Re: Upper GI, Central GI, Flank pain.

Posted By BW on March 18, 1999 at 21:55:08:

In Reply to: Upper GI, Central GI, Flank pain. posted by PCB on March 09, 1999 at 15:54:02:







PCB:
I can sympathize with your complaints.
For 8 years I struggled with severe abdominal pain, nausea, gaging,
headaches, and generally felt awful everyday.
As in your case I had multiple, complete and extensive lab and GI workups.
My abdominal pain was so severe that several different sets of doctors
suggested an exploratory lapyrotomy on two seperate occassions.
As a result, I underwent exploratory surgery twice for nothing.
After 8 years I finally found a competent doctor who correctly diagnosed
my GI condition. It is named colonic inertia. My current GI doctor is the
authority on this disease in the country. He admitted that many of his
colleagues misdiagnose the disease. Colonic inertia is a disease where the
colon acts like a tube of toothpaste. Squeeze the tube and what happens?
Some moves forward and some moves backwards. That is how my colon is operating.
This is a functional disease. Consequently, normal and routine tests will not
indicate this problem.
Ask you GI doctor to order a radio-opaque marker test. This test involves
swallowing a capsule containing radio-opaque markers meaning they are
clearly visible on an x-ray. You will have an x-ray of your abdomen for 5 days straight.
The purpose of the test is to follow the movement of the markers through the GI
tract. Since colonic inertia is a functional motility disorder of the
GI tract this test will either rule out or indicate that this is your problem.
In the week that you are doing the test it is crucial not to take anything
orally that would enhance GI motility, like a laxative.
Good luck.