Bowel problems

[hc4361]

I won't go in to details here as somebody will be eating.

I am going to the GP soon about my recurrent problem. As repugnant as the idea is, will it be useful to take photos of my toilet pan after use, to show the doctor?
Is a picture worth a thousand words in this context?

[sara3]

oh blimey!

take a photo, but try to explain rather than shoving it under the doc's nose with no warning!

best of luck ;o)

[hc4361]

Thanks, sara. I think I'll take the photos but only show them if necessary.

[Sqad]

I hope this wont be a flash in the pan".................;-)

[hc4361]

sqad, is it possible to have malabsorbtion (sp) without losing weight?

[Sqad]

hc....I am not quite sure what you mean by "malabsorption"......I can only guess by your original post that you have developed fatty stools......forgive me if I an barking up the wrong track.

Initially there may well be no weight loss, but as the disorder progresses, say after a few weeks, then wight loss is indeed a common feature,

[Sqad]

"Barking up the wrong tree"............weight loss sp ^^^

[boxtops]

You might be asked to go back with a sample later, hc, so it can be analysed. Not very pleasant but it has to be done.

[Eve]

I have bile acid malabsorbtion but am hardly a starved waif. I found it made me crave food more as I'd just feel empty with the diarrhea as well, especially certain types of food like salt. I lost some weight when I started on my meds as I found I wasn't craving food so much.

They can do a sample if needs be to check for fat and undigested food etc... (if that is what the photo idea is for) as well to see diarrhea itself.

With mine (there are different kinds of malabsorption though) I get very frequent urgent diarrhea with huge amounts of water in it, often felt it was almost burning but think it's my poor bum getting so sore, I'd also get a lot of pelvic pain (no idea why though). Food would go straight through me. I'd feel drained a lot and have a lot of pain too and had deficiencies show up in tests like Vitamin D abd low iron count. I noticed a big difference in my hair skin, energy levels, all sorts when I started on meds.

I was under a gastro consultant and had a barium scan, cameras up and down and a pill camera (went through my system in under 5 hours) and they found the malabsorption in a Sehcat scan (took a radioactive pill and was scanned a week apart). It was the latter that found the malasorbtion.

They are still looking as Crohns was a suspicion (hoping it's a good sign I'm not skinny enough :)) as I have inflammatory arthritis, stomach ulcers, get fissures, recurrent abcesses and other stuff but no sign so far ("yet" as my gastro put it) but hoping not as I'd have though the scans would have picked something up.

Have you noticed anything in particular which you don't seem to be able to digest?

Hope you feel better soon!

[RATTER15]

I see a colonoscopy coming up!!

[sara3]

↑ the expert on the subject!

[scotman]

Well Ratter, what other direction would it go?

[carlton23]

If a colonoscopy is ordered, don`t worry about it, as there is nothing to worry about.

[Jemisa]

I've had bowel cancer and symptoms talked about here are nothing like those but please don't ever be backward in coming forward if you have got bowel probs. The doctor comes accross such cases every week. The size, shape, colour, & girth of your stool will not be a surprize to him.
Don't show the pic.

jem

[RATTER15]

Yes I had one, found nothing but a little polyp!! for all the good that done, they just as have shoved it my............................... Oh hang on..... they did!!

[Ric.ror]

Please dont read if your sensitive -
I too have had a colonoscopy - usual signals bleeding, pain when pooing etc
I dont mean to be indelicate but the size of my poos meant they were difficult to pass
The Colonoscopy gave me the all clear but they did say I had a rather loopy bowel and impressive haemoroids (sic)
The thing is I am sure the colonscopy has helped as I have not had problems with the size since having the procedure - wish I could say the same about the piles but I will just live with that

[JonnyBoy12]

This really is a crap question here. It is lucky none of us are eating now. I would ask your doctor before you go to these extreme lengths.

[bushbaby_de]

Jenna - I was really interested to read your reply as it sounds a lot like what I'm going through, but my GP is convinced that its just IBS. I can barely keep food in my tummy before it passes through, which makes me hungry all the time and for really odd and specific things sometimes. I can see that things clearly aren't being digested properly and I get a lot of wind/bloating and discomfort and pain. She did diagnose a fissure but put that down to unregulated IBS. What sort of steps did you have to go through to persuade your GP to look into it more?

[Eve]

It was a looong process. Strangely enough when this came out (diagnosed about a year and a half ago) it linked back to when I was sent into hospital by my GP when I was about 12ish (20 years ago now!) and they said then they thought I mightn't be digesting my food properly! Had some tests then, barium meal etc... and they thought it might be giardiasis (sp?).

I had eating problems for quite a while so I doubt much notice was taken and I tended to avoid doctors where anything eating related was involved so nothing much happened for a while.

Then I had the usual it's probably IBS/stress thing (usually when they saw what I did on my notes - oh, you're a lawyer, you must be stressed - and probably my having had the eating problems - fair play). I always worried I had caused the problems myself with the eating problems so was loathe to raise it much for a while and I also had a menieres disease problem which I was getting sorted (diagnosed, drugs etc...).

It was a few years ago I saw a GP (after a couple of stomach ulcers and recurrent abcesses and other things) who said that I shouldn't let myself be fobbed off with IBS etc... as to him it sounded like more, mentioned inflammatory bowel disease (Crohns/Ulcerative Colitis) and that I should get referred. Around the same time I was seeing rhumatology for my now diagnosed arthritis and they referred me themselves for the same reason (inflammatory bowel disease and certain arthritis is linked).

My rhumatologist prescribed me meds (sulfasalazine) for the arthritis he said would help me if I had IBD as well. It really did help but I've had problems tolerating it and am trying a break to see how my body copes as suggested by my rhumatologist as she said I'm young and would like to have a family. I've tried but I think I'm going to be going back on them as I'm struggling.

So, I had a number of tests ordered by my gastro as mentioned above and they found the bile acid malabsorption on the sehcat scan. It can apparently be caused/part of IBD but it can also occur on its own and I might just be randomly unlucky with the arthritis, only time will tell but it's encouraging they haven't found anything definitive of IBD so far so fingers crossed. I've got a small bowel MRI coming up at the end of the month so will see what happens with that and when I see my gastro next in December.