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## Dreyfuss (Dec 19, 2011)

My last GI was decent guy who did his best....but they all seem to have the same meds and tests to offer. Some GI's are more burned out then others. Returning to a GI who has nothing more to offer is as useless as bouncing from one GI to another.


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## Maple12 (May 25, 2012)

Dreyfuss said:


> My last GI was decent guy who did his best....but they all seem to have the same meds and tests to offer. Some GI's are more burned out then others. Returning to a GI who has nothing more to offer is as useless as bouncing from one GI to another.


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## Maple12 (May 25, 2012)

My GI seemed to sneer when I asked him, after several visits and CT, MRI, and the oscopies, what was my diagnosis. He shrugged his shoulders and did not verbalize. I stated that I suspected it might be IBS with constipation. He shrugged his shoulders again and said "I guess that is about as good as anything". I got a dietitian since I had lost so much weight--after the first few weeks, food symbolized pain, and I ate as little as possible. The dietitian wanted to know if I had had the breath test series for fructose, lactose and bacterial overgrowth. I went back to Dr. Charm School, and he said he never ordered those tests. But, he did order the fructose test to be done in his office. The tag team of nursing assistants did not give me proper instruction about holding my breath, etc, so the test was invalid. Things didn't seem right, the inarticulate na's could not even explain to me what to expect from the test. So I hauled off to Johns Hopkins U. H. They immediately started a protocol that they had refined. First, pancreas tests and CT, stool sample, then breath tests 1 week apart. When I finish the breath tests, I go back to visit the outpatient GI to find out the next steps. My suggestion is that if you can't get a GI that is interested in optimizing your life and comfort, go to the nearest university hospital setting. I did learn from the dietitian to look for fructose items, and discovered that the very foods that I used for comfort were causing a share of my problems. I was using honey several times a day in my tea, and blueberries daily in my oatmeal and yogurt. And watermelon twice weekly was my idea of a healthy diet. (I am a vegetarian) Found out that honey is the worst fructose, that blueberries were high fructose, but could eat raspberries and blackberries in moderation. Further, one can eat cantalope but not honeydew or watermelon. When I started approximately a low fructose intake, a lot of cramping was prevented. Still haven't had the Johns Hopkins tests, there is a waiting list for their schedule. Dr. Charm School felt that colonoscopy, endoscopy and a vascular MRI ruled out cancer or circulatory issues, and that was all he needed to know. I've never encountered such disregard for current protocol.


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