Burps, mouth sores and irregular bowels

[Kyr]

I would love another opinion on my symptoms. Over the past year or so I have noticed changes in my bowels--bouts of irregularity and formed/not formed. I have had some blood; but a stool test showed nothing. I used to NEVER burp and now I burp continously. I also suffer from occasional bouts of mouth sores that are larger than "normal" canker sores. I recently also had large red welts appear on my lower legs--erthyema nodusom. I'm scheduled for upper and lower scopes; however, want some answers!
Any suggestions on things to try with my diet? Other tests?
Thanks!

[Kyr]

That is very helpful. The Dr I had seen, mentioned those things and with my research I've found similar possible dx. I know he plans on taking a small bowel biopsy for Celiac; however, will ask about others as well.
Thanks!

[CalGal]

I'm not thinking of anything specific at this point isnce the symptoms may or may not all go together. It's possible that each symptoms could be 'individual.' But I'm wondering what your doc is suggesting as the next step? Is he suggesting a battery of tests to rule things in or out?

If it were me, I'd be asking him what he would think about running tests for celiac disease (a fecal antibody test, not the bood test) a perhaps a Serology 7 test to look at the possibility of either Crohn's or Ulcerative colitis. I'm basing both of those on the mouth sores and leg welts - they may or may not go along with the rest of any symptoms you have and could be off base, so take that into consideration before starting to worry, okay?

I think the idea of the upper and lower scopes is a great idea. Please make sure they take a LOT of biopsies. You'll never feel it and things can be going on under the surface (like microscopic colitis) that can't be seen, so biopsies really are a necessity. I know your doc will say 'the biopsy will tell whether or not you have celiac so don't worry about other tests.' If he does, 'humor him' and say fine, but ask him to ask the pathologist to COUNT the IEL's (intraepithelial lymphocytes) in the specimen they'll take for the celiac test. People can 'fall between the cracks' when it comes to celiac and just asking for dx celiac, means the pathologist will us a criteria that says 'just look and count the IELs. If above 40, diagnose celiac.' However, what happens between the numbers 20 and 40 - the gray zone? Counting is a better way to go, and reporting the count is important as many long-suffering celiacs have found out the hard way. Because of 'status' issues, a pathologist isn't going to give a report to a GI doc that says 'this could be celiac, you should check further.' He/she is just going to say yes or no and go by the standards set by the testing facility.

[Kyr]

No GI issues run in my family that I know of. The blood tests were a scan related to the welts, to rule out parasites/anemia, etc. All blood work looks normal, other than my ESR was elevated showing inflammation. The stool test was for presence of blood to my knowledge. It's all very frustrating. Are you thinking of anything?

[CalGal]

What GI issues run in your family? What blood tests were run and what were the results? And what did the stool tests specifically look for other than the presence of blood?